Paul delivering three-dozen songs in nearly three hours reminded
us not only that we should press on but the music of our late heroes
will live on and on.
All but
five of the songs in Paul’s set list belonged to yesterday, more
specifically the last century, from 1958 (the Quarrymen) to 1982 to be
exact. But they sounded more fresh than nostalgic because Paul was
in the moment, fully engaged, quite spirited and relishing the joy of
making music.
That
Paul didn’t seem as buoyant Wednesday as he had at Target Field in
2014 didn’t really matter. That Paul sounded like he had a cold —
some of his high notes were so raw it seemed as if he’d swallowed Joe
Cocker — didn’t matter much. It didn’t diminish his enthusiasm or the
enjoyment of the 17,000 fans.
In his
seventh appearance in the Twin Cities,Paul certainly had a sense of
place. After dedicating an instrumental version of “Foxy Lady” to “the
late, great Jimi Hendrix,” Paul announced that he was dedicating
Wednesday’s concert to “the late, great Prince.”
"Tonight is a tribute to the late, great Prince." - Paul
He mentioned that he’d
seen Prince in concert several times in London and had experienced
Prince onstage in a small club on the most recent New Year’s Eve.
“Minneapolis, Prince,” Sir Paul declared and paused. “Prince,
Minneapolis. It goes together.”
Like last
time around, McCartney dedicated tunes to Lennon (“Here Today”) and
George Harrison (“Something” on ukulele). This time, he offered a new
tribute to Beatles producer George Martin, who died in March — “Love Me
Do,” the first song the Beatles recorded with him. McCartney even gave a
back story on how Martin asked Paul to take a John vocal
part so John could play harmonica instead.
The cute
Beatle still looked cute and Beatlesque, sporting pointie-toed Beatle
boots, a Nehru jacket, skinny jeans and a moptop with a mullet. He
dusted off some Beatles songs, including the opener “A Hard Day’s
Night,” that had never been in his post-Beatles repertoire.
There were
a handful of selections from Wings (the best ones were the
ballad-turned-rousing rocker “Band on the Run” and the piano pounding
rocker “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five), several tunes from
McCartney’s solo recordings and even his 2015 collaboration with Kanye
West and Rihanna, “FourFiveSeconds,” which not only featured
uncharacteristically gruff vocals but was built around rhythm, not
melody, which is un-Paul like. It was an intriguing change of pace,
texture and dynamics.
The
five-song acoustic set was a treat, especially the undyingly sweet “And I
Love Her” and the Quarrymen’s country-leaning, harmony-heavy “In Spite
of All the Danger.”
But
McCartney let the big Beatles classics carry the weight: the totally
rocking “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” the hold-up-your-cellphone ballad “Let
It Be,” the majestic “Hey Jude,” a very tender, slightly trembly
“Yesterday,” among others.
However,
he chose a happy Wings song, “Hi Hi Hi,” to make the night a little
better, by adding a wildly raunchy taste of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” —
complete with a purple glyph on the video screen.
“Here’s to
the man,” Paul said afterward. “Loved that guy. Thank you, Prince,
for writing so many beautiful songs, so much music. And he’s your guy.”
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