This article was originally published on beingtheremag.com, an independent music and film magazine that ran from 2004 to 2007. It is presented here as part of the Being There Magazine archive.
By Adam Anklewicz | Being There Magazine, November/December 2005
Venue: the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Date: October 10, 2005
What can you say about a Beatle? Well, there’s actually a lot to say, about all of them. Paul McCartney has disappointed me many times in his career. Give My Regards To Broadstreet is perhaps the worst post-Beatle album, worse than Ringo’s I Wanna Be Santa Claus. “Ebony & Ivory” should not exist, and I can’t think of anything redeeming about “Say Say Say.” As bad as the 1980s treated so many great musicians, McCartney perhaps got the worst of it. He was, however, able to get out of that funk…. slowly, but he did it, and by 1996 he was arguably releasing his best material. Flaming Pie and Rushes (the latter released as The Fireman) are definitely among his best work. Now ten years later, his albums are a happy medium between the amazing and the dreadful. His touring however is unbeatable.
The show started with a short biographical film of McCartney’s life. Why? I don’t know. I think most people who were in the audience already knew who Paul McCartney is and that he used to be in two popular bands, The Beatles and Wings. Once that settled down, McCartney and his band stepped out onto a floor of displays showing psychedelic imagery as they performed “Magical Mystery Tour,” a song from a Beatles film and album of the same name.
How can it get better than a set list that includes “Helter Skelter”, “Yesterday”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, “Got To Get You Into My Life” and “For No One”? Well maybe if he played some of his lesser known, but amazing songs like “Flaming Pie,” “Too Many People” and even “Mull Of Kintyre” (complete with pipeband). And that’s what he did, playing nearly 40 songs from the 40-plus years that McCartney has been recording music.
I have to admit that there were a few things that bothered me a tiny bit, but not enough to deduct marks. McCartney’s voice sounded too sweet to sing the raunchy rockers like “Helter Skelter” and “I’ve Got A Feeling.” The harmonies however between McCartney and his backing band, specifically drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., were quite amazing. The band seemed as if this was the best show they ever played, and watching Laboriel on drums was always worth a laugh, over-animated as he hammed up his performance.
McCartney took the very large stage alone for a great chunk of the performance, playing some new songs (“Jenny Wren”, “English Tea”) and classics (“Blackbird” and “I Will”) with occasional help from band members such as Paul “Wix” Wickens who played the “For No One” French horn part on keyboard.
Though the entire show was a highlight, nothing can beat a pipeband. For the third time since 1993’s world tour, the Peel Regional Police Pipeband joined McCartney on stage, in Toronto only, for “Mull Of Kintyre.” The song is definitely not his best, but it has always been a favourite of mine, probably because it was one of the first songs I learned to play on guitar, though I never had pipers backing me up.
Though McCartney appeared only to be an inch high, and an air conditioning unit above us was often louder than the stage banter, he put on an amazing performance that could make any touring “legend” feel ashamed. His shows are something that most musicians should aspire to, but very few could pull off what McCartney did, and supposedly does every night of his tour. McCartney is definitely deserving of the legendary status he has.