Your San Jose reviews

Update (6/7/02) From gerdawhite:

What a concert!!!
Travelled up from LA (after spending $2,000 to get here from Australia) to see the WORLDS greatest musician, MR. or should I say SIR PAUL McCARTNEY.
The 2 of us (my best friend Chris) made a pact that if George Harrison ever toured Japan again, that we would go and see him. When that was no longer possible, and since Paul Mac announced his tour, there was only one thing to do. We ended up with good seats at the side of the stage.
The excitement was unbelievable!!!! All the way from LA, that was all we talked about!
We had contests on what George song he'd play, and we both got it wrong! I said "While my guitar gently weeps". I can't remember what Chris said. It was probably some B side from a single long forgotten (Chris says a lot of crazy stuff after a bit of Vino!!).
The Security was okay, no problem there. The one thing they weren't gonna touch was my ticket. I would have died for that precious piece of gold.
The pre-show build up was very interesting and I think it set the show up real well.
But when Macca finally appeared, all I could think about was George, don't ask me why. But all I could think about was "wow, now there's only 2".
It was always my dream to see George, "my hero". But after the 2nd or 3rd song, the rest of the night wasn't about sadness for the departed, but about happiness in hearing the songs that I grew up on, sung by a man who has the voice who lifts us up to new highs, his new songs were great, but it was a bummer that people didn't get into them enough.
His version of Getting better was brill, and his band was fantastic, this band has balls of steel.
Wix was as good as ever, probably better than 93.
Rusty on lead guitar really has a presence and attitude.
Brian holds the band together real well, and Abe - man, those poor drums. this man is so powerful, I always felt the 93 band was a little too perfect and that one of them should do something left of centre, but it never happened. These guys make you feel like you are 15 again and in your parents garage with your first band, there attitude seems to be " hey dudes, lets pump up the volume and KICK ASS!!!"
A few people had a go at me for standing up, so I just told them " Hey Dudes, we ain't at a funeral-let's party on!!". And guess what, they sure partied on!!! These San Jose folks sure like to rock 'n' roll.
I'd just like to thank the American people for making 2 stupid Australians feel welcome in your great country, and before I finish off, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Paul come to Australia for a concert and bring my San Jose concert goers as well, then we can party again Down Under!!
Remember that old saying...
Ashes to Ashes
Dust to Dust
If ya can't get into Paul singing
Back in the USSR
Then ya hearing aid must
Be bust!!!
My Highlights of the night:
1. The Good lookin' women of San Jose
2. Every Night
3. Blackbird
4. Let It Be (3 Beautiful songs)
5. Freedom (I've now got a sore elbow from pumpin' my arm in the air!!)
6. Hello Goodbye
7. Back in the USSR (I wish I was back in San Jose)
Take Care All You
Beatle/Macca Nuts
PS. John and George in our hearts

Update (4/16/02) From Bryan Barrow:

McCartney in San Jose 4/3/02 - a good show...but not a great one.
I had a good time at Paul’s San Jose show last night; it was great to hear old faves and songs never played live before. My particular faves from the evening were Hello Goodbye, Getting Better, Coming Up, Something, just to name a few. It was amazing that Paul can still hit most of the notes of these songs (although he apparently has changed the keys to a few of them). I hope I age as gracefully as Paul has. The films and light effects were cool. It appeared to me that Paul’s call for applause for John Lennon drew louder cheers than any song that night.
Having said that, there were a few things that kept this enjoyable show from being a great one...
THE BAND -- Rusty’s guitar playing was too grungy for my tastes on many of the songs- even though he handled many solos well (such a Maybe I’m amazed) give me Robbie McIntosh’s clean pop jangle any day. Abe’s drumming worked on the DR songs and some of the other solo stuff, but IMHO, was a random disaster on many of the Beatle tunes. Too many random fills and counter rythms- just play it like Ringo, man. Abe even managed to mangle the end of the drum solo on “The End”. This band was tighter than, say, the Beatles at Budokan, but nowhere near as tight as Paul’s last two tours. This can add a sense of spontaneaity vs. over-rehearsed slickness, but not always. There were a 3-4 times I noticed bum notes, miscues, timing errors and such. On one song (I forget which one, it was towards the end of the show), Abe was playing the last verse of the song way faster than the rest of the band. Paul and the band were off from each other during Let It Be, when he started the piano break early while the rest of the band went into another verse. Again, no fatal flaws, but noticeably weaker than other bands Paul’s worked with...
THE SOUND -- Although the acoustic songs were generally good sounding, many of the louder electric songs, particularly in the second half of the show, were very mushy sounding, with little distinction between instruments. The bass riff from I saw her standing there was nearly inaudible. I was sitting on the side, lower level, slightly closer than the soundboard. The vocals on the electric numbers seemed mixed too low; maybe this was deliberate to cover some weaknesses in Paul’s voice on the “screamier” numbers. The others’ harmonies sounded fine on the quieter tunes.
THE SETLIST -- Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed pretty much every song Paul played last night, with the possible exception of the non-song “Freedom”. It was more a problem of how the set flowed. The acoustic section was a full 1/3 of the entire show, and for me, made things drag a bit. My theory: This is done to preserve Paul’s voice and stamina. It did provide a sense of intimacy, and Paul’s got guts to play a dozen songs with just him and a guitar/piano in front of an arena full of 15,000 people. I would have shortened the acoustic portion by 3-4 songs and added some more recent tunes. In addition, putting Let It Be, Hey Jude and Long and Winding Road back to back wasn’t the best idea, IMO. One thing that struck me looking at the setlist, was just how many great songs this man has composed in his lifetime. Unfortunately, (IMO) the bulk of the set covered from ‘64-’74, 10 years out of a 40 years (this year) recording career. The 19 year period from ‘81-2000 was not represented at all, and only 2 songs from ‘75-81 were represented. I would have enjoyed hearing any of the following from this later period: I’ve had Enough, Calico Skies, Young Boy, The World Tonight, No Other Baby, Figure of Eight, My Brave Face, Hope of Deliverance, Getting Closer, Lonely Road and Loving Flame were the perfect choices from DR for this tour; the title track and Vanilla Sky should have been dropped IMO.
THE OPENING “ACT” -- Pointless. Pretentious. Pathetic.
(some members of) THE CROWD- of course, this is beyond Paul’s control, but some members of the crowd were factors in making this merely a good, but not great show. During the 89-90 tour, “We Got Married” became known as the “beer/bathroom run” song, where people would head for the exits. In last night’s show, there was a constant stream of people leaving their seats during all the DR songs, Vanilla Sky, and C Moon, as well as a steady trickle throught the entire acoustic set. I must have gotten up and down at least 20 or more times last night (no exaggeration) as people entered/exited our row; at one point my friend and I were the only ones sitting in our row of 22 seats. Many other rows were nearly empty during these songs. I just don’t get it, paying $125 dollars or more to shop for t-shirts and buy beer? In addition, the people behind us talked loudly and constantly throughout the show -- sheesh! I got the feeling that a lot of folks there shelled out big bucks just to say they “saw” Paul McCartney.
I apologize if this sounds like an extended gripe session; remember I did say I had a good time. I just wanted to add a little balance to the glowing reviews (nothing against you guys for loving the show, I just had a different experience than you). I thought it worth noting some things that Paul could have done differently to make this a truly great show and not just “possibly his last tour ever”. I love the Beatles and Macca; they’re the reason I’m a musician, and Paul’s the reason I play a Hofner and Rickenbacker bass guitars. Again, this is all IMHO, and YMMV.

(4/12/02) From Hey Jude:

His review of the San Jose and Oakland shows: http://www.geocities.com/heyjude160/conrevs.htm