Review: Paul McCartney Plays Three-Hour KeyArena Set
The only thing that could top a great, rare sunny day in Seattle is walking to the Key Arena in the evening, ready to hear Paul McCartney sing. There is really not much else to say after his name, the man is a living legend, part of the very few that remain. This was his third stop of the 1 on 1 Tour he just started, and the venue was predictably maxed out in capacity.
The show started right before 8:30 without openers. The first song was “A Hard Day’s Night,” a Beatles song he was performing for the first time as a solo artist on this tour. Later on, he surprised us with another one, “Love Me Do,” which he dedicated to George Martin as he shared with us how nervous he was when he guided him to sing those words as John Lennon played the harmonica. “I can still hear my voice on the record being nervous.”
He stopped after “Let Me Roll It” as he played “Foxy Lady” on the outro, and dedicated it to our hometown hero Jimi Hendrix. I think that one of the coolest things at his shows, as I noticed the first time last year, is the stories he has to tell. It’s crazy to think how many historical events he’s lived through in his career. He says things like “I used to go to John’s house,” or “When Jimi was performing and Eric Clapton got on stage to tune his guitar,” or after the performance of “My Valentine,” “Thanks to Natalie [Portman] and Johnny [Depp] for doing the sign language in the video,” and “George [Harrison] was a great ukulele player.” It makes you feel that you’ll never be that cool in your lifetime.
After the first phase of his set, the band came closer to the front of the stage and performed a few songs acoustically, including “We Can Work it Out” and “You Won’t See Me.” Then he stepped into a box-shaped extension right in the front of the set up closest to the floor and it slowly lifted him up as he sang “And I Love Her,” “Blackbird,” and “Here Today,” a song he wrote after Lennon passed away.
After that, he returned to the piano and played “Queenie Eye,” “New,” and his recent song with Rihanna and Kanye West, “FourFiveSeconds.” The whole night he was going back and forth to guitars, piano, and his famous bass, depending on the song. He joked with the audience and was in happy spirits, which made the night even more joyful. I think it’s so funny that he does not care to have a pick holder on his mic stand, and whenever he has to switch to a string instrument, he searches in his pocket for one.
The momentum started to pick up when he played “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” as it continued with “Band on the Run,” “Back in the USSR,” and “Let it Be.” He went back to his piano and played the most amazing “Live and Let Die” as pyrotechnics filled the stage at the perfect time, and the guitar solos reminded you of the great rock moments. This was my favorite song of the night, along with “Hey Jude,” which he played right after as his main set’s last song. The whole arena echoed with the audience’s voice by the end chanting, “Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, hey Jude!” It was a great moment to witness.
He came back for an encore that put him right about the three-hour mark with 39 songs total for the whole set. He started with “Yesterday,” then “Hi, Hi, Hi,” to a more cheerful “Birthday” to start us off. Then, as we all expected a Seattle artist to have a cameo, he called Krist Novoselic to the stage to play “Helter Skelter,” which was an extra song for the set. The night ended with “The End,” and we all felt so lucky to had been part of this. Paul is someone you need to see every time he comes through town, as he is electric and keeps reminding you that true artists are rare, and it’s even rarer for them to be able to maintain such longevity of their career.
You can find a full gallery of pictures from the night at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1710691192532049.1073741873.1586670788267424&type=3&uploaded=17.
