Back to web version
Paul McCartney's Sprint Center concert was one of the best ever
By TIMOTHY FINNThe Kansas City Star
When tickets went on sale for Paul McCartney’s first show in Kansas City in more then 17 years, the ticket prices — as high as $250 — made even some hard-core Beatles fans mutter.
In his Saturday night show at the Sprint Center, McCartney took some of the sting out of that sticker shock.
The show lasted about 12 minutes shy of three hours. The setlist included more than three dozen songs and touched many phases of his Beatles, Wings and solo careers.
McCartney, who turned 68 in June, sang every one of those songs in a voice that started off strong and did not falter all night.
He also played an array of instruments — bass, guitar (lead and rhythm), ukulele, mandolin, piano — and acted like a cheerleader, master of ceremonies and curator of the music that made him a legend. Of the 15,000-plus who attended this show, most, I’m assuming, will put it down as one of their favorite shows ever, and not because they’re rationalizing the ticket price.
It was one of those shows — certainly the year’s best, certainly among the best ever at the Sprint Center and probably among anyone’s shows of a lifetime.
Expectations were high coming in; he exceeded them. He opened with some classic Wings, “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” and then “Jet,” from the “Band on the Run” album. Then came “All My Loving,” the first of 23 Beatles songs.
For the first third of the show, he shuffled them among his post-Beatle catalog, songs like “Highway” from his “Fireman” album and “Let Me Roll It,” which he appended with “Foxy Lady” as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. McCartney was all business most of the night, but he sprinkled some light chit-chat and anecdotes into his performance.
He kept saying how glad he was to be in Kansas (he was pardoned for that), but he also grunted a few lines of “Kansas City,” the one from ”Oklahoma!”
He did not acknowledge Ringo Starr, but he paid tribute to the Beatles who have passed on, first with “Here Today,” a hymn for John Lennon. A few songs later, for George Harrison, he played a version of “Something” that started off as a jaunty ukelele number, that turned quickly into something heavier.
All the while, black-and-white images of Harrison appeared on the screen behind McCartney and the band. Later, he would end “A Day In The Life” with choruses of “Give Peace a Chance.”
He brought a four-piece band that added lots of bright, clean harmonies and played the best-known parts of the best-known songs close to the ways everyone knows them.
The show, which plateaued a bit during the first hour, picked up steam in the second, starting with “My Love,” then a version of “I’ve Just Seen a Face” that had some Buck Owens flavor.
When the crowd gave that one a big ovation, McCartney dubbed this “cowboy country.” He would toss in a couple recent numbers, like the frothy ditty “Dance Tonight,” and then another “Fireman” song, the joyous “Sing the Changes,” in which he proved he can out-anthem Springsteen andBon Jovi combined.
The show took off from there, to another level of energy and connection between him, his band and the crowd.
McCartney’s stamina was astounding. So was his ability to change gears. Like going from the warm and honeyed version of “Yesterday” to the primal screaming of “Helter Skelter.” Or from “Let It Be” to “Live and Let Die” and then “Hey Jude,” which ignited the loudest sing-along.
In the end, maybe money can’t buy you love, but it can sure buy you three unforgettable hours of nostalgia and joy.