Paul McCartney Still ‘Carries the Weight’ in PPG Paints Arena Concert

Paul McCartney performed in front of a packed house Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. I have seen McCartney on several of his solo tour stops in Pittsburgh and he never ceases to amaze me. A multi-talented musician with a large collection of songs to draw from, McCartney pulled from The Beatles, Wings, and his solo career for the show. He is also a highly charismatic and caring individual, both of these traits were on full display during the concert. He played for almost three hours. With so much time many musical gems were enjoyed.

McCartney took the stage to thunderous applause and launched into “Help!,” The Beatles hit from 1965. He was dressed in black jacket, pants, and vest and had his noted bass guitar, the Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass. During the evening he would also play lead guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, ukulele, and mandolin. 

Other Beatles’ songs played during the first half of the show were “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “Drive My Car,” “Getting Better,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” and “Love Me Do.” During “Getting Better,” McCartney played a Jimmy Hendrix “Foxy Lady” outro snippet explaining that he saw the great musician playing a club in London to a small crowd, and after word had gotten out about how amazing he was the crowd grew larger every night. “Love Me Do,” McCartney told the audience, was the first song The Beatles recorded with the legendary George Martin at Abbey Road Studios. During the concert, keyboardist and musical director Wix Wickens handled the harmonica duties skillfully. They also played “In Spite of the Danger” which McCartney said was the first song he recorded as a member of The Quarrymen (a forerunner of The Beatles when they were young lads at Liverpool’s Quarry Bank High School). The group at that time included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Colin Hanton on drums, and John Lowe on piano.

Several Wings songs were prominent in the first part of the show including “Letting Go, “Let Me Roll It,” “Let ‘Em In,” and “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five.” The latter really got the crowd moving with McCartney playing a baby grand piano on a riser, Abe Laboriel Jr. provided talented drumming, and Rusty Anderson supplied hot lead guitar. Wickens even played maracas on the song. A steady bass was delivered by Brian Ray (also played some lead too). The group performed as a tight unit through the tempo changes of the song.

Solo songs included “Coming Up,” and the always splendid, “Maybe I’m Amazed” which saw McCartney singing and playing the baby grand. His piano playing was fantastic and his vocals were strong and melodic. The song also featured some wonderful lead guitar.

McCartney had many call outs to the audience throughout the night, and said that it was wonderful to be back in Pittsburgh again. When he took off his jacket to play “Let Me Roll It,” the women in the crowd whistled and applauded that action. McCartney responded with a few playful and sexy moves.

“Blackbird” was written as an encouragement to the 1960’s Civil Rights movement after The Beatles refused to play a segregated concert in the south, McCartney explained. He played the song while standing on a motorized riser that took him about forty feet up. McCartney skillfully plucked the notes of the song on his acoustic guitar. For “Lady Madonna” McCartney returned to terra firma and pounded out the keys on a bright, multicolored upright piano at the front of the stage while he sang. “John and I were at his place trying to come up with a song idea and he had a poster for an entertainment benefit for a Mr. Kite, and that became the basis for the song,” McCartney said before performing it.

George (Harrison) liked to play the ukulele and we used to jam together on them and that the ukulele that he had with him was one that Harrison had given to him, McCartney said. He also stated that Harrison was a genius before performing the song, “Something,” that Harrison had written. The song started with McCartney playing the intro on the ukulele while the band joined in a little later. Fantastic lead guitar play drove the song. 

“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,”was performed as a jaunty audience sing-along. “Get Back” also got the audience moving. “Let it Be” is such a beautiful song that hearing it live with Paul playing it on the baby grand piano and singing was a spiritual experience. Nirvana was reached, when the audience lit up their mobile phones. Much the same could be said about “Hey Jude” which McCartney performed on the upright piano at center stage. Top Wings’ hits “Jet” and “Band on the Run” were fantastic near the end of the set. One of the most thrilling songs to experience at a Paul McCartney concert is “Live and Let Die.” McCartney wrote it for the James Bond movie of the same name. The performance of “Live and Let Die” is always done with big flames, fireworks, and loud sound blasts, like a bunch of dynamite going off. “Live and Let Die” has a reggae type feel to part of it. 

There were several tributes to John Lennon during the concert. McCartney dedicated “Here Today” to Lennon and said that when we were younger we were trying to be tough and not likely to tell a friend that we loved them. The first song of the encore set was “I’ve Got a Feeling” during which McCartney sang a virtual duet with Lennon from footage of The Beatles’ rooftop farewell concert at Abbey Road Studios. McCartney also dedicated “My Valentine” to his wife Nancy, whom he said was in the audience. 

The second song of the encore was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise) which surely delighted those in the audience who attended in Sgt. Pepper style colored satin-style jackets. One such person told me before the show that she was picked with others from their seats at the highest heights of PPG Paints Arena by McCartney’s team to enjoy the concert from the front row. During the concert I saw her standing there.

“Helter Skelter” was a frenzied drum and guitar attack which saw red and black laser lights flashing all around the arena. And the final three songs were from the end of the Abbey Road album. ”Golden Slumbers” saw McCartney back on the baby grand playing the beautiful intro. Then the drums kicked in, with the keyboards providing a base before being joined by the Hot City Horns (Paul Burton, trombone; Mike Davis, trumpet; and Kenji Fenton, saxophones) on “Carry That Weight.” Hot lead guitar burned a path through to “The End.” McCartney switched from piano to bass guitar to jam near the end of “Carry That Weight.” Wow what an encore! McCartney thanked the crowd and both the band and audience left having had big fun. And with Paul McCartney being a consummate entertainer and nice guy, I spotted him in the front of the first departing band bus waving at the fans leaving the arena.

Rick Handler is the executive producer of Entertainment Central.

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