Paul McCartney, First Union Center reviews

Paul's performance in the city of Brotherly Love was outstanding! He opened up the performance with "Hello Goodbye", and ended the evening with "The End". The beginning of the concert was a little bewildering! There was a group of about 25 individuals with heavy makeup, dancing on stage to the sound of electronic music. Wasn't sure what the meaning of that was? Kept on asking other individuals in the crowd, they were not sure either.

The highlight for me was hearing "Something" played on the ukulele, and "Here Today". both tributes to John and George. You could hear a pin drop during those songs. Usually when I go to a concert, I get frustrated if the artist plays too many songs from their new album. This was not the case. I believe Paul played four songs from the new album. (Which is a great album by the way) I have a new perspective of the song "Loving Flame". Great song! Glad he played it! The only regret, I would have liked to hear "Mull of Kintyre", but who is complaining!

The funniest part of the evening, was watching Paul nearly have a heart attack when the cannons blew on "Live and Let Die". I generally believe he was startled!

A+

Update (4/21/02) From ericsmom530:

This was absolutely the best concert I have ever attended! Paul was pure energy from "Hello, Goodbye", straight through to "The End"...The acoustic set was amazing in itself, and well worth the ticket price. His tribute to George Harrison was beautiful, and the one for John Lennon followed by "Here Today" brought tears to everyone's eyes. If you haven't seen this tour, you truly do not know what you are missing...HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!!! Thank you Paul for a night I shall remember forever...

From Richard Davis:

I was one of the first ones to get online when tickets went on sale and when I saw the price I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy it, but I did. Later I thought I might resell the ticket. But after reading reviews of the Oakland show, I decided I had to go. MAN IT WAS GREAT!! I'm so glad I went!
Paul (and the band) really seemed to be impressed by the Philly crowd. They seemed to feed off our loud and positive feedback, several times during the show Paul would say, "Phil-A-del-phi-A!" just like a guy would repeat the name of a date he was happy to be with. Later in the show, Paul said, "Ohh Philadelphia!" - I think it was his way of saying how happy we were making him (it almost sounded like he had completed making love ha ha). Even the bass player (Brian) said we were, "Hotter than Chicago". It was a 2 1/2 hour lovefest.
I was impressed by how good Paul looked. Youthful, trim, and very lively. For me, the best part was how many Beatle songs they played. The band was OUTSTANDING! They sounded just like the records. The opening song, "Hello, Goodbye" gave me goosebumps. A surprise for me was how good "Maybe I'm Amazed" sounded live. But every single song was wonderful. I liked how he told us about the story behind "C Moon" which gives me a new appreciation of that song.
When he did the solo acoustic stuff, I was blown away - "Blackbird" sounded AMAZING, Paul played all those hard notes and it sounded just like the record. His tributes to John and George were wonderful - bittersweet. He lead us all in a cheer for John and it was so loud and loving. He played my favorite Beatle song - "Here, There, and Everywhere" and all his ballads and love songs were terrific.
He played 4 songs from Driving Rain, and I liked them all. In fact, I really like the whole CD and the more I listen to it, the more I like it. Another highlight of the show was when he played "All My Lovin" - As soon as he started singing it, I got emotional... This is the song that I sang all the time in the shower when I was a little boy and it really choked me up. I got all teary eyed. After that, I knew I was in for a magical experience.
This concert was a "Memory Maker" for me. I will consider it as a highlight and remember it for the rest of my life. I can close my eyes and see him rockin on stage and truly enjoying it. At the end, Paul said, "See you next time!" Sounds like he'll be back someday, and I'll be there, for sure.

Let me sum it up this way - concert ticket - $138, program - $30, seeing Paul McCartney sing and play 36 songs live in concert in Philly - PRICELESS!

Take care my friends!

(4/18/02) From James P. Meehan:

Philadelphia 4/16/02: I attended the above show and it was outstanding. The set list, stage presentation, etc. were the same as the previous shows, so I won't reiterate what was already reported.

Here are some impressions that I made:

 

Paul was in fine form. He was dressed in a charcoal suit with a red shirt. The sound was as clear as a bell and not overpowering and the projections were in perfect sync to what was happening on the stage. Paul appeared to be getting a little hoarse between songs as the show progressed but it did not affect his singing in any major way.

 

I was really pleased with his banter between songs. He seemed very cool and calm and in an upbeat mood. His description of a old woman who was a Japanese masseur giving him a massage and singing Yesterday to him was hilarious. He also told what the title C Moon means. He said it was based on Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs song "Woolly Bully" and the line "Let's not be L7" which forms a square when you make an L and a 7 with your two hands. He said he made a "C" with his left hand and then a backwards "C" with his right and when you put them together they formed a moon! Thus the title.

 

Paul forgot a few words during We Can Work It Out..but it did not detract from the performance at all. Personally, the acoustic part of the show was worth the price of admission. His version of Here Today (after a rousing round of applause for John) was the high point of the evening....absolutely beautiful....and his ukulele version of Something was charming and sentimental.

 

Before "Your Loving Flame", he dedicated the song to a member in the audience (Heather I believe..although she wasn't acknowledged by him as being there)..When he came out on stage for the first encore, he waved an American flag around the stage for a bit, which got the Philly crowd going.

 

All in all a wonderful and satisfying performance. It's worth the price!

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