On November 25, my friend Jim and I made our way to the United Center in Chicago for the final stop on Paul McCartney’s Got Back North America tour. This would be Jim’s first time seeing the former Beatle. I have now seen Sir Paul in concert fourteen times, with the first being at the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena) with my brother-in-law Al in December, 1989. I have seen him in Chicago seven times – at the Rosemont Horizon, Soldier Field, Wrigley Field and now four times at the United Center; three times in Indianapolis, at the old Market Square Arena, and twice at what is now known as Gainbridge Fieldhouse, twice in Milwaukee at the old County Stadium and Summerfest, and once in St. Louis at the old Busch Memorial Stadium, and Moline, at what is now known as Vibrant Arena. Five of the concerts have been held in outdoor stadiums, with the remaining nine in indoor arenas.
It’s hard to over-emphasize how much of a part of my life that the music of the Beatles, and the now 83-year-old McCartney, has been. Many of their songs take me back to wonderful memories in my life. I never was able to see John Lennon in concert, who was murdered in 1980, but did see George Harrison in St. Louis in 1974 on his lone U.S. tour, and Ringo Starr, with his All-Starr Band, also in St. Louis in 2014.
McCartney concerts always stir emotions in me that no other concerts can, as the songs are really from the soundtrack of my life. For example….I can remember my Aunt Linda screaming at the television in her parents’ (my grandparents) living room as the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Later in that same home, my brother Mike and I first saw the Beatles Rubber Soul album in our Aunt Cindy’s room. Linda, Cindy and my cousin Bob saw the Beatles in concert August 20, 1965 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Actually, Bob saw them there twice in one day, attending both the afternoon and evening concerts. Bob and his wife were at the Chicago concert November 24, 60 years later, the night before our show. (Tickets were $4.50 back in 1965, and a wee bit more in 2025.) Wow.
My first single was the early 1964 Beatles’ two-sided hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand”/”I Saw Her Standing There”, with its black and white cover sleeve with the boys in their “Beatles suits” and McCartney holding a cigarette.
Moving forward, I remember seeing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the “White Album” for the first time at our local K-Mart (mono albums were $3.44 and stereo were $3.77). I remember excitedly telling my Mom about Sgt. Pepper when we picked her up from work that warm June, 1967 evening. I had to wait for Christmas 1968 to get the double “White Album” (officially titled The Beatles), which was released November 22. I can remember investigating all of the ‘Paul is Dead’ rumors, including listening to “Revolution #9” backwards when it clearly said “turn me on dead man”.
I can remember singing “Hello Goodbye” with teammates on the bus traveling to a 6th grade basketball game, “Get Back” with classmates in junior high school, and talking about the sudden ending to “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” from Abbey Road on the school bus in 1969. I listened to the “bootleg” recordings from the Get Back sessions (later released as Let it Be) with a friend; went to see the Let it Be movie with my Dad followed by pizza at our favorite place in town, and seeing the Yellow Submarine movie with my brother. I remember listening in my room as Larry Lujack played “Lady Madonna” on Chicago’s WLS “The Big 89” radio station in 1968, when Lujack mistakenly said that Ringo was singing lead. The single “Band on the Run” was topping the charts as I graduated from high school in 1974. And I could go on and on….
As we headed to Chicago, anticipation was high. At 83 years old, this could very well be the final time I would see McCartney in concert. After we parked the car at the United Center, we were able to join a group of a few dozen fans, many holding signs, to welcome Sir Paul who enthusiastically waved at us.
One of the challenges for McCartney is determining what songs to put on his setlist. Inevitably, he will have to leave out some fan favorites. For example, this tour’s setlist left out songs like “Junior’s Farm”, “Day Tripper”, “We Can Work It Out”, “Paperback Writer”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and “Back in the U.S.S.R.”.
McCartney told the crowd that he and his long-time band would be playing “some new songs, some old songs and some in-between songs”. They would play a total of 35 songs over two hours and forty minutes, without an intermission. The songs were a mixture of Beatles, Wings and solo songs, including one song by the Quarrymen (pre-Beatles). He performed four songs from Band on the Run, four songs from Abbey Road, three songs from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, three songs from The Beatles (White Album), three songs from Let it Be, and two songs from Help!
There was no opening act. As the excited crowd filed into the arena, a music mix played with photos of McCartney and the Beatles displayed on the large screens on both sides of the stage. That culminated with a large image of his famous Höfner violin bass on the screen over the final seconds of the Beatles “The End”, just before he came on stage, traditionally a half hour late, and the band launched into the Beatles “Help”.
McCartney told how he wrote “Blackbird” to encourage those fighting for civil rights in America. There were audience singalongs with many songs, notably “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, “Hey Jude”, and “Love Me Do”. He dedicated “My Valentine” to his wife Nancy, who was in the audience, “Here Today” to John Lennon and “Something” to Harrison, played on a ukulele that George Harrison had given to him. He did a virtual duet with John Lennon on “I’ve Got a Feeling”, and I heard him perform the final Beatles song “Now and Then” for the first time.
Throughout the concert McCartney played his famous bass, electric and acoustic guitar, piano, mandolin and ukulele. A three-piece horn section, the Hot City Horns, added a lot to songs such as “Letting Go”, “Got to Get You Into My Life”, and “Let Em In”. The stage had vertical screens on each side so fans could see McCartney and his band, and one horizontal screen behind the band to show some video effects for each song. He performed “Blackbird” and “Here Today” on a platform elevated high above the stage.
Throughout the concert, McCartney was in strong voice. It’s always hard for me to pick my favorite songs at a McCartney concert, but on this night they would be “Help”, “Got to Get You Into My Life”, “Love Me Do”, “Band on the Run”, “Maybe I’m Amazed”, “I’ve Got a Feeling”, and the dramatic pyrotechnics enhanced “Live and Let Die”, always a show stopper.
The tickets were expensive, but if you are a Beatles, Wings or McCartney fan, I would encourage you to try to catch one of McCartney’s shows, if you have the opportunity. You won’t be disappointed.
Here is the setlist from the November 25 concert in Chicago.
