Paul McCartney at Citi Field
McCartney returns, ‘drinks it all in’ at Citi Field opening
By Jerry Shriver, USA TODAY
• The event: "Cute" Beatle Paul McCartney, still earning the title at age 67, performs Friday’s opening concert at the new Citi Field, the first in a three-night run (continues July 18 and July 21).
• Location: New York City
• At Attendance: 42,000-plus

• The venue: Citi Field, new home of tthe New York Mets, sits next to the now-demolished Shea Stadium, where McCartney, then 23, and his Beatle mates launched the stadium rock-concert era with an historic half-hour show on Aug. 15, 1965. At the time, the 55,000 attendance was the largest ever at a rock concert and the $304,000 gross was the top take in box-office history.
• Mania level: Tickets for the three shows, priced $449.50-$275, sold out within five minutes. Fans debated purchases of $30 programs, $35 T-shirts and $90 zip-up track-suit tops with McCartney logos.
• Happy landing: Carlos Alejandro Garcia, 39, dressed in a colllarless gray-and-black Beatles suit and wig, and friend Jesus Cerecedo, 42, in a silky blue Sgt. Pepper’s military band suit, both flew in from Mexico City for the show. "It feels more like an ‘event’ than just another concert," said Garcia, who plays McCartney in a Beatles tribute band. This was his 13th McCartney show.
• Earning wings: In 1965, opening actss were King Curtis, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Brenda Holloway and Sounds Incorporated. This time, emerging Irish rock group The Script took the honors.
• Get back I: Sir Paul and his four-piece band (Rusty AAnderson and Brian Ray, guitars; Paul "Wix" Wickens, keyboards; and Abe Laboriel Jr., drums) opened the 2½-hour, 35-song, rain-sprinkled show with faithful versions of The Beatles’ Drive My Carand Wings’ Jet. Instead of the non-stop screams of ’65, this crowd sang in unison.
• Savvoring the spectacle: McCartney, dressed in a black suit with vest, black suspenders and an open-neck white shirt, asked the crowd to "give me a second to drink it all in," then stood silently with a smile and surveyed his kingdom with those giant doe eyes. Throughout the glitch-free show, he engaged the audience frequently, chatting about Shea’s woefully inadequate sound system in 1965, marveling at how Jimi Hendrix played a Sgt. Pepper song in concert the day after the album was released, and inviting the women — lots of cougars in the VIP seats — to scream.
• Get back II II: McCartney sang just one song from the ’65 concert, summoning his inner Little Richard for I’m Down, the night’s unexpected highlight. But he fondly summoned the past in other ways, offering tender tributes to deceased wife and Wings bandmate Linda (My Love), George Harrison (a ukulele-led Something) and John Lennon (Here Today). Though he didn’t say it overtly, nearly every one of the 22 Beatles songs — especially the propulsive Helter Skelter, Paperback Writer and A Day in the Life— evoked memories off surviving fellow Beatle Ringo Starr (with whom McCartney played briefly in April at a benefit show).
•Get BackIII: The late-period Beaatles nugget showed up as the sixth song in an eight-song encore. McCartney’s wondrous voice stayed strong throughout the night, and he hit most of the high notes, except for some of the yelping ones on Band on the Run. As he switched between six different instruments, his tight, tasteful band kept pace.
•Flash forward: McCartney played just one song, Highway, from his most recent album, 2008′s Electric Arguments (recorded under his alias, The Fireman). But he worked in plenty of less obvious solo tunes and Wings hits, highlighted by Live and Let Die, which was accompanied by a startling pyrotechnic display of firepots, sparklers and mini-fireworks.
•Cute quip: When an ascending airplane roared overhead from nearby LaGuardia, McCartney cocked his head and said "We just did that one" — referring to the jet sounds that kick off Back in the U.S.S.R.
•Returnning the favor: McCartney performed the final song (Let It Be) at Shea’s final concert last July, as a surprise guest of hometown hero Billy Joel. Friday, Joel came out as a surprise for McCartney’s third encore and pounded the piano and traded vocals on a rollicking I Saw Her Standing There.
•And in The End: Aware that he had made local history once again, McCartney signed off with a medley that combined Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with the conclusion of the suite from Abbey Road, the final album recorded by The Beatles.
•Next stops: FedEx Field, Landover, Md., Aug. 1; Fenway PPark, Boston, Aug. 5-6; Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Aug. 15; BOK Center, Tulsa, Aug. 17; Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Dallas, Aug. 19.

  Yes, it was a home run that sparked those fireworks high above Citi Field Friday night – not from one of the usual sources, but from pop music’s most-dependable slugger, Sir Paul McCartney.

   The blasts that punctuated “Live and Let Die,” both on the massive stage set up in centerfield and above it, served as a not-so-subtle reminder that the man who ushered in the era of stadium rock in 1965, when The Beatles made history by playing Shea Stadium, was in town to christen another stadium. In true McCartney fashion, though, that bombastic statement was followed by a bit of aw-shucks theatrics, some pretending that all the smoke got in his eyes and that he really wasn’t worth all that fuss.
    That’s the thing about McCartney that often gets lost in the shuffle – his incredible sense of balance. His set pulled from the first Beatles hits to his recent experimental album done under the pseudonym The Fireman, masterfully navigating that tightrope of playing what he wanted to play and what the bulk of his fans wanted to hear.
    Few artists would see the connection between the cranky strut of The Fireman’s “Highway” and the lush orchestrated ballad “The Long and Winding Road,” but McCartney effortlessly makes that transition, along with welding the present to the past.
    “Long time since I was here,” McCartney said. “I’ve got a feeling that we’re going to have a little bit of fun tonight.”

   He often reminded the crowd how no one could hear anything when The Beatles first played Shea Stadium. This time, though, the acoustics were a little better.
    And actually, so is McCartney.
    Harmonies sweetened a revved-up “Jet.” Bluesy guitar and organ built a new groove on “Let Me Roll It,” which got a dose of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady.” “Paperback Writer” developed a bit of a punk snarl and honky-tonk piano riffs freshened “The Long and Winding Road.” Billy Joel, who invited McCartney to perform at the final concert at Shea Stadium last year, served as the special guest during a raucous “I Saw Her Standing There.”
    McCartney was careful to pay tribute to those who helped get him to where he is, dedicating “My Love” to his late wife Linda, a ukelele version of “Something” to George Harrison and the poignant “Here Today” to John Lennon, whose “Give Peace a Chance” also became part of “A Day in the Life.”
    But when he made a jarring turn from the lovely “Yesterday” to the wild “Helter Skelter” seem elegant? That was a true sign of a master at work.

SETLIST: Drive My Car / Jet / Only Mama Knows / Flaming Pie / Got To Get You Into My Life / Let Me Roll It/Purple Haze / Highway / The Long and Winding Road / My Love / Blackbird / Here Today / Dance Tonight / Calico Skies / Mrs. Vanderbilt / Eleanor Rigby / Sing the Changes / Band on the Run / Back in the U.S.S.R. / I’m Down / Something / I’ve Got a Feeling / Paperback Writer / A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance / Let It Be / Live and Let Die / Hey Jude // ENCORES: Day Tripper / Lady Madonna / I Saw Her Standing There (with Billy Joel) / Yesterday / Helter Skelter / Get Back / Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End

PHOTO: Paul McCartney at Citi Field from Associated Press.

I have posted a lot of big photos,news articles,videos on my personal Beatles and Macca blog. Feel free to visit the most beautiful blog about Paul McCartney in the world.

Cactus Flower

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Live on Letterman webcast 07/15/09

Paul McCartney
Aug. 17, 2009 @ 7:30 pm
Doors open @ 6:30pm
Tickets On Sale Monday, July 20 @ 10am!
Tickets – $253, $198, $98, $59.50
Click HERE for the American Express Presale.
Pre sale runs Monday, July 13, 2009 10:00 AM-Saturday, July 18, 2009 10:00 PM CT
Paul McCartney announced today his first concert ever at BOK Center in Tulsa, OK on Monday, August 17, 2009 in celebration of the venue’s one-year anniversary. This monumental event also marks the legendary performer’s only arena show on his current 2009 North American stadium tour, as well as McCartney’s first Oklahoma concert in nearly seven years—since his 2002 concert at Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

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The BOK Center show will feature classics from McCartney’s extensive catalog, including Beatles, Wings and solo career hits as well as selections from his most recent album Electric Arguments, released under his alias The Fireman.

and right under the picture of JOHN, are your links to click on and listen.

and right under the picture of JOHN, are your links to click on and listen.

Deluxe Companion to the Newly Re-mastered BEATLES CDs Includes First LP Size Book Of Complete Album Artwork And Storage For The Entire Beatles CD Catalog

In anticipation of the September 2009 release of The Beatles’ digitally re-mastered catalog, THE BEATLES Box Of Vision® is now available for pre-order at www.BoxOfVision.com for late August delivery, and will be available at select retailers this Fall. Officially licensed by Apple Corps Ltd., the stunning collection includes:

· A 200-page LP-size book containing all of The Beatles’ LP artwork, brilliantly restored in pristine new art prints. This is the first time that all of The Beatles UK and US album artwork has been collected together in a single LP sized book. From PLEASE PLEASE ME and MEET THE BEATLES through LOVE, this book includes front covers, back covers, gatefolds, inserts, and the complete LP booklets from MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR, LET IT BE…NAKED and LOVE, arranged to create the feeling of holding and enjoying the entire LP collection in your lap.

· The “Catalography,” a brand new, full color discography guide with photos, text and track-listings, providing the first-ever side-by-side presentation of the UK albums and their US counterparts, with an exclusive essay by Beatles author and historian Bruce Spizer.

· The BoxOfVision storage book, a unique and elegant way for fans to organize and display all 32 discs of The Beatles’ core catalog. Fans may insert CDs and booklets from their existing collections or the new digitally re-mastered versions—the BoxOfVision was built to store and display the digi-pak boxes that will house the newly re-mastered CDs.

Ideal for fans, collectors and holiday gift giving, the set is housed in an elegant black, linen-covered box with silver embossed Beatles logos and faux Beatles LP spines. The 13” x 13” box features the iconic image of The Beatles photographed by Robert Freeman for the cover of WITH THE BEATLES (released as MEET THE BEATLES in the US).

Once a fan inserts their CDs, they are able to store and display The Beatles entire body of work in a single, elegant book.

THE BEATLES Box Of Vision was conceived by Jonathan Polk, a music industry veteran with more than 20 years experience. “It’s the ultimate fan piece,” says Polk, who served as Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer for Capitol Records during the period in which it released The Beatles LOVE album, LET IT BE…NAKED, and THE BEATLES CAPITOL ALBUMS VOL. 1 and VOL. 2. “The Beatles invented the rock album format and it was my goal to help ensure that fans can continue to discover and appreciate this single greatest catalog of music the way it was originally created.”

“I have always been frustrated with the available options for organizing and storing CDs,” continues Polk, who is also the inventor of the Box of Vision’s patented CD storage structure. “And, I hated the fact that the beautiful LP artwork I grew up with was reduced to almost postage stamp size on CDs. The Box Of Vision gives fans the best of all worlds.”

For a limited time, individuals who pre-order at www.BoxOfVision.com will reserve a limited edition, individually numbered first edition/first printing of THE BEATLES Box Of Vision. This collector’s edition will not exceed 7,200 copies. Shipment will commence in mid-August, just prior to Apple Corps Ltd and EMI Music’s September 9^th release of the original Beatles catalog, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time.

# # #

For a “virtual tour” and more information on THE BEATLES Box Of Vision visit:

www.BoxOfVision.com

or

Contact:

Judi Kerr, Judi Kerr Public Relations

(310) 477-8191

judikerr@aol.com