Forty-four years after The Beatles played Shea Stadium in 1965, Paul McCartney returned to Citi Field for the first of three sold-out shows.
First off, the man looked great. I’m sure he dyes his hair and has had a face lift, but if I look half that good at 67 I’ll feel pretty good.
The place was packed and McCartney alluded two or three times to the Aug. 15, 1965 show and how bad the sound system was and how the Fab Four couldn’t hear a thing “because of all the screaming girls.”
He flashed a grin, cupped his hand to his ear and awaited for the ladies to scream once again. They faithfully obliged.
“Long time since I was here,” McCartney said. “I’ve got a feeling that we’re going to have a little bit of fun tonight.”
He played a ton of Beatles, Wings and solo stuff, dedicating one song to his late wife, Linda, and another to John Lennon. He also played “Something” in honor of George Harrison.
A diverse musician, he played bass, guitar, mandolin, ukulele and piano.
I thought I was leaving 3 or 4 times, but he kept coming out again and again.
Here’s the full setlist:
“Drive My Car”
“Jet”
“Only Mama Knows”
“Flaming Pie”
“Got To Get You Into My Life”
“Let Me Roll It”
“Highway”
“The Long and Winding Road”
“My Love”
“Blackbird”
“Here Today”
“Dance Tonight”
“Calico Skies”
“Mrs. Vanderbilt”
“Eleanor Rigby”
“Sing the Changes ”
“Band on the Run”
“Back in the U.S.S.R.”
“I’m Down”
“Something”
“I’ve Got a Feeling”
“Paperback Writer”
“A Day in the Life”/”Give Peace a Chance”
“Let It Be”
“Live and Let Die”
“Hey Jude”
Encores
“Day Tripper”
“Lady Madonna”
“I Saw Her Standing There (with Billy Joel)
“Yesterday”
“Helter Skelter”
“Get Back”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)”/”The End”
CRONKITE DEAD AT 92
I got home from the show after midnight to learn that legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite had died at 92.
My wife Jen and I actually shared a small plane from New York to Martha’s Vineyard with Cronkite a few years back. He looked the same as he always did, but was frail and needed a wheelchair once we got off the plane.
I only remember the end of the Cronkite Era on television, but every journalist knows Cronkite was the gold standard in reporting and broadcasting.
Known as “the most trusted man in America,” millions of Americans welcomed him into their living room each night to tell them about the Vietnam War and other historic events like the moon landing, Watergate and the Mideast peace process.
He was the man who informed most of American that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas in 1963.
Times have changed and we’ll never see another man like this one.
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.
