Paul McCartney's concert on the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater posed
major challenges for . (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)
What was it like having to transform midtown New York City into a concert stage the day Paul McCartney played on the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater July 15 for "The Late Show With David Letterman"?
Pro Sound News goes into a lot of detail in the article "Marquee McCartney" that's now online.
Getting a correct sound mix became a huge gamble after the soundcheck was basically eliminated.
"Paul puts his head out the curtains and goes 'Hello, New York!' and immediately, as soon as I put that through the PA, I had the commissioner, the police and all sorts of people running over, shouting 'Turn it off! Turn it off!' "So 'Hello New York!' was my soundcheck for the whole thing! I did the rest on cans and when it came to the show, I just went for it," said sound engineer Paul Boothroyd.
Boothroyd details the challenges the sound crew faced from the unusual environment. The fact that it sounded good at all was pretty much a miracle.
And Boothroyd says he's happy with how it turned out. "I have to say the band played great, it sounded wonderful and everybody was knocked out; Harvey's (Harvey Goldberg, Letterman sound engineer) a great engineer and he has a great team, so thanks to him as well--it was a great result."
A report on the CitiField shows will be featured in the September issue of Pro Sound News.
Comments
The Letterman thing is one of the great moments in Paul's solo career, as far as I'm concerned. I thought it sounded great, came across great, had such a great vibe to it, etc. I would LOVE for it to come out as a live EP or something. The band kicked butt up on that marquee!
(It also brought back memories of living in New York for years, and going out after work to the little bar, McGees-- no longer there-- that was literally the next door north of the Sullivan-then-Letterman theater. In Ed Sullivan's day it was called THE CORDIAL. McGees was a great little working class dive. Then, Letterman moved into the neighborhood, and in a couple of years, McGees was bought out, and it became just another snobby psuedo bistro that's probably closed it's doors and become a half dozen other establishments in the last ten years).
That was a great moment. So glad it turned out well fro everyone. I had a little vertigo watching it on TV even.
I had the honor of being in the crowd that day. Thank you, Paul, for a day in my life I won't forget.
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