Where does one begin to describe the first Cardiff concert for 35 years from the world's most famous living musician? For someone born in the 50's his music has always been part of my life and as the great day approached my expectations increased accordingly.
It started positively with glorious sunshine ( and an open roof) welcoming North Walian group "The Joy Formidable". Being the opening act of a large stadium show is always a difficult task but they impressively won over those audience members who had eagerly taken their seats early. The loud guitar based sound filled the large arena with lead singer Ritzy Ryan obviously enjoying being part of such a prestigious gig.
Shortly afterwards local heroes The Manic Street Preachers helped to fill the stadium with both bodies and their style of rock and roll. A lot of headline acts fail to deal with their relegation from top of the bill (Morrisey to David Bowie springs to mind) but Wales's finest avoided falling into this trap. From the opening guitar riff of "Motorcycle Emptiness" they blew away a rapturous audience with their enthusiasm, professionalism and great songs. It was virtually a greatest hits package with rare outings for " Suicide Is Painless" and the old Beatles classic " Rock & Roll Music" in tribute to the recently departed Stuart Cable.
Soon it was time for the main event with impressive video screen presentations of Paul McCartney in his early years helping to electrify the audience. A brief burst of " Venus and Mars" brought the great man on stage before this turned into " Jet" and we were away.
Quickly the realisation that you were watching a legend disappeared and you could enjoy the concert on its own merits. Firstly I was impressed with his unexpectedly strong, singing voice, then his immaculate guitar and piano playing and his natural exuberance. This wasn't an old man basking in old glories he was just enjoying showing that his music is still relevant today to an audience of all ages. Obviously most people wanted to hear the Beatles but he started mainly going through his Wings back catalogue which surprisingly had stood the test of time.
One of the reasons for the Liverpudlian's longevity is his ability to adapt to changing times .His use of technology was impressive especially showing unseen video footage of the famous photographic session for the cover of "Band On The Run" while singing the title song of the still great album.
The highlight of the show ( and one of the best live versions I have ever seen) was his performance of the 1973 James Bond theme " Live & Let Die". This was a perfect combination of sound and vision as the driving guitar and drum rhythym was batched by the backscreen images and the sychronised bursts of flame and fireworks. This was even more astonishing when you realise that the roof was closed by now.
It must be emphasized that not all the music was old. He played from songs from his most recent " Fireman" project and showed off his newly acquired eukelele skills was a fun version of " Everybody's gonna dance tonight".
Proving this was a concert of contrasts he moved into emotional territory singing " Something" in tribute to George Harrison, " Here Today" for John Lennon and " My Love" for his late wife Linda.
But it was when he sat at the piano that you knew you were in classics territory and he duly delivered beautiful versions of " Eleanor Rigby", " The Long & Winding Road", " Let It Be" and " Hey Jude" amongst others. Nothing was predictable though and versions of " Oh Bla Di" and " Got To Get You Out Of My Life" etc made you realise just how many famous songs he has written.
Soon though we were into encore territory starting with an armageddon style performance of " Helter Skelter" before returning one last time with just a guitar for company. What could he possibly have left to sing I thought & just as the penny dropped he played the opening chord of "Yesterday" and for no real reason I burst into tears. It was that kind of night.
And so 33 years after seeing Jean Michel Jarre at the Place De La Concorde the accolade of my Best Concert ever now passes to Sir Paul McCartney.After all the other accolades I have already mentioned I must also add stamina. This show lasted over 3 hours ( leading into Bruce Springsteen territory) and the guy is 68!!
Astonishing.
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