Not Your Father's Beatle

Let the record show, Paul McCartney remains the greatest musician alive - as talented and relevant as ever.

On Wednesday and Thursday, before a sold out crowd at Historic Fenway Park, McCartney proved age is just a number for the Walrus. The two shows featured roaring sets of nearly 40 songs spanning McCartney's more than nearly five decades of hits.

Wednesday evening at 7:45 sharp as the sun began to set over America's ballpark, the familiar first riffs of "Drive My Car" rippled through the excited crowd and an equally familiar roar lifted young and old out of their seats. Soon 60 somethings were bumping booties with tattooed teenagers, a testament to the timelessness of McCartney's incredible songbook.

The songs range from Beatles mega-hits, McCartney Solo Work, Wings gems and even some new, yet still relevant songs from McCartney's electronic music experiment, the Firemen. McCartney's shows still after all of these years are great communal experiences, with mass singalongs of the thunderous piano masters like "Let it Be," "Hey Jude," and "Live and Let Die" complete with epic fireworks explosions blasting over the Boston skyline. No detail is over the top for the living link to Beatlemania and a classier time in pop culture long past.

McCartney also took time as always to reference the memories of great friends who have since passed. He dusted off a ukulele given to him by George Harrison to play a stirring version of "Something." He also sang "My Love" for his wife and bandmate Linda who died of breast cancer in 1998. And with a tear in his eye, he recounted the things he never had the time to say to friend and songwriting partner John Lennon before performing the soulful ode "Here Today."


"Let's take the mood from the almost suicidal," McCartney joked before moving on to his silly modern jingle "Dance Tonight" of IPod fame. His humor has remained remarkably modest and colloquial.

Perhaps the most amazing feat of the night was the amazing amount of energy and effort McCartney still puts into his live performances. The man arguably has more money, fame, and hits than any artists in history, but it is a testament to his professionalism and talent that while he is overqualified for the senior citizen discount, he feels no need to half ass it.


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Setlist Night One, August 5, 2009

Drive My Car
Jet
Only Mama Knows
Flaming Pie
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
Highway
The Long and Winding Road
My Love
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Calico Skies
Michelle
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Sing the Changes
Band On the Run
Back in the USSR
I'm Down
Something
I've Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore #1
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
I saw Her Standing There
Encore #2
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Sgt Pepper

Setlist Night Two, August 6, 2009

Drive My Car
Jet
Only Mama Knows
Flaming Pie
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
Highway
The Long and Winding Road
My Love
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Calico Skies
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
See 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
Encore #1

Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Encore #2

Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band / The End

All That You Have Is Your Soul

Aside from the fist fight, the Tracy Chapman concert was awesome! I bet that sentence hasn't been said many times.

So we went to see the amazingly talented folk pioneer Tracy Chapman perform at the Calvin Theater on Saturday. Tracy was amazing. She played a set littered with classic favorites like "Fast Car," "The Promise," " Smoke and Ashes," "Baby Can I Hold You Tonight," and "Give Me One Reason." In addition, she also played a number of new tracks including "Sing For You" and "Our Bright Future." She also played stirring covers of Prince's "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" and Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up."

The night began with a great opening set from soulful indie newcomer Gaby Moreno. A native of Guatemala, she sings from the heart with the emotion of a young Sinead O'Connor, but with the funk of artists like Tracy Chapman herself.

Following Moreno, a long wait for Tracy Chapman to take the stage gave the crowd an anxious/excited energy. Soon Chapman soothed any tension with a crooning of "Sing For You."

While she continued to play the classics, the energy increased with each song. Finally, just as the end of the regular set came to a close, and Tracy and her band left the stage, two young girls broke out into a fist fight right next to me, endangering nearby handicapped guests. I was then forced to restrain one of the young girls, while security figured out how to handle the obviously intoxicated girls.

This incident gave me many thoughts not limited to:

• Who gets into a fight at a Tracy Chapman concert?


• What has our World come to when handicapped people cannot feel safe at a folk concert?


• What precautions could the event staff have taken to prevent this type of escalation.

It seemed just as we got the fight under control, Tracey and band took the stage for an encore of Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up." It seemed awkwardly inappropriate for the moment. However, the rendition was really special.

All and all the night turned out to be interesting, exciting, and pretty awesome. If you ever get the chance to see Tracy live, she is not to be missed. And her crowds are almost as engaging as her great songs.

Check her out at one of her next US Tour dates here.