Crystal Wise
A noted vegetarian placed a visit to the cowman’s paradise on Tuesday night, though Paul McCartney was anything but out of place in a cozy, intimate setting.
Perhaps it’s the broccoli that keeps Sir Paul, a British royal in every sense of the word except birthright, so energized – and bloody good, by God.
A month shy of his 80th birthday, the lyricist of Liverpool returned to Fort Worth to take us through a journey of seven decades of his fabled singing and songwriting, gifts from another realm that keep on giving and giving, in front of adoring fans at Dickies Arena who for more than 2 ½ hours hung on his every note like a frog on a fly while he hopped around on a variety of instruments, with little effort from tool to tool.
Many paid a princely sum for the privilege to see him, with tickets on Tuesday going for more than $5,000 in marketplaces where it’s hard to tell if the law of supply and demand or the law of the underworld have jurisdiction. Yet, it was difficult to locate an empty seat.
The appearance was his first stop in Funky Town since 1976 when he dropped by for the kickoff of the historic “Wings Over America” tour, McCartney’s first show in the U.S. since the breakup of the iconic Beatles over a variety of things, not the least of which was, ahem, the encroaching Yoko Ono. Billy Bob's Texas was but a vision, perhaps.
Tuesday’s show was the fourth stop on the current 12-city “Got Back” tour, which continues on Saturday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and ends June 16 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
McCartney intermixed his celebrated lyrics and melodies with great story telling of his life as a performing artist, as well as a member of one of the greatest bands in Western Civilization.
“Hello, Fort Worth,” he greeted an enthused crowd. “We’re going to have fun tonight. Let’s go.”
And off we went on quite a ride through the years, this multigenerational festival underway.
McCartney regaled the audience with timeless Beatles pieces, including opening the night with “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Among the others from the catalogue were “Got to Get You into My Life,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Love Me Do,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Let It Be,” and “Hey Jude.”
“Blackbird,” and “Lady Madonna” made return appearances from the set list of the show 46 years ago at the Fort Worth Convention Center (then the Tarrant County Convention Center).
Crystal Wise
McCartney performed a song he wrote for his wife Nancy, who was at the concert, “My Valentine.” His run with the Wings was also well represented. “Junior’s Farm,” “Let Me Roll It,” “Band on the Run,” and “Live and Let Die” made the set list.
“Live and Let Die” was accompanied by a pyrotechnics display seemingly unseen since Mrs. O’Leary’s cow in Chicago, circa 1871. Sitting in the front rows came with yet another ticket fee: eyebrows.
“Amazing,” said Susan Highsmith, one of a large contingent of out-of-towners who made the pilgrimage to Fort Worth for the show. (That’s dollars in the local economy, by the way.) Highsmith traveled from Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her daughter Sadie Barbee. How big a fan is Highsmith? She named Sadie after the song “Sexy Sadie,” a track off the 1968 “White Album.”
That’s the kind of story a writer dreams stumbling over. Continue, please, Ms. Highsmith.
“The end was amazing. The encore was great. Abbey Road is my favorite album. To hear ‘Golden Slumbers’ was unexpected. I loved all of it.”
“I’ve Got a Feeling,” off the Let It Be album, was part of the most touching moments of the show.
Apart for more than 50 years on stage, McCartney and John Lennon — considered by many to be one of the most successful songwriting partnerships in rock ‘n roll history — were together again as a duet, thanks to Peter Jackson, the director of the critically acclaimed documentary series “Get Back.”
Jackson, through the miracle of technology I wouldn’t understand even if you fed it to me in the form of TX Whiskey, was able to separate Lennon’s vocal track on “I've Got a Feeling” so that McCartney could sing to it. Behind McCartney was footage of Lennon performing his parts.
Earlier in the show, McCartney performed “Here Today,” a song in the form of a letter he wrote to Lennon after his death in 1982 that describes their complex relationship.
McCartney also paid homage to another fallen Beatle, George Harrison, who died in 2001, with “Something,” it, too, a work off of “Abbey Road,” written by Harrison.
As for this Beatle, the speculation that goes with entering your ninth decade of life includes retirement. Or does it?
“We’ll see you next time,” he said as he took a final bow and departed.
