Sir Paul McCartney conquered the Coachella Valley Friday night with tales of all the lonely people, a Fireman and bands on the run.
Two things struck me about his set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on Friday–McCartney’s comment about change and President Obama was the first time a headliner wasn’t raging against an administration during my tenure covering the festival, and the fact that wow, he can play a lot of instruments.
I think McCartney played the bass, piano, guitar, ukulele and something else.
He opened the set with the Wings’ hit “Jet” and overall he played everything from a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song (“Hi Ho Silver”) to the best of his Beatles’ collection (“Yesterday,” “Hey Jude,” “Let It Be) and the best of his fellow Beatles’ collections (“Something” on the aforementioned ukulele and “A Day in the Life”).
He also performed songs from his “Fireman” project and told stories and also had really emotional moments, such as when he told the crowd how the night was the 11th anniversary of the death of his wife, Linda, before dedicated “My Love” to her.
The crowd was strange–baby boomers who grew up on the Beatles, their kids and in some case, their grandkids. Billy Idol was there watching. So was Shepard Fairey. And two of the cast members of the new “90210.”
Although there was a video screen on stage projecting various images to the music, the biggest production aspect of the night was the pyrotechnic display during “Live and Let Die.”
McCartney shone brightest when it was just him and a song, like the stripped-down acoustic version of “Eleanor Rigby,” or “Yesterday,” but also seemed to have boundless energy for choices like “Helter Skelter” and “I’ve Got a Feeling.”
I think McCartney had two of those elusive “Coachella moments” in his set–the aforementioned “Eleanor Rigby” and the massive “Hey Jude” singalong.
After playing for more than two hours, including two extensive encores, I think McCartney was the icing and pretty much blew out the candles on Coachella’s tenth birthday cake.
Set list:
-Jet
-Drive My Car
-Only Mama Knows
-Flaming Pie
-Got To Get You Into My Life
-Psychedelic Jimi Hendrix homage on which Paul shreds the heck out of a Les Paul
-Hi Ho Silver
-Highway
-The Long and Winding Road
-My Love
-Blackbird
-Here Today
-Dance Tonight
-Calico Skies
-Mrs. Vandebilt
-Eleanor Rigby
-Sing the Changes
-Band on the Run
-Back in the U.S.S.R.
-Something
-I’ve Got a Feeling
-Paperback Writer
-A Day in the Life
-Segue into Give Peace a Chance
-Let It Be
-Live and Let Die
-Hey Jude
Encore #1
-Birthday
-Can’t Buy Me Love
-Lady Madonna
Encore #2
-Yesterday
-Helter Skelter
-Get Back
-Sgt. Pepper’s Reprise
-The End