Maybe I’m Amazed

October 7, 2018











Maybe I’m Amazed

I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been able to see Paul McCartney every year for the past 5 or 6 years and when I learned that he was going to be headlining the first day of the ACL Festival, I was beyond thrilled. His shows have consistently placed in the top 10 of my annual live music reviews since I started making that list. Last year’s show at the American Airlines arena in Miami came in as the second best show I saw in 2017 and previous shows, whether seeing him headline Lollapalooza, performing at the Desert Trip or solo shows have all been spectacular.











It was McCartney’s first time ever at ACL and judging by the massive turnout to see his set, it was an exceedingly popular choice. I have been to ACL perhaps a dozen times and seen many amazing headliners, but the mass gathered to see McCartney was the largest crowd I had ever seen for a single performer, I am guessing that maybe 75,000 were focused on his show and the crowd stretched through more than half of the total massive grounds.



Thankfully, I had thought ahead and positioned myself as close as I possibly could, choosing to stay at the American Express stage after watching the National along with a lot of other diehard fans, many who had no idea who the National was, but knowing if they had any chance of getting close for McCartney, they had to position themselves early. Thankfully the National availed themselves quite nicely, delivering a great set that no doubt earned them some new fans in the McCartney crowd.











From the classic opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night” through two and a half hours and a fantastic thirty-one song set that covered every aspect of the icon’s musical career to the amazing closing strains of “The End” and its iconic lyric, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”, McCartney wowed the crazed crowd.









I would be a little nit-picking to say that at times Paul’s voice was a little thin and raspy and he can’t quite hit the notes on “Live and Let Die” that he once did, but what can you say, the man is 76 and still performing at a remarkably high level. Overall I thought it was yet another amazing show filled with legendary songs that define multiple generations of rock music fans.









Covering everything from his earliest Quarrymen days, with a huge selection of classic Beatles songs, through his Wings catalog, which over time has evolved from woefully underappreciated to being considered classic in itself all the way up to songs from his latest release “Egypt Station”, McCartney’s brilliance and impact on rock music were evident. Even the brand new songs held up pretty well, which is not an easy thing to pull off for most classic musicians.











I was so happy to be there that I stayed to the very end, something I rarely do at ACL because of the traffic issues, opting to walk the three miles back to my downtown hotel rather than wait for hours for the shuttle bus or taxi. It was worth it as it was just an amazingly fantastic experience.





Paul McCartney is touring the US now in support of his new CD and if you get the opportunity you really need to go. I always tell myself this could possibly be my last opportunity to see him live and one of these times that may be true, but until them I am thankful to have had multiple chances to see this legend.