Paul McCartney Talks VIP Soundcheck Shows: 'It's a Tribal Ritual'
Paul McCartney plays two gigs at every stop on his current arena and stadium tours: the evening concert, a magical history tour of nearly 40 songs from every era of his musical life before, in and after the Beatles; and an hour-long soundcheck that doubles as a technical rehearsal for McCartney's crew and band and exclusive entertainment for a small group of fans, granted access as part of a VIP-ticket package.
On July 12th, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, McCartney and his 21st Century combo – guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray, keyboard player Paul "Wix" Wickens and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. – performed a 12-song set under the late afternoon sun, opening with a blues jam featuring the leader on electric guitar and briskly covering the same historic span as the main event: the Beatles' jangling arrangement of "Honey Don't" by their Sun Records idol Carl Perkins; "Midnight Special," reaching back to McCartney's Liverpool boyhood in skiffle; the 1972 Wings flipside "C Moon"; the Ram ballad "Ram On," with McCartney on ukulele; the mid-Sixties Beatles artifacts "I'll Follow the Sun" and "I've Just Seen a Face"; and "Everybody out There" from McCartney's 2013 solo album, New.
Only one song appeared in the set list that night, "Lady Madonna." But everything in that soundcheck, McCartney explained later in his backstage trailer, was part of "a routine that has grown into a ritual" – a personal pleasure for a rock icon who, at 74, can't stay away from the stage. McCartney spoke passionately about his lifelong fascination with performance, as an art and joy, during our conversations in July: two sessions in England and Philadelphia that resulted in one of the most revealing interviews McCartney has ever given, featured in the new issue of Rolling Stone. These additional excerpts begin with one of the first things I asked McCartney as we sat down in his office at the London headquarters of his company, MPL.
By: David Fricke
Source: Rolling Stone
