smiling on foot

Have I mentioned that I saw the most impressive, most memorable, most phenomenal concerts of all time (minus that of Mr. Eric Clapton’s, of course)? No, I didn’t tell you? Well, let me tell you now that any sort of pre-vacation funk I was in last week was immediately lifted when I stood in Boston’s Fenway Park and thoroughly enjoyed the talents of Mr. Paul McCartney! When tickets became available a couple of months ago, I contemplated purchasing some but they were over 100 bucks and I never pay that much for tickets. Plus, I don’t know anyone who would pay that much and go with me either. (This is when a boyfriend would come in handy.) My co-worker friend, LW, has a great sister who purchased her a ticket for LW’s birthday and they were going with 2 other friends. I was so jealous. When it was the day before the first show, I kept hearing my favorite classic rock station talking all about the show and it was making me a little crazy. I was seriously thinking of just buying a ticket for myself and sitting alone in Fenway Park so I could see the dreamiest Beatle perform – a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, for sure. But to not enjoy it with anyone kind of makes it not worth it for me, so I did not buy that ticket. Good thing, though, because I received a text Wed. evening (the eve of the 2nd show) that one of LW’s attendees had bronchitis and would I like to buy her ticket for Thursday’s show! I was so happy that I barely slept that night.

The girls and I had a little pre-party in the outdoor seating at Game On before finding the “Roof Box” seats. (FYI, there is no direction in that park for anything called “roof box.” We must’ve asked 6 guys where to go before finding our seats.) Our seats were amongst a lot of older people and families so we chose to stand in the walkway above our seats, which worked well for dancing and swaying side to side through all the love songs. :)

That man is a machine… he went from the electric, to the acoustic, to the piano, to the ukulele… Basically, he never sang a song without simultaneously playing an instrument. It was overwhelming. Every song was played with perfection and we knew the words to almost all of them. He told stories as if he were on MTV’s Unplugged (of which he was indeed an Unplugged performer in 1991 and yours truly listens to the Paul McCartney Unplugged album quite frequently). He played a little ‘Foxy Lady’ for his old friend Jimi H., he played a beautiful love song for Linda, he performed ‘Here Today’ which was a song he wrote for John Lennon shortly after his passing and dedicated ‘Something’ to Mr. George Harrison, who wrote that song presumably for Pattie Boyd. There were many songs that inspired me to want to learn them on either piano or guitar. Here is the set list for the Boston shows:

Drive My Car
Jet
Only Mama Knows
Flaming Pie
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
Highway
The Long and Winding Road
My Love
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Calico Skies
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
See the Changes
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I’m Down
Something
I’ve Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life / Give Peace a Chance
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / The End

I took many photos of Sir Paul and the girls that night. Click here to view.

I also uploaded some video of ‘Here Today’ – which is the song he wrote for John Lennon. The words of this song are what he imagined he’d say to John if he had one more chance to speak with him: