On Friday, July 8, Paul McCartney performed at the Marcus Amphitheater at the Summerfest music festival on a beautiful summer evening along the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee as a part of his One on One tour. It was the twelfth time I have seen the recently turned 74 year-old former Beatle in concert in the 27 years since the first time at the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena) with my brother-in-law Al in December, 1989. In addition to the recent concert in Milwaukee, I have seen him in Chicago six times (Rosemont Horizon, Soldier Field, Wrigley Field and three times at the United Center), Indianapolis (at the old Market Square Arena and twice at Conseco Fieldhouse, now known as Banker’s Life Fieldhouse), Milwaukee (the old Country Stadium) and St. Louis (the old Busch Memorial Stadium). I was able to see former Beatle George Harrison (on his only U.S. tour in 1974) and Ringo Starr (in 2014), both in St. Louis, but sadly never did get to see John Lennon in concert before he was murdered in 1980.
As I’ve written before, for me, McCartney concerts always stir emotions as 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. My first single was the late 1963 released Beatles’ two-sided hit “I Want to Hold Your Hand”/”I Saw Her Standing There”, with its black & white cover sleeve with the boys in their “Beatles suits” and McCartney holding a cigarette.
Jumping ahead, I remember seeing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the “White Album” for the first time at our K-Mart. I remember excitedly telling my Mom about Sgt. Pepper when we picked her up from work that night. I had to wait for Christmas 1968 to get the “White Album”, which was released November 22. Do you remember all of the ‘Paul is Dead’ rumors, including listening to “Revolution #9” backwards when it said “turn me on dead man”?