Paul McCartney Concert at Hersheypark Stadium

Ok, something nice instead of a rant....  I went to see Paul McCartney at Hershey on July 19th

Over the years, I’ve seen MANY amazing concerts and MANY amazing artists.  I feel privileged to have seen some of my favorite music performed live over the years. The shows I never got to see will always be a major hole in my life, but you can only do what you can.  I never got to see Queen, or Frank Zappa, or Led Zeppelin, although I was able to see Robert Plant once, and he was doing a few Led Zeppelin songs during his tour.  Another band I never got to see was (and I’m sure a lot of other people as well, since they didn’t seem to really perform live like bands do these days) was The Beatles.  When I heard that Paul McCartney was coming to Hershey (although I tried to get tickets when we was in State College, PA last year, and couldn’t even get a rafter seat) I was on that like crazy!  So when I got the ticket, I was thrilled. 

Hershey was excited as well since they had a HUGE poster of Paul on the side of the stadium, and put a big “PAUL” up on the hill in front of the old Milton Hershey School where it says “Welcome to Hershey” and purportedly renamed some of the rides in Hersheypark to Paul “themes” and the main drag in Hershey to Sir Paul Way (or something like that)  I was happy to finally get to see a Beatle, and hear a bunch of songs that I grew up listening to, that I never thought I’d ever get to hear live by the person that sang them!

Being the usual impatient person, I had to check and see what the setlist was, and WOW a lot of stuff!  He did 38 songs, and a nice mix of Beatles, Wings, and his solo stuff (and even an old pre-Beatles Quarrymen tune)  The highlights for me were a few tunes that I just loved over the years; Fool on the Hill, Let It Be, and Yesterday, just songs that always meant a lot to me.  He started with Hard Day’s Night, and Can’t Buy me Love. Did Love Me Do, Blackbird, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude, etc….. He also did an amazing version of Live and Let Die that just blew more fireworks and pyro than anything I’ve ever seen at a concert!  That will be a favorite moment of mine for a LONG time, and will have a tough time being topped at any show!

One thing that just totally impressed me, seeing aging artists over the years, you can see that they are slowing up, and need a lot of support onstage, extra singers to carry their parts, extra musicians to play their parts, etc.  Paul did his share and then some!   He played every song, when he played bass, he was the bass player, when he played acoustic, it was him, piano, etc.  He did a spot where it was just him and a guitar on the stage, and it was all him. AND no intermission!  He did the banter in between songs, talked to the audience, and the man is 74!  Good for him, he is impressive!

Overall, it was probably in one of my top 10 concert experiences, and I’ve seen over 100 shows!  (this is up there with Roger Water’s Wall show, Pink Floyd in 1987, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, and Howe, and a few Rush shows)  If you get a chance to see this tour, DO IT!  You won’t regret it!

Here's the complete setlist:

1. A Hard Day's Night
2. Save Us
3. Can't Buy Me Love
4. Letting Go
5. Temporary Secretary
6. Let Me Roll It
7. Foxey Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)
8. I've Got a Feeling
9. My Valentine
10. Nine Hundred and Eighty Five
11. Here, There and Everywhere
12. Maybe I'm Amazed
13. We Can Work it Out
14. In Spite of All the Danger
15. You Won't See Me
16. Love Me Do
17. And I Love Her
18. Blackbird
19. Here Today
20. New
21. Spinning On an Axis
22. Lady Madonna
23. Four Five Seconds
24. Eleanor Rigby
25. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
26. Something
27. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
28. Band on the Run
29. Back in the USSR
30. Let It Be
31. Live and Let Die
32. Hey Jude
33. Yesterday
34. Hi Hi Hi
35. Birthday
36. Golden Slumber
37. Carry That Weight
38. The End