| What the Associated Press reported on the opening of Paul's tour: OAKLAND, Calif., April 2 — Paul McCartney has nothing left to prove. He’s a Beatle. He’s a knight. He’s an honorary American. He’s been everywhere, done everything. But in Oakland on Monday night, he showed up simply “to rock ’n’ roll.” And after a 2 1/2-hourlong feast for the eyes and ears, McCartney had done his job. He left a sell-out crowd of 15,000 satisfied. | |
He was backed by a group of tight, well-rehearsed Los Angeles musicians, several of whom performed on McCartney’s latest release, “Driving Rain.”
McCartney was the consummate entertainer. He strained to hit a few high notes, he messed up some lyrics and his voice sounded a bit hoarse at times, but his energy was infectious.
Women screamed when, after a few songs, McCartney stripped off his charcoal jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his gray shirt.
BACKGROUND BEATLES FOOTAGE He sang “All My Loving,” against a bank of video screens that played black-and-white Beatles footage. He told the story of “Blackbird” and how it was meant to tell about the Civil Rights-era struggle of a young black girl.
The stripped-down, acoustic set, which McCartney says is the first time he’s ever played guitar onstage without accompaniment, also featured “We Can Work it Out,” “Mother Nature’s Son,” and “Carry That Weight,” during which he was forced to improvise: “This is the part where I don’t remember the words. Maybe I’ll remember them by the end of the tour,” he sang.
No one seemed to mind. The mistakes made him human, made the crowd love him even more. By the time he got to “Hey Jude,” it was a full-fledged love-fest, with ear-to-ear grins and waving arms filling the auditorium.
He indulged the crowd with two encores, wrapping things up with “Sgt. Pepper” and fittingly, “The End.”
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