Sir Paul McCartney has still got it, and he brought ‘it’ and more with him when he played at Fresno’s Save Mart Center on Wednesday as the first stop on his “One on One” tour.
The 73-year-old musician kept the crowd swaying and grooving with, “old stuff, new stuff and a few things from in-between.” McCartney, who began his music career at the age of 15 when he joined John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, later known as the Beatles, has a massive library of work.
At the Fresno concert, McCartney played over 30 songs. Some from the Beatles like “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Love Me Do,” “We Can Work it Out,” “Eleanor Rigby” and “Let it Be” just to name a few. Other songs like “Band on the Run” and “Blackbird” came from Paul McCartney and Wings, the band he formed with his wife Linda after the Beatles broke up in 1970. McCartney also worked in a few more recent songs like “Temporary Secretary” released in 1980 on his McCartney II album and “FourFiveSeconds” he released in 2015 with singer Rihanna and rapper Kanye West.
McCartney has 18 Grammy Awards under his belt from all the way back in 1965 when The Beatles won Best New Artist, and all the way up to 2014.
He played this show with his passionate and charming style.
McCartney even provided free tickets to seven visually-impaired students from Fresno State’s Services for Students with Disabilities, Fresno State said.
The students attending the concert are Christine Anderson (psychology), Shaela Warkentin (psychology), Hannah Botsford (business), Jedediah Wasden (business ad-management), Mai Vang (liberal studies) all of Fresno, Josephine Renforth (sociology) of Oakhurst, and Danny Vang (social work) of La Verne.
McCartney embodies cool, and in more than one way ”” the guy manages to barely break a sweat, but there is also a genuine appeal to his down-to-earth demeanor. His show included lasers and artful digital displays, yet he keeps things simple. He took the stage wearing a navy blue blazer over a white button-up, after a few songs he shed the blazer.
“That’s the only outfit change of the night folks,” McCartney said.
This stage presence seemed to resonate with fans who were bobbing their heads and singing along through the show. In the crowd there was a feeling of adoration, some fans went so far as to bring clever signs reading “Paul turns me on” and “Paul I wanna hold your hand, let it be.”
“As you’re up here you see these signs but you’re trying to remember the lines and the chords, and how to sing good. A part of your mind says don’t read them,” McCartney said. “Then another part of your head says go on it’s OK have a peek.”
One sign in particular caught McCartney’s attention, it read, “My mom named me Jude ‘cause of you. Sign my mom.” McCartney brought Jude and his mom on stage and he even signed his name across her back.
McCartney would pause every now and then ”” the closest thing to a break he would take ”” to tell a story. After shredding a guitar solo he said was in honor of the late, great Jimi Hendrix, McCartney recalled being at a Hendrix show when he launched in London.
Hendrix’s guitar had been out of tune so he jokingly asked for Eric Clapton to come on stage to tune it, McCartney told.
“And Eric, who was in the crowd, had his head down like, ‘no not me,’” McCartney said.
This story drew a few chuckles from the crowd, but it also reminded of the incredible career McCartney has had and the variety of artists he’s worked with.
Another of McCartney’s stories exemplified the global impact of his music.
After playing “Back in the U.S.S.R.” McCartney shared how he had played in Red Square in Moscow, Russia a few years ago. He said that performance was the first rock concert in the square and his encounters from behind stage shed some insight on the reach of the Beatles’ music.
McCartney said he met Russia’s Defense Minister backstage who upon meeting the singer came up and said, “Very first record I bought was ‘Love Me Do.’”
Another government official approached him and with a thick Russian accent, “We learned to speak English from Beatles’ records,” McCartney said.
The concert reached a emotional moment when McCartney shared his inspiration for “Blackbird.” He said in the sixties when he would hear about America’s Civil Rights struggles he was inspired to write a song that would give any oppressed people hope.
The entire show, music, jokes and memories served to illustrate just how iconic McCarntey is. One could see it in the way members of the crowd would close their eyes at a lyric and be transported back to whatever moment in their life so connected to the music.
The night ended with fiery explosions accompanying “Live and Let Die” followed by crowd favorite “Hey Jude.” At the crowd’s disapproval of his departure McCartney backed up his dedicated character simply said, “I’ll see you next time.”