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“Het is goed hier weer te zijn”. I must admit that I am now more enthusiastic about the fact that I have seen Paul McCartney live again, then I was before the concert. A long train journey, standing for over three hours in the middle of all these other people to see a small figure on stage, didn't really excite me. It also didn't help that I have heard many recordings of Paul's recent concerts, and apart from some song changes there aren't that many differences between the shows. The Beatle songs are a note for note perfect copy of the originals, and much of the talk and jokes are the same. Having said that though, witnessing a live concert is a different and great experience, especially together with friends. Certainly better then watching a dvd. Then his last concert in the Netherlands was already six years ago. Paul's voice sounded really good and "Magical Mystery Tour" provided a great start for what was going to be a fantastic concert. It's different then when you are in a small venue where you get a chance to see the artist up close, but we all had fun. "Drive My Car" and "Jet" followed after which he addressed the audience in Dutch, "het is goed hier weer te zijn" "good to be here again". While I think Paul shouldn't be ashamed to play songs from his latest albums, "Only Mama Knows" didn't come across that well live I thought. "Flaming Pie" was nice to hear again. Some of the well known songs like "The Long And Winding Road" and even "Hey Jude" didn't do that much for me personally. Still hearing the Beatle songs live was special. But I realised it more during songs like "Got To Get You Into My Life" when I thought, this is really that track from "Revolver" and I am hearing it live now, then when I was singing along at the end of "Hey Jude". "Let Me Roll It" is always great to hear, no matter how many times he performs the song. After the extended end into Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" we got the familiar story about how Hendrix played "Sgt. Pepper's" shortly after it's released, new to me however was the joke about Hendrix asking Eric Clapton to tune his guitar. There will always be a debate of course about which songs he should play live and which not. Why "Dance Tonight", where is "Maybe I am Amazed" or some more Wings songs like "Getting Closer". But there really is little to complain about and "Dance Tonight" really works live and was one of the songs I had the most fun with. "Ob-La-Di, Ob- La-Da" seems also questionable to me, but it's another great live song and together with "Mrs. Vandebilt" a real crowd pleaser. I was really the most curious about the Fireman songs and the versions of "Highway" and my favourite "Sing The Changes" didn't disappoint. Also hearing the new song "(I want to ) Come Home" was a highlight for me. Before " A Day In The Life", there were some problems with the sound of Paul's bass, and the song had to be started again. Paul did point out that the false start proved that it was indeed live and nothing was on tape. There were also the tributes to John and George and "My Love". Along with the already mentioned personal highlights, I thought it was nice to hear "And I Love Her" , a song I never heard live before. Two songs I did hear in 2003 but were fantastic to hear again were "I've Got A Feeling" and "Helter Skelter" But the whole concert was a fantastic experience, and it proves that Paul is long away from retiring.
1. Magical Mystery Tour
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