- See photos from Friday night's show in the slideshow at left
Bob Gannon, who attended many of the shows on the Up and Coming Tour in 2010, was at Yankee Stadium Friday night for the first of the two shows done by Paul McCartney. He said it was a great show attended by a few famous faces, but the audience reaction was confusing.
Paul and band turned in a fine performance but the audience and security left all scratching their heads. After a scorching sound check left most exhausted, the temperature cooled down prior to the start of the show creating the perfect conditions for the show.Prior to Paul coming on stage, the security on the floor began to order people not only to get to their seat but sit down in it as well. Now I know that part of this was to clear the aisle as people started to clog up the aisles celebrity watching. Just to my right was Chevy Chase, Alec Baldwin, Nancy Shevall and James McCartney as well as Major Bloomberg. But they went well beyond that actively telling people at their seats to sit down. Both sides were told the same thing causing a great deal of confusion amongst the audience whether to stand or sit.Paul came out in a light blue jacket, black pants and Beatle boots. I would say that at least half the audience remained seated for the duration of the show. I think between the earlier heat and the reaction from the crowd may also have confused Paul as well.
He said McCartney was in fine voice, but there were some mistakes, which he attributed to the heat.
Although Paul's voice was great for the show, he made numerous subtle lyric mistakes. I think that the heat of sound check and everybody sitting may have confused him as well. Paul talked about how great it was playing Yankee Stadium. At one point he asked the crowd "Who is this Derek Jeter guy? I've heard he has more hits than me!!!!It should be interesting to see how tonight pans out with security. Of course, for those who haven't heard, "Junior's Farm" is still in the show and he broke out "The Night Before," which sounded awesome. A little of juggling of the setlist and it will be interesting to see what is taken out and what is put back in for the back-to-back shows. It should give a pre-shadow of the Montreal and Chicago shows.Paul was very interactive with the crowd despite the weirdness of it all. I don't think I can ever remember sitting on the floor and looking to my left and to my right and seeing so many people sitting down. That in it's self kind of was a downer for me but I can wait for tonight..
Gannon said the soundcheck had one of the larger crowds he'd seen. To attend these cost extra and a few people ponied up the cash.
The soundcheck was one of the larger sound checks that I have been to. Probably in the area of 150 people. The sound check started 25 minutes late as Paul was stuck in traffic. During the sound check, the heat was blistering, luckily by show time, the temperature had gone down to a manageable 80 degrees or so.Paul mentioned how great it was to be playing Yankee Stadium. There was very little interaction as it seemed that they were trying to make up for the lost time.
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