McCartney Times

NEWARK — There’s a certain gravity to any Paul McCartney concert.Everyone in attendance knows they are witnessing one of rock’s consummate songwriters — perhaps the single greatest harbinger of modern pop — revisit some of the most transcendent tunes ever penned.On his ongoing “One-on-One” tour Sir Paul plays, in succession: “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” “Let It Be,” “Live and Let Die,” “Hey Jude,” and “Yesterday.” Is there a more significant 15 minutes of live music left to be heard on this planet? And who knows how much longer McCartney, 75, is going to play these marathon engagements. But Monday night at Prudential Center felt particularly momentous; it was Sept. 11, a day that affected and still connects all Americans in remembrance, but not quite like an audience in Newark — New Jerseyans and New Yorkers who saw the smoke and panic firsthand in 2001, and who likely noticed the two beams of light blasted from the WTC site and into the Manhattan skyline as they drove home from the arena last night.”We are going to dedicate this show to the people involved in what happened 16 years ago,” McCartney said at the outset, to a swell of cheers from the sold-out crowd, his first of back-to-back nights at The Rock. “We are against prejudice, oppression and violence, and we are for friendship and freedom.” Paul McCartney performs during his ‘One on One’ tour at the Prudential Center. Newark, N.J., 9/11/2017. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Paul McCartney performs during his ‘One on One’ tour at the Prudential Center. Newark, N.J., 9/11/2017. (Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)On a day that typically unifies us all in grief, McCartney — a human rights activist dating back to “Blackbird” and The Beatles — united 15,000 fans for three hours of happy song.There was no intermission, only a smartly drawn set playbook to keep the aging singer fresh; after a pair of bluesy guitar jams on “Let Me Roll It” and “I’ve Got A Feeling,” McCartney sat at his baby grand piano for the softer “My Valentine” (written for current wife Nancy) and “Maybe I’m Amazed” (written for late wife Linda). A tight four-piece band played along, each member singing back-up to boost the vocals. The sprawling 38-song set was virtually identical to the one McCartney rolled out on his first U.S. leg last summer, which visited MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford Aug. 7, 2016: it was a fair balance of Beatles staples, Wings cuts and solo stuff, but the staging in the arena was a little different. A rising platform that ascended two stories high while McCartney strummed “Blackbird” and “Here Today,” the latter written for John Lennon in 1982, with “a conversation we never got to have.” Perhaps the most marked change between the MetLife and Prudential shows was the venue size; an arena isn’t exactly intimate but it felt like an old Liverpool parlor compared to the enormity of a football stadium. The rock legend felt much closer. Per the “One-on-One” tour moniker McCartney was candid and quick with a story, telling tales of how he became the first rock artist to play the Red Square in Cold War-era Russia, and government officials told him they learned English through the band’s records, or when the group first entered the Abbey Road studio to record with George Martin, a young Paul was petrified to sing the lead chorus. “I can still hear the terror in my voice,” he joked.

Source: Paul McCartney dedicates N.J. concert to 9/11 victims, rocks marathon set (PHOTOS) | NJ.com