Paul McCartney FedEx Field report 12: You are there #3, photo slideshow #5

Confetti rains down from the ceiling at the end of the show. (Photo by Paul Epstein.)

More accounts and photos from Saturday's concert at FedEx Field. Check the slideshow at the bottom of the page for more photos. 

 And we'll be doing this for the Fenway Park shows that start Wednesday, too. Email your pics and accounts to beatlesexaminer@gmail.com.

From Larry Granger:

Hi Steve,

    My first time emailing you! I am a huge Beatlemaniac and cannot believe I haven't emailed before this.

   

Being a McCartney fan I was given Presale tickets and made it to the first section in front of Paul. Unbelieveable seat! Paul looked absolutely FABulous! He was slim and fit, looking like the Paul from 1964 with beatle boots and all! Unlike the last tour, Paul simply walked on stage with the band. Simply is an understatement though. The crowd, myself included, went crazy!!! No matter how many times I've seen Paul in concert, it is still amazing to see this legend walk on the stage before me!

 

    The guy next to me and I were debating what Paul would open with. We guessed either Drive My Car or Jet. Sure enough it was Drive My Car! The quality of the sound system was phenomenal! It was almost as though the Beatles were there playing it!

 

     The show was supposed to start at 7:30. The traffic on the Washington Beltway was terrible. I thought accident. It turned out to be a multi-mile backup to get off the exit for Fedex Field! Yes! A deejay played some techno junk until 8:30. We thought Paul was coming out. Then the side screens came on with dropping pictures of Paul and the Beatles etc thorugh the years. The music in the background was a techno mix of Macca songs, the first being Say Say Say. Then at 9:00 sharp the lights went out and the show began! By 9:50 Paul finally slowed down a bit and made me worry he was calling it short! Boy was I happily wrong. The show rocked on until 11:30!

 

     It looked like Paul was playing his original Hofner with the wear mark below the strings, but upon closer examination, I didn't see the chip near the back tail piece. Hmmm? Was it repaired or another Hofner. He played his Martin D-28, but waited until the end to bring out the Epiphone with the Red Wings sticker! This was the guitar he original played yesterday on. It was so good to see that guitar. He also had a pink LesPaul with painted kids with thier hands in the air. It was really nice looking. Of course John Hammel was there on the side waiting with Paul's next guitar. One time he waved to the crowd as he and Paul exchanged smiles.

 

     Paul played an unbelievable mix of Beatles, Wings, Macca and Fireman songs. The most moving was The Long and Winding Road. The background screen played videos tied to the songs. As close as I was, I used my binoculars to zoom in on the Paul and his guitars. One time while doing this a glimpse of the background video was in my view and I thought it was a video of the Beatles in the studio. I pulled away my googles to take a look and it was the video for the Beatles Rock Band game!

 

    Live and Let Die was awesome (no surprise!) and I was enveloped by the smoke afterwards! I would have loved to see the lasers he used back in the Wings Days (Wings Across America), but the fireworks were incredible. Mrs Vanderbilt was amazing! The crowd was up and down chanting "Ho...hey ho.." I could go on and on and on! It was just an absolutely amazing show. Worth every penny of the $250+ I paid for the ticket. There was talk that the show was not selling out. I must say at 8:45 there were a lot of seats open in the top rear section, BUT a bit into the show Macca called out to the fans in that section and the lights were shown on them......it was packed up there! Fedex Field was packed!

 

     At the very end of the show two huge blowers spewed out red, white and blue pieces of paper showering the floor area. I grabbed a bunch to bring home to my kids as souvenirs! My real souvenirs are the fantastic memories of spending another evening with the world's greatest composer/musician/entertainer!

 

     To Paul: And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make!!! Thank you for another life long memory!