123. Sir Paul

A friend of mine posted a status that said, “Life is too short, buy the damn concert tickets.” I saw that after I had purchased tickets to go see Paul McCartney. I knew I had made the right choice.

I at first didn’t think about buying tickets to go see the former Beatle. I thought they’d be a little to expensive and it was in the middle of the week. I didn’t even know he was coming until a few weeks ago. I decided to get the tickets after I had visited Prince’s star by first ave. I saw a giant banner at the Target Center advertising the concert. I loved the Beatles. Sir Paul probably wouldn’t be touring for very much longer. I decided I had to go.

Surprisingly, I found pretty reasonable tickets. I had paid in the $80’s for cheap seats for major acts, and I expected the same for Sir Paul. However, I found some nosebleed seats for around 100 bucks all together. I thought that was good for him.

I went into the concert with low expectations. I saw Bob Dylan a while back and I wasn’t impressed. I thought it’d be the same for Paul. I was pleasantly surprised. He mainly played Beatles stuff with some of his better-known solo numbers. He started it off with “A Hard Day’s Night” and played his Hofner bass. I loved it. It was a pretty diverse crowd in terms of age, and lots of people were singing along. Katie and I were dancing in our seats.

Singing along to “Ob La Di, Ob La Da” was a highlight of the concert. It’s such a weird and fun song that you can sing along to easily. I also loved “Live and Let Die.” There were pyrotechnics to go along with the song. Fire shot up along to the keyboard riff that Paul played. Quite awesome. Paul also ended with my favorite Beatles lyric, “And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.”

Paul probably could have just done his songs and been on with it, but he took time in between songs to chat with the crowd. He talked about Prince, John Lennon, George Harrison, George Martin and told some fun anecdotes to go along with it. You really don’t expect a member of the Beatles to act like he’s your fun uncle telling stories.

I appreciate people who enjoy what they’re doing and make their joy known to those around them. It felt real and it felt like he wasn’t tired, even after 50-plus years of recording. It’s probably easy to get tired of playing a song like “Let it Be.” I wouldn’t blame him if he had lost his passion for it after singing it night after night, but Paul seemed energetic and happy to be out performing for fans. I wonder if he’s thought about the children and grandchildren of the original Beatles’ fans he’s entertained.

I’m glad I went. I’m glad there are still pleasant surprises in the world. And I’m glad you can still get your money’s worth from big time names.