Now maybe it will be stuck in yours, too.
Merry Christmas!
Well, maybe 10 things YOU didn’t know… 8 September, 2009
In honor of Beatlemania Redux, The Mirror has gathered up a list of “Ten Fab Facts You Didn’t Know About The Beatles“. Let’s be frank – they weren’t all things I didn’t know. I knew 5 – but not 5 of the others (number 7? About Cher? I didn’t have a clue about that!). But my favorite fact that I learned is this:
2. At 2:58 in Hey Jude Paul McCartney can be faintly heard saying “Oh, fucking hell” after he made a mistake during the recording of the song
You know I pulled out my phone to listen to the song as soon as I read that – and yes, you can hear it. Isn’t it crazy that you can have heard something, well, god only knows how many times, and still not have heard everything?
Listen for yourself…this isn’t the real video for the song, as that version doesn’t include the slip-up.
(not the greatest quality audio…)
MIKA has a new album out next month… 5 August, 2009
Yay! I really loved MIKA’s first album, I’m looking forward to his sophomore effort. His first single is a song called “We Are Golden”…I didn’t find the video on YouTube, but I did find one of the Calvin Harris remix of the song, which I like a lot. The video is admittedly not my favorite thing in the world, so I suggest playing the music and then minimizing the screen 
Update: I found the longer version of this same remix, and without MIKA jumping around in his underwear!
Hmmm….this made me wonder when the Scissor Sisters would have a new album out – it’s been three years!! – so I went to their website. Good news: it looks like they are working on a new one now…about time!!
Paul McCartney in Concert = AMAZING 19 July, 2009
Last night I went to see Paul McCartney in concert at Citi Field. Citi Field is the new home of the Mets…wait, let me Beatles Geek-out for a moment and explain. See, The Beatles played the first-ever concert at Shea Staduim (the former home of The Mets). Not only was that show the first at Shea; it was the first show at a stadium ever. Pre-Beatles, there weren’t big stadium and arena shows…anyway, last year they shut down Shea, and Billy Joel did a big “goodbye” concert there – and Paul made a surprise appearance. So, since he’d been in the first concert at Shea and the last concert at Shea, it only made since that he’d do the first show at the new “Shea”!
Waiting for the show to begin...
Note: Pics were taken with my iPhone, which has the unfortunate side-effect of making us look further away from the stage then we actually were.
So, last night was that show. It was, in a word, Incredible. Best concert I’ve ever been to? Absolutely. Am I still on a post-concert high? Hell yes.
First, though, there was an opening band, The Script. They’re an Irish band I’d never heard of before, but they were good! I’ll definitely check their stuff out.
And then…out came Paul. He came on shortly before 9:00 and started his set…and because I knew I’d want to blog about it, I kept track of the set list during the show…
Drive My Car
Jet
Only Mama Knows
Flaming Pie
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
Highway
The Long and Winding Road
My Love
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Calico Skies
Mrs. Vandebilt
Eleanor Rigby
Sing the Changes
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I’m Down
Something
I’ve Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
And at this point, the concert “ends”. Of course, we all know that encores are a requirement for live shows at this point…though frankly, after the last few songs he had played, I had no idea what he’d do for an encore. Well, he did:
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
That was ending two…and then, though I wasn’t sure he’d do it…encore two!
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band (Reprise)
The End
So yeah. Fucking amazing set list. Granted, he does have 5 decades (!) of material to choose from…but he played every song I wanted to hear, and then some. The man may be 67, but he played for 2 1/2 hours. And during the entire concert, he never even stopped for a drink of water. I don’t even know how that’s possible.
And the thing with Paul is, he’s so adorable. There’s a reason he was called the cute Beatle – he was always the flirty, charming one. That hasn’t changed. And there is nothing better than an artist that plays and still seems to know how lucky they are, that they get to be a successful musician, one that thousands of people will pay good money to go see. I’ve been to some concerts where the performer seems pissed off to be there – that ain’t Paul. He still seems like he’s having so much fun with the whole thing.
But highlights from the show? Well overall, there is this sense of nostalgia that’s sort-of permeated his work for the past few years (not including his last album, released as The Fireman). During the whole show, there was a giant screen at the back of the stage showing whatever might be relevant to the song at hand. They were all really good – and then, for some reason, during “The Long and Winding Road” they were showing photos of the American desert. Random…until I remembered that, when he was married to Linda, they lived in Arizona – in fact, she died there. So all of a sudden it made sense, “subtle tribute to Linda”…and sure enough the next song was “My Love”, which he had written for Linda when they were married and which he dedicated to her. And then a couple of songs later he played “Here Today”, a song he wrote for John after he was murdered. Paul actually seemed to choke up a little while he was singing that one, it was pretty touching. And later still, he played George’s song “Something” on a ukelele George had given him. So yeah, lots of reminiscing.
However, it wasn’t all downers! He played new stuff, more than I thought he might (which is great, because his last couple of albums have been pretty good, especially his most recent). And he of course played tons of Wings stuff. But he didn’t disappoint those that only know him as a Beatle (like my coworker who came with me) – he played a TON of Beatles numbers at the end.
My favorite moment of the night? It would have to be “Live and Let Die”. Yes, yes, this is a Wings song and not one by my beloved Beatles. But “Live and Let Die” is a total stadium-rock type song – Wings did a huge stadium tour in the 70s, and this was always one of the highlights. Big pyrotechnics, the whole bit. So I was curious to see what we would get last night, as it was the first time i’d ever been to an outdoor concert of this magnitude. Fireworks? Why yes, yes indeed…
Live and Let Die
That photo also give a good sense of how the venue was set up – the screens they had to the right and the left were ENORMOUS, and yet totally HD (that doesn’t come across in the photo, either).
So here I am, the day after. My voice is hoarse from the yelling, my hands sore from the clapping. And I’ve already created a playlist on iTunes to recreate the set list from last night. (note: I’m missing way more songs than I should be, five or so. It’s downright embarrassing). The concert was absolutely the best I’ve ever been to (including the last time I saw McCartney). I’m so glad I was able to go – and able to blog about it, so I can try and re-live it in the future
Guess Who I’m Seeing Tonight? 18 July, 2009
Can’t wait!!
Hey Jude (with Elton John, Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton – most of the legends of music in the UK)
Note: Not sure when this is from, but it’s awesome
A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance
Note: This is just from last year. I blame his age for him forgetting the words
Live and Let Die
Note: This is from before I was born, back in the era when my mom most loved Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney’s US Tour 9 July, 2009
Totally the cute Beatle
Seemingly out of nowhere, Paul McCartney is doing a “tour”. I say “tour” because there are very few shows, and it seems he’s just doing them as he wants to. Which, frankly, if you’re nearing 70 and you’re a Beatle, you’ve pretty much earned the right to do. Anyway, the tour, in its entirety, is:
July 17 – New York, Citi Field
July 18 – New York, Citi Field
July 21 – New York, Citi Field
August 1 – Washington, FedExField
August 5 – Boston, Fenway Park
August 6 – Boston, Fenway Park
August 15 – Atlanta, Piedmont Park
August 17 – Tulsa, BOK Center
August 19 – Dallas, Cowboys Stadium
More of a mini-tour, really. And yes, you read that right: he’s doing a show in Tulsa-freaking-Oklahoma. Kudos to Tulsa for opening the BOK Center; that place has done them well. The tickets for the NYC shows are all sold out (they sold out basically as soon as they went on sale). The tickets for his Tulsa show go on sale July 20th…if I were in Oklahoma, you know I’d be on top of that. Because, let’s be frank: how many tours can he have in front of him?
Paul's Aged Just a Wee Bit...
And yes, I’m going to see Paul at Citi Field. July 18th. I cannot wait!!!
Now, in honor of the recently departed Michael Jackson: his and Paul’s better collaboration (I don’t really dig “The Girl is Mine”). This video features:
- Michael Jackson, before he was creepy and before he stole all of Paul’s Beatles’ songs
- Paul’s less-than-stellar 1980s work
- Linda needlessly lurking around, Yoko Ono-style
- LaToya (I think…) playing the object of MJ’s affections. If that’s true: ewwwww
I Must’ve Been Living Under a Rock the Last Two Weeks 17 June, 2009
Somehow, I only just saw the trailer for The Beatles Rock Band game for the first time today…
I appreciate that they progress through their entire career. AND – it’s available for the Wii! Score.
Britain’s Got Talent 13 April, 2009
*note: for some reason, I think because they’re from the UK, the embedding has been disabled for both these videos. But go to the links and watch them. Seriously!
47-year-old Susan Boyle…wow. Just wow.
Video Here
Watch that and tell me you weren’t surprised? As if that song doesn’t always give me chills anyway, but that woman singing it, and with those lyrics – slay me.
And 2007’s winner, Paul Potts…
Video Here
Another surprise (though one that’s been fairly well-seen by now).
I’m not going to lie, I cried the first time I saw both of these. Yeah, suck it.
Improv Everywhere Goes International 10 April, 2009
This is the happiest (and most fun) video I’ve seen in awhile. As a friend pointed out, it features German, public, impromptu dance numbers set to Julie Andrews music – how can you not love that?!
Now, I can’t be certain, but I know that the Improv Everywhere based here in NYC has inspired lots of groups around the globe. And this video certainly looks like their work.
And, for anyone that thinks all big cities are evil and all small towns are good – this is further proof that’s not true. So they can suck it.
Nicole Scherzinger reworks “Jai Ho” 12 March, 2009
Okay, so I’ve already said how much I love the song “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”. I posted a YouTube video with the song a few weeks ago; they performed it on the Oscars. I’m pretty sure most people are familiar with it by now.
Well, Ms. Scherzinger, of the Pussycat Dolls, has redone the song. In English. She did it with AR Rahman (the man who originally made it), so it’s an “approved” version or whatever…but I just don’t like it as much. It’s not awful; just nowhere near as good as the original. You can listen to it here
