Sunday: Continental breakfast (with make-your own waffles?!), and then we sauntered around the largest mall in North America for several hours. I even bought a sweater or two, between watching the seal show and getting a snack from a food court. Then off to St Albert where, because we did a terrible job of planning our day, we spent a couple hours in a coffee shop doing crossword puzzles. Then dinner at a Ukranian restaurant. Pretty good stuff. Then, off to The Show.
And it was good! I mean, hey, don't get me wrong, the dude is gettin' up there in years. But given his age, his vocals were wonderful. Even more impressive was that he was able to cruise through a 3 hour show without any breaks. Some personal highlights:
- Nineteen Hundred Eighty Five. No woodwind solo though, which was a disappointment.
- Ukulele version of Something. The Concert for George version was much better, but it was still cool to see it done love.
- I've Got a Feeling. Good jam.
- Band on the Run
- Let it Be, played back-to-back with Live and Let Die (which included an unexpected pyrotechnics show). I found the combination of the two really moment.
- Four Five Seconds. Kinda weird to see it with a more classic-rock inspired vibe rather than contemporary pop/hip-hop.
- Ending out the show with the Abbey Road medley. That was, just, absolutely sublime.
The acoustics were terrible. Maybe I've always been an old grumpy man at heart, but I don't think that volume = quality. Everything needed to take a few steps back away from the Wall of Sound. It was just too much.
And Paul, dear Paul... He's a professional performer, that's for sure. I don't think I felt any special connection between him and the audience. Waving a Canadian flag around just felt like pandering. He also told a bunch of stories and anecdotes which I've already heard and read almost word-for-word from articles and videos of other concerts. We could've been in any other audience anywhere else in the world and I suspect the show would've been pretty much the same. He's a good entertainer, for sure. But I didn't quite feel like it was as much of an intimate experience as other shows I've attended. He was about a half step up from when I saw Rod Stewart.
Okay, so it sounds like I didn't have a good time, but that's not true. It was a good show, magical even. But I think a large portion of that fancy sparkle dust came from the sheer virtue of being on of the last remaining Beatles. And I'm damn glad that I was able to see one of the Beatles perform live (Paul McCartney, no less!).
Take that, bucket list. You're officially one item shorter.
-Cril
Oh please believe me, I'd hate to miss the train
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
And if you leave me I won't be late again
Oh no, oh no, oh no.
Yeah, I've got a feeling, yeah.
All these years I've been wandering around,
Wondering how come nobody told me
All that I was looking for was somebody
Who looked like you.
I've got a feeling, that keeps me on my toes
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
I've got a feeling, I think that everybody knows
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I've got a feeling, yeah.
Yeah
Beatles - I've Got a Feeling
