Paul McCartney is smarter than all of us put together. For his new tour–which began in Fresno, California last night–McCartney put in a bunch of songs he hasn’t done before, or done rarely. You can do that when you have over 500 songs in your repertoire.
He opened with “A Hard Day’s Night,” which he’s never included in solo or Wings shows. He also performed “You Won’t See Me” for the first time ever in the US, and first time at all since 2004.
And the thing is, Paul looks almost better than he did in 2004. He’s almost 74, he looks and acts 20 years younger.
He included “Hi Hi Hi” which has had a few plays in recent years but almost none before 2014.
McCartney made sure to resurrect “In Spite of the Danger,” included on the Beatles’ Anthology and only just this last week available for streaming to a whole new audience. It’s just about the first song the group recorded together.
He’s also performing “Four Five Seconds,” the song he wrote for Rihanna and Kanye West last year. He wrote it, they didn’t, and I wish he’d made a recording of it for his new box set.
McCartney also brought back Beatles favorites “Fool on the Hill” and “Here, There, and Everywhere.”
So think of it: he’s now running the gamut from his very very first thing– “Danger” — to his most recent– “Four Five Seconds”– spanning almost 60 years. Amazing. Twenty six of the thirty eight songs are Beatles numbers. I actually wish he did a little more solo stuff– get rid of “Temporary Secretary” and add in “My Love” or “Another Day.” But hey, every show could be four hours that way!
I will go just to see these additions. I slept outside in a parking lot in 1976 for Wings Over America. At least I don’t have to do that again. But I still have the t shirt!
