Two Beatles on stage together - it was a night to relive and remember

April 5, 8:39 PMBeatles ExaminerSteve Marinucci

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  Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr embrace at the Change Begins Within Concert
Saturday in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

What a night. 

After we said it wouldn't be a reunion, it couldn't be a reunion, are you feeling good today, brethren? Are there good vibes coming from this or what?

Funny what two Beatles playing together on a stage 45 years after their first trip to America does to people. If you have seen any of the YouTube clips, check them out here, here and here. You can't watch those and not smile a little.

Who wants to see this show out on DVD, raise your hand. Sources tell us a very sophisticated setup with 10 cameras was used to film the show. We're also told that nothing has been decided yet as for use of the concert footage. Hopefully, some news will emerge soon and we'll let you know as soon as we hear.  

The best review of the show we saw was Jon Pareles' commentary in the New York Times. A nice piece of writing there.

Paul McCartney.com has posted the official setlist:

• Drive My Car
• Jet
• Got To Get You Into My Life
• Let It Be
• Lady Madonna
• Blackbird
• Here Today
• Band On The Run
• Can’t Buy Me Love
• With A Little Help From My Friends (with Ringo)
• Cosmically Conscious (with all the cast)
• I Saw Her Standing There (with all the cast)

And here's Lauren Podolsky's detailed account of attending the show:

Well a lot has already been written about what happened at the David Lynch Foundation Concert before I even got a chance to get home and unpack!!  It was a truly magical night and I am so happy that I was 
able to be there.  We arrived in New York at about 3:00 and checked into our room at the Flatotel where we were upgraded to a Penthouse Suite, as their regular double rooms were all taken!  That was a shock, and one of the coolest things about it was from the windows, we could watch Radio City Music Hall right from the room!  After we got settled in and had some dinner it was time to get ready for the show.   We walked over to Radio City Music Hall at around 6:10 to find that  the line was already about half a block long.  The line moved very 
quickly at 6:30 and we were inside in no time. 

The inside of Radio City Music Hall is beautiful.  I had never been there before, so I was excited just to see it!  We saw Neil Glazer selling Ringo’s artwork. Ringo had two new pieces that he was debuting for the show, both with proceeds going to the David Lynch Foundation.  Next to Ringo’s artwork was the concert merchandise.  They had white, black, blue, and purple tee shirts, posters, a Donovan DVD (I think) and a book by David Lynch.  We made our purchases and made our way to our seats. 

As we entered, everyone was given a free program.  That was a nice surprise.  Our seats were in the first Mezzanine, in the last row. They were right in the center, and one of my favorite things about being in the last row is I can stand when everyone else is sitting without blocking anyone’s view!  The show started at 7:30 with a 
beautiful piano piece by Angelo Badalamenti.

David Lynch then came on to introduce the concert and play a little film.  He then announced  Moby and Bettye Lavette.  (During the first half of the show, whenever David Lynch introduced a new musician, he asked for the snare drum, and a guy came out and played a little drum roll.)  Moby and Bettye played one song together, then Moby did 1 solo song before Bettye came back on stage for another song together.  After their set, there was a 
short video about meditation helping schools before David Lynch came back out and introduced Laura Dern.  He and Laura did a short Q & A  while the musicians changed equipment for Sheryl Crow.  Sheryl played 
a 3-song set including My Sweet Lord, which was of course dedicated to George Harrison. 

After Sheryl Crow’s set, there was a short video message from Russell Simmons before Jerry Seinfeld was introduced.  Jerry did about 10 minutes of standup that was hilarious!  Lots of talk about movie theaters, public bathrooms, and marriage.  He touched on meditation a bit, too, and said he has been meditating for 27 years. The next musician was Eddie Vedder who played one song solo, and one with Ben Harper.  Ben Harper stayed on stage and played one song with his band before re-introducing Eddie Vedder who came back to play ‘Under Pressure,’ which concluded the first half of the show.  There was then a 10 minute intermission.

The second half of the show started with a brief speech by Mike Love who talked about the Maharishi and the 60’s.  Donovan was the next musician to play.  He played a four song set including ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ (without the extra verse written by George...I do kind of wish he had added that in again for this occasion like he has done at previous Fests for Beatle Fans, but it was great to hear anyway), ‘Wear Your Love Like Heaven’ and ‘Season of the WItch’ where he danced with Sheryl Crow, who came back on stage to sing with him.  Donovan then sat 
down to talk a bit about what it was like hanging out in Rishikesh, especially with George.  He announced that he had a special guitar made in honor of George that he was debuting.  It was a beautiful blue acoustic which he named ‘Deva.’  He and Paul Horn then played together.  Paul Horn spoke a little about meditation and what it has done for him.  He then played a song called ‘Meditation’ on the flute, and he asked us to hold John and George in our hearts for the song. It was very beautiful. 

Howard Stern was introduced next, and he spoke a bit about how meditation had saved his mother’s life, as she had been depressed for many years.

Finally, David Lynch came back on stage to introduce Ringo.  He said that there are very few people who are loved the world over and we are so fortunate to have him here.  Ringo played with Ben Harper’s band. The first song was ‘It Don’t Come Easy.”  After the song he spoke about writing the song with George.  He said he could always start songs, but he had to run to George to finish them or else he would end up like Bob Dylan with 87 verses!  He spoke about how George wanted to put God in the song and Ringo told him “I don’t sing about God.”  Then George wanted to put Krishna in the song and Ringo said “I don’t sing about Krishna.”  Ringo added “and now I’ve got him on my chest!” Ringo was wearing a black tee shirt with a sparkly-silver picture of 
Krishna on it under his jacket.  After the story Ringo said, “We're all meditatin' here tonight.  I'm meditatin' right now.  I'm gonna do some more meditatin' on me drums." So he got up on his drum kit to play "Boys" (he announced it saying “I’ve been playing this song longer than Howard Stern’s been meditating!”).  Ringo came back out front to finish his set with  ‘Yellow Submarine.’

David Lynch and Laura Dern came back out again to do some more Q & A as they set up for Paul.  David Lynch then starte dto introduce someone, which made the audience scream for Paul.  He said “Not yet....this is the gentleman before that gentleman!”  He introduced John Hagelin, a physicist who talked about scientific research on how transcendental meditation truly can help people. 

David Lynch came back once again to introduce Paul.  First, they played a film which showed pictured and video of The Beatles from Beatlemania up to Rishikesh.  After the video, the screen lifted and Paul and his band were on stage!  Paul played "Drive My Car," "Jet," "Got To Get You Into My Life," "Let It Be" and "Lady Madonna" with the band.  The band then left for Paul to play "Blackbird" on his acoustic guitar.  He talked about Civil Rights in the 60’s and how times had changed since then.  He also mentioned President Obama, which got a big cheer!  Paul then spoke about New York a bit.  He said he had been to Radio City for the Christmas Show and said it is “highly recommended.”  He said “I love New York and so did John.” He then proceeded with ‘Here Today’ for John.  The band returned to the stage to play ‘Band On The Run’ and finally ‘Can't Buy Me Love.’

Paul then came up to the mic to introduce “Billy Shears!”  Ringo came out and they played ‘With a Little Help from My Friends.’  It was really incredible to see Ringo singing that live and Paul singing harmonies right next to him!  They looked like they were having a blast on stage together.  After the song, they all took a bow and left 
the stage to a huge round of applause.

After a few minutes, the stage lights came back on and Paul and Ringo came running back on stage.  Paul said “You knew we were coming back!”  Ringo got on his drums next to Abe, and Paul introduced the next song as a song he wrote while they were in Rishikesh.  He said the Maharishi always said that everyone needed to be "Cosmically Conscious," and he also always said that everything was such a joy. Paul asked the audience to sing along.  He was about to teach the audience the part, but then he just said “I know you’re all so 
brilliant, that you’ll just pick it up.”  He launched into ‘Cosmically Conscious’ with the band and Ringo on drums behind him.  What a fantastic surprise.  During the song, the rest of the musicians started to come back on stage to sing along. 

Paul said that it was time now to go home and go to bed.  He saw a fan up front with a sign asking for a guitar pick.  He responded “Ok, you’ll get your guitar pick, now you can put the sign away” with a smile.  He talked a little about having to read the signs that come up in the audience.  I heard that the fan did get his guitar pick.  They ended the show with ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ -  another incredible song to see both Paul and  Ringo playing together again.

The musicians all hugged each other and took their bows.  At the very end, Ringo ran to the front and stood there flashing the peace sign to huge applause.  Paul saw this and stepped in front of Ringo to more applause, so Ringo stepped back in front of Paul, and Paul back in front of Ringo.  They did this about three times, laughing the whole time.  The audience loved it and it was fantastic to see them both having such a great time.  Paul waved to the audience and blew us kisses as they walked off stage.

We left with the wave of people exiting Radio City Music Hall.  I saw Mark Hudson talking with some people on the way out.  I’m also pretty sure I saw Olivia Harrison in the front row during the show.  We took some more photos in front of Radio City Music Hall before heading back to the hotel for some more food and sleep.  It was an incredible night  and a such wonderful experience to see both Paul and Ringo interacting, joking, and playing together again.

(Note: Both Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono were in attendance.)

Interesting item, if it's true: When Paul went to Heathrow Airport to take off to New York, who shows up in the line behind him for a flight to Los Angeles? None other than Heather Mills, reports the UK Mirror, which says he was escorted away before the two made eye contact.

  Look for the Beatle News Briefs on the Abbeyrd Beatles Page Beatle News Briefs in the update for Monday.

This item, however, we'll post here: Mary Hopkin posted a new blog on MySpace Sunday. The post said Mary's next archival album, "Now and Then," would be available soon "and we think every track's a winner!" Hopkin's music will soon be on iTunes and and other download stores (you beat the Beatles, Mary!), as well. She also said a boxed set of her work has been pushed back to next year.