Paul McCartney Back on Tour Again

Well folks it's that time of year again - time for Sir Paul to hit the road!

McCartney new album, Egypt Station, came out about a week ago, and to promote it, he is hitting the world with the so-called Freshen Up tour. The tour kicked off today with a show in Quebec City. By the end of the month McCartney will have visited Montreal, Winnipeg, and Edmonton with shows scheduled in Austin, Tex. in October, a Japanese tour in early November, a European tour from late November through the rest of the year, and a US leg again in May of 2019.

As well all know, McCartney kickstarted his career in 1957 as a member of the LIverpool area band The Quarreymen, which also featured John Lennon and eventually added George Harrison and Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey) replacing Pete Best. It's this group that eventually evolved into what we now know as the Beatles.

The Beatles were around into the early 70s with their experimental music at its best in the late 60s. Lennon left the Beatles in 1969 after the completion of the Abbey Road record which left them in a power trio-esque fashion with McCartney playing extra guitars and keyboards. 

In the early 70s, McCartney got together with hs then-wife, Linda, and they formed a band called Wings with her on keyboards, and Moody Blues' former guitarist Denny Laine. After two records Wild LIfe (1971) and Red Rose Speedaway (1972), the band recorded Live and Let Die for the James Bond movie, and in 1973 Wings released their most successful album, Band on the Run. BOTR remains once of McCartney's most celebrated works post-Beatles, and is the final release for Apple Roecrds. (McCartney pulled out of them the following year).

After Venus and Mars (1974), Wings peaked with their 1975 record Wings at The Speed of Sound. The band split in the early 80s and McCartney resumed his solo career with the record McCartney II and the 1982 record Tug of War. In 1989 and 1993, McCartney had his first two world tours.

How does McCartney Tour?

McCartney tours with a band that has been stable since the early 2000s. The band consists of Brian Ray (lead guitar), Rusty Anderson (guitar, bass, vocals), Abe Laborel Jr. (drums), and Paul "Wix" Wickens (keyboards, vocals). McCartney himself usually plays instruments in the following order: bass, electric guitar, piano, acoustic guitar, bass again, ukelele (for Something), piano again. For the encores, Maca plays a mixture of bass, acoustic guitar, and piano.

Now let's break down the songs played on each instrument:

Bass: These are usually Bealtes and/or Wings hard pop rockers (I know neither band is considered hard rock OR heavy metal but I can't describe it any other way). Songs that are (or have been) performed at this stage on bass include: Venus & Mars/Rock Show/Jet, Magical Mystery Tour, Hello Goodbye, Drive my Car, Paperback Writter, Got to Get You Into my Life, All my Loving, and Letting Go.

Electric Guitar: Consists of Let me Roll It (with a Jimi Hendrix Foxey Lady coda), Freeway, and later in the show, Back in the USSR.

Piano: These numbers are ballads usually. Songs includ(ed) The Long and Winding Road, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, Here There, Everywhere, My Love, Maybe I'm Amazed, and Let Em In.

Acoustic Guitar: These are quiet tunes such as Blackbird, Here Today, Mrs. Vanderbilt, Eleanor Rigby, and And I Love Her. 

McCartney plays bass again on Band on The Run, Paperback Writter, and Obla Di Obla Da. He usually finishes on the piano with Let it Be, Live and Let Die (with killer pyrotechnics), and Hey Jude in that order. 

In the encore McCartney plays Yesterday on acoustic guitar, Helter Skelter on electric guitar, Get Back, and parts of Carry That Weight/The End, as well as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise on bass. (wonder why he never starts with the first Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heards Club Band. He plays piano on Golden Slumbers, and Lady Madonna.

Overall McCartney's shows are amazing and engaging. All the saxophones and strings are replicated with keybaords (likely actually synthesizers). I do wish Macca would hire some more session musicians like female backing vocalists or maybe even a horn section like he did with Wings.

I hope you will decide to see Sir Paul. I saw him in Seattle last year and it was great! The only songs he didn't do were Jet, Mrs. Vanderbilt, and All my Loving. Other than that, it was awesome!

And will he ever stop? Macca said that he will keep on doing this as long as he is able to!





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