Sentimental Jamboree

July 11, 2017

 



Kathy, Morgan, Marky, Wendy and Scott 

Liz and Puddles





Sentimental Jamboree 

I am not sure how many times I have seen Paul McCartney in concert, I know that since he started touring regularly in 1990, I have tried to catch at least one show every tour and that I have seen him live at least once in each of the past four years including his set at Lollapalooza in 2015 and last year as part of the massive Desert Trip concert. I keep going back for a number of reasons, mostly because he is one of the iconic figures in modern rock music, but also he puts on a damn fine show. 



 



This year, his tour sort of snuck up on me, even though I had ordered tickets months ago when they first went on-sale, there just has not been much publicity about his current One on One tour’s stop in Miami. Kathy and I drove up on Friday afternoon and checked in to the InterContinental Hotel just a few blocks from the American Airlines Arena and after a quick meal, walked down to the venue.







We had good seats about twelve rows up on the side and the show started just after eight, with McCartney and his band taking the stage for what would be about a three hour non-stop amazing set of 39 songs. Most bands play between 15-20 songs in 75 to 90 minute sets so this was beyond impressive, especially since the man is 75 and still looks and sounds amazing.

 



The set was heavy on classic Beatles and Wings songs though it spanned the time from the very first song he ever recorded with the Quarrymen, “In Spite of all the Danger” right up to his most recent release from last year that he put out with Rhianna and Kanye West, “FourFiveSeconds”. In between was a collection of some of the greatest songs in rock history. 





The cool thing is that he could have played a totally different 39 song set and still not duplicated and of the classic songs that he has written or been a part of singing. He managed to honor his fellow Beatles, his late wife Linda, his current wife and former Producer Sir George Martin in his song choices and he delivered a rousing set that had the Miami crowd as energized as I have ever seen a crowd in Miami (which tends to have a more subdued audience than many places). 







Adam, Pam and JJ

It was certainly one of the finest shows that I have seen this year and equaled the two other excellent shows of his that I caught at Lollapalooza and This Desert Trip. I think the fact that it was the first night of the second leg of this tour, coming after a nice rest helped make the show more on point and the band more energetic. Saturday morning we were back on the road early heading home to Key West, we had to attend a memorial service and we also have friends visiting this week.

Kathy and Pam







Kathy’s good friend Pam and her two sons J.J. and Adam are in Key West this week and staying with us. Pam and Kathy are long-time friends in fact when Kathy first moved to Key West 26 years ago, she came with Pam who lived with her during her first year here before moving back North. She was making her first visit to Key West in nearly 16 years and it was both of her sons first visit ever and it has had us enjoying playing tourist this week.



Dani, Puddles, Emma and Charles 

Travis, Chris, Mike and Kelly

Playing tourist had us going out to frequent dinners, spending an evening watching the sunset at Mallory Square and even going snorkeling at Looe Key. It is nice sometimes to see the place you live through the eyes of new visitors and this really isn’t too bad a place to be a visitor after all.
Finally this week saw the return of one of the favorite acts to grace the stage at the Key West Theater with the return of Puddles Pity Party. This was my third time seeing Puddles perform and the second go round for Kathy as his sold out show returned once again to Key West where he has been a beloved performer since first appearing here a few years ago. 

Nick, Puddles and Travis 





Puddles and Jack



Fresh off his appearance on “America’s Got Talent”, Puddles was back in Key West for an encore performance of his traveling show featuring singing, comedy and just plain old good times. It is virtually impossible to accurately do justice to Puddles, his act is one that you just have to see for yourself, which I highly recommend if you ever get the chance. He has an ability to bring out emotions in the audience that is uncanny especially since he is a 6’8” tall clown who does not speak other than to sing with his golden voice.







 





http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/paul-mccartney-gives-the-people-what-they-want-at-aaa-9479116
 
http://www.puddlespityparty.com/