Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney played tonight at the Moda Center and thanks to inconsistent and apparently random directives I was at work basically the entire show(We usually shut down earlier) This was inconvenient but on the other hand it meant I got to actually listen to the whole thing.

Paul is getting a bit old and doesn't have the same power or range he one had, fortunately his music tends to not require quite the same power or range that some other bands hits are known for, look at you The Who. But it was noticeable and kind of sad.

I had a really nice time. I don't really care about his non-Beatles stuff, except for Live and Let Die, which is awesome, but his setlist included a ton of Beatles era music and every so often you could hear hints, just hints, at what they must have been like back in the 60s. You know how in fantasy novels there is almost always at least one culture that is somewhat degraded from it's Golden Age, the elves in Lord of the Rings are a good example, by the time the books took place they were a declining people and the great works they once made were all but forgotten by the world and only remembered by those increasingly considered irrelevant. Yet they still maintained little places where that greatness could be remembered, like Rivendel for example.
Paul McCartney playing was sort of like that, a hint of what once was and what will never be equaled again.

They started with Hard Day's night, and hearing that opening chord is pretty magical, it's a sound that for me makes a reaction that I don't know that I can quite describe, but I know I like it.

He played for about three hours or so, did all the big numbers, anytime he played a song from the Wings era or similar my stand got a rush of people grabbing beers, they weren't there for that.

The encore was the back half of Abbey Road, which is pretty great live and the best way to end the show.

I'm glad I had the chance to hear it, even if I was working at the time.