Instead of sitting home counting yesterday's profits, Sir Paul rocks a Rio crowd and Forbes' list, at No. 6. But we bet $67 million he'd rather be No. 1.
Alexandro Auler/LatinContent/Getty Images
Paul McCartney took Chicago by storm when he graced the stage at Wrigley Field on Sunday.
For the first of two concerts at the home of the Cubs, McCartney and his longtime touring band played to a sold out crowd for nearly three hours. Read what the critics are saying about his latest performance.
“On Sunday, McCartney played like he wasn’t taking anything, including his place in rock history, for granted,” the Chicago Tribune wrote.
“There weren’t many gimmicks, and when there were McCartney made fun of them. A Guns N’ Roses concert broke out in the middle of ‘Live and Let Die’ with pyro and fireworks, prompting the bassist to crack jokes at the excess while waving away smoke like an annoyed landlord putting out a grease fire in an apartment,” the writer noted. “It was a steamy night, but McCartney didn’t take any breaks, his bandmates pushing him hard. Drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. was, as usual, the key.”
“McCartney, you can tell from the moment he begins his set, just loves to play music and engage with people who love music. He may be approaching 70, but the youthful glint that captivated screaming teenagers in the 1960s is still in his eyes and he can still hit the high notes on songs like ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ and ‘Let It Be’,” wrote Al Yellon of Baseball Nation. “He may not have that many tour years left, though he did leave Wrigley Sunday night saying, ‘We’ll see you next time!’, so if you get a chance to see this living legend live, don’t hesitate.”
“Most of the set list, which comprised 36 songs and ran for about two hours and 45 minutes, was old favorites, Beatles and Wings tunes, which obviously pleased the older-skewing crowd,” Yellon observed in a separate review for Bleed Cubbie Blue. “It’s odd to see a Wrigley sellout throng where most people are not wearing the colors or logos of a baseball team, but rock tour T-shirts and even many dressed up for an evening out. McCartney crowds tend to skew older and many may have been among those who first saw the Beatles play the USA in the mid-1960s.”
Thomas Connor of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, “Sunday’s concert was, like many McCartney shows, mostly refreshing, even if you’ve seen this same shtick from him numerous times. God knows he doesn’t need to be, but he’s still touring because he obviously is still enjoying it — and his joy, however scripted it may be, is infectious.”
Though lengthy show was enjoyable, Connor confessed that it was also exhausting.
“The to-do list is very long. It’s quickly apparent, as it was Sunday, that we’re not going home until we’ve ticked off every Beatles and Wings highlight, and until we’ve blasted the inevitable pyro for ‘Live and Let Die’ and nah-nah’d our way through the entirety of ‘Hey Jude,’” he wrote. “Tributes to each of his late mates are also mandatory (Sunday it was ‘Here Today’ for John Lennon, ‘Something’ on ukulele for George Harrison), as are several unexpected cuts (he’s doing ‘The Night Before’ for the first time), At nearly three hours a night, you do feel the need to punch a clock when filing out.”
McCartney will rock Wrigley Field once again Monday night, before wrapping his On The Run tour at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park on Thursday.
