Paul McCartney - Firefly 2015

Festival Plan: My familiarity with The Beatles was enough for me to know for certain that I would be going to see Paul McCartney perform.

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Paul McCartney with a 12-string guitar on the big screen.

Paul McCartney on stage.

Relevant Links:
Paul McCartney at Firefly 2015 (setlist.fm)*
Paul McCartney (Wikipedia.org)
*On 20150706, I attempted to combine Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, and The End together as a medley. However, apparently other Paul McCartney setlists on setlist.fm keep them separated and the change got reverted. Oh well, on my blog they'll be together as one!

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Pre-Festival Thoughts:
Going into the festival, I knew that I would enjoy McCartney's performance of popular Beatles songs, and it would be fun to sing along to those. At the same time, I realistically acknowledged that I really like The Beatles, but I don't love them.

Furthermore, I knew he would also be performing songs from his solo career and songs from his time with Wings and aside from one or two songs, I was largely unfamiliar with these songs.

After listening through a combination of his recent setlists, I rated Sir Paul McCartney 7 out of 10 for the music and a 10 out of 10 for my desire to see him perform. Remark: individually, many of the songs are great.

Eventually the blazer/suit jacket has come off.
Miniature/real Paul McCartney is the set of white pixels in the lower left.

Excellent*: 'Let It Be' [3+], 'Hey Jude' [2+], 'We Can Work It Out' [2+], 'Carry That Weight' [2+], 'Golden Slumbers (Medley)' [2+]
Above Average: 'Drive My Car', 'Lady Madonna', 'Maybe I'm Amazed', 'All My Loving', 'New'
Slightly Above Average: 'Let Me Roll It', 'Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five', 'I've Just Seen A Face', 'Another Day', 'And I Love Her', 'Back In The USSR'

You can see miniature/real Paul McCartney 
with his guitarists in the lower left.

On The Fence: 'Save Us', 'Every Night', 'Jet'
*Songs with 2 or more '+'s are considered 'Excellent'. The number of '+'s are found in brackets.

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Setlist:
1) Birthday (The Beatles song)
2) Save Us
3) Got to Get You into My Life (The Beatles song)

4) Let Me Roll It (Wings song)
-- using the same guitar (yellow sunburst) that was used to record the song in the 60s:
5) Paperback Writer (The Beatles song)
-- tells a story about the whammy bar sending electric guitars out of tune
6) My Valentine

-- dedicated to Wings fans:
7) Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings song) -- piano
8) The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles song)
9) Maybe I'm Amazed
10) I've Just Seen a Face (The Beatles song)
11) We Can Work It Out (The Beatles song)

'Something' on the ukulele.

12) Another Day
13) And I Love Her (The Beatles song)
14) Blackbird (The Beatles song)
-- conversation we never got to have (after John passed), dedicated to John Lennon:
15) Here Today

McCartney's touring Abraham "Abe" Laboriel, Jr.

-- from recent album (called NEW):
16) New
-- another track from the same album:
17) Queenie Eye
18) Lady Madonna (The Beatles song)
19) Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles song)

20) [setlist.fm says this song is 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles song)']
-- says George Harrison was a great ukulele player and John plays 'Something' (written by Harrison) on the ukulele:
21) Something (The Beatles song) -- ukulele
22) Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles song)

23) Band on the Run (Wings song)
24) Back in the U.S.S.R. (The Beatles song)
25) Let It Be (The Beatles song)
26) Live and Let Die (Wings song) -- pyrotechnics & fireworks
27) Hey Jude (The Beatles song)

'Live and Let Die'

-- Encore:
E1) Hi, Hi, Hi (Wings song)
E2) Can't Buy Me Love (The Beatles song)
-- girl with a tattoo of Paul McCartney gets her wish of having him sign her arm right next to the tattoo
E3) Helter Skelter (The Beatles song)

'Can't Buy Me Love'

-- Encore 2:
E4) Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End

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Post-Festival Thoughts:
Paul McCartney has a great onstage personality and put on a great show. After seeing him perform, I would definitely listen to more of his recorded live performances as well as his most recent album release.

After the end of the first encore, McCartney heads to the piano and plays Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End.

On a related note, in addition to listening to separate songs that were part of recent setlists, I should have also listened to various live albums.

With that being said, I barely got through listening to each artist once; my Firefly 2015 (recent setlists/albums) Spotify playlist consists of 1,441 songs spanning 91 hours 35 minutes.

Where my friends and I were standing (way back).
It's nice, because there we can set out a blanket and sit down.
By the end of the day, this is quite a treat.