Beatlemania gave the Barclays Center quite a workout last Thursday night for the last of two sold-out-fast weekday concerts as Paul McCartney continued his ‘One on One’ tour.
The audience danced and sang along at each chance it got. And lab-created light shows aside, people went wild and jittered with energy every time the erstwhile Beatle played the expected songs like “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
All the tunes still sounded clear-cut, distinctive, and kinetic with newly incorporated wiry guitar riffs.
The electric stage presence of Mr. McCartney with his fine-grained melodic voice kept the crowd dancing and clapping, and yet when the opening riff of “Let It Be,” was played, the mood became celebratory and friends and couples turned to each other grinning.
One of the show’s other brilliant moments included the distinct, sophisticated performance of ‘Hey Jude,’ and how smoothly the clear-voiced crowd was able to harmonize to it.
The greatest rock-and-roller in the world also tackled racism, “way back in the sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in places like Alabama and Arkansas. We would notice this back in England, and sympathize with the people going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help them a little bit.”
No longer a bon vivant, Mr. McCartney sang “Blackbird” and the atmosphere became increasingly powerful and self-examining. You could see a great deal of watery layers moisturizing the eyes.
“Give Peace a Chance,” also still held up as truly poetic and evocative. Rock-and-roll persevered on this night amid these uniquely idealism-lacking times oftentimes dominated by the crass proto-fascist religious godless right and the puritan, fascistic antifa-esque left.
Thank you for keeping the flame burning, Paul.
Setlist:
A Hard Day’s Night
Can’t Buy Me Love
Jet
All My Loving
Let Me Roll It
I’ve Got a Feeling
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Maybe I’m Amazed
We Can Work It Out
In Spite of All the Danger
You Won’t See Me
Love Me Do
And I Love Her
Blackbird
Here Today
Queenie Eye
Lady Madonna
FourFiveSeconds
Eleanor Rigby
I Wanna Be Your Man
Something
A Day in the Life
Give Peace a Chance
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Yesterday
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
