Paul at MSG

First, the setlist:

Hello Goodbye
Jet
All My Loving
Getting Better
Coming Up
Let Me Roll It
Lonely Road
Driving Rain
Your Loving Flame
Blackbird
Every Night
We Can Work It Out
Mother Nature's Son
Vanilla Sky
You Never Give Me Your Money
Fool On The Hill
Here Today
Something
Eleanor Rigby
Here, There and Everywhere
Band On The Run
Back in the USSR
Maybe I'm Amazed
C Moon
My Love
Can't Buy Me Love
Freedom
Live And Let Die
Let It Be
Hey Jude
===
The Long And Winding Road
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
===
Yesterday
Sgt. Pepper (reprise) >
Carry That Weight >
The End

PHEEEEEEEEEEEE-nomenal. Tonight wound up costing me over $350, and I would gladly have paid twice that. The only downer on the night was some dork who insisted on singing along to every note in every song, including the random phrases that are thrown out and the trademark "Oooooh!"s. His voice was worse than the guy's from The Offspring. Oh yeah, and I didn't know what it's like to be near a really making out couple; the woman next to me tonight will probably be adding a member to her family sometime around January 27, 2003, and she'll probably name him Paul.

The "opening act" was, as Moe would put it, "weird for the sake of weird." Crazy costumes, large balloons, contortionists, strong men...you name it, they had it. It did manage to create an electric buzz throughout the audience. They were all on stage when the first chord of "Hello Goodbye" hit and the giant screen rose to reveal Paul. What a moment.

I could close my eyes and picture myself at the Ed Sullivan show back in 1964 during "All My Loving."

Felt bad during "Getting Better" for being unable to stop thinking of the Phillips Electronics commercials.

Paul on "Driving Rain": "We were in Los Angeles recording our new album and expected the weather to be beautiful, but if was February and it was raining. So we went for a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway. In a nice little black Corvette. Radio going. And we got back and I came up with this tune."

"Your Loving Flame" is a beautiful song. Dedicated to Heather Mills.

Beginning with "Blackbird" until "Band on the Run," Paul played without the band. On "Blackbird": "I don't know if you're aware, but in England we refer to women as birds. Back in the 60s, there was a lot of trouble in this country, with civil rights, and we were watching it back home. I thought of what it would be like to be a young black woman, and wrote this song."

During the bridge of "You Never Give Me Your Money," he sang something to the effect of "I don't know these words and I doubt I'll bother to learn them by the end of the tour."

"Sometimes you want to say something to someone at a particular time, and you don't, and as time passes, you regret it. I wrote this next song after my friend John passed away." We were on our feet for at least 90 seconds cheering for John. Truly remarkable. "So I imagined a conversation between the two of us, and here it is."

"Something" was played on ukulele, and dedicated to George. "Not a lot of people know this, but George was a wonderful ukulele player. You'd go to his house for dinner, and after you were done eating he'd pass out the ukuleles...'One for you, and one for you...' One night I played this song for him..."

After "C Moon": "Some people ask me what 'C Moon' means. Well, remember that old Sam the Sham song? 'Let's not be L7.' L7 means to be a square, because you make an L and a 7. So I thought to myself, what could be the opposite of a square? A C, and a moon."

"My Love" was dedicated to Linda and "all the lovers in the house tonight." The woman next to me was quite excited about this.

"Freedom." It was everything I thought it would be live, after having listened to the Concert for New York countless times.

"Live and Let Die:" the greatest Bond theme song ever. Pyro rules.

"Hey Jude." Na, na na, na na na na, na na na na, Hey Jude. "Now just the guys." Na, na na, na na na na, na na na na, Hey Jude. "Now just the ladies." Na, na na, na na na na, na na na na, Hey Jude. "Everyone!" Na, na na, na na na na, na na na na, Hey Jude.

The Sgt. Pepper outtro might be the greatest rock finale in history.

Paul McCartney is a rocker. He rocks out. Tonight was The Greatest concert I have ever or will ever see, without a doubt. I will be first in line when the DVD/CD set for the Driving USA tour comes out.

"I thought the only lonely place was on the moon."