It was Sir Paul McCartney’s big homecoming night – but the crowd was the real star, says Alan Weston
ANFIELD stadium has witnessed many amazing spectacles down the years, but few to compare with this.
On this occasion, however, there wasn’t a football in sight, nor was it a Champions’ League semi-final against Chelsea.
Sir Paul McCartney last played in Liverpool exactly five years ago to the day, on a specially constructed set that was assembled in the car park at Kings Dock.
How times have changed.
The Kings Dock is now home to the brand new Echo Arena, while Sir Paul McCartney last night played to nearly 40,000 people during Liverpool’s year as Capital of Culture.
It was the kind of line-up that would have graced any major rock festival stage in the world – The Zutons, Kaiser Chiefs, and special guest Dave Grohl, of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame.
Before the gig, Liverpool had been deluged with rainy weather, but the power of rock and roll made sure that the Liverpool Sound concert took place in dry weather, albeit under leaden skies.
Anfield stadium witnessed an amazing transformation from theatre of dreams to a fully fledged rock festival venue, such as Glastonbury, or Reading and Leeds.
Anticipation was running high before the gig, with hundreds of people snaking around the narrow streets of Anfield as they waited patiently to get into the stadium.
The Zutons and the Kaiser Chiefs both did a fantastic job of warming up the crowds as they shivered in the unseasonably cool June weather.
Sir Paul himself took to the stage close to 9.30pm wearing a dapper modern-day version of the famous button-up Beatle suit.
He never once forgot that he was playing before a local crowd, making reference to the fact he was born just down the road from Anfield, at Walton hospital.
He asked members of the crowd if they were from places such as Speke and Garston.
The set itself covered the whole spectrum of his amazing career, from the height of Beatlemania to his most recent solo work.
But the real star of this extraordinary show, as always, was the audience itself.
Although the vast majority were from Liverpool, it was a truly multi-national gathering with people from all over Europe and the far East in the crowd.
Indeed, at one point, Sir Paul even made a greeting in Japanese. Addressing the crowd between numbers, and clearly overcome with emotion, Sir Paul said: “I don’t know what to say. Every time I come up to Liverpool, all the memories come flooding back.”
It was a simple but highly effective stage set, with the word Liverpool spelt out in huge letters at the top and facing the Kop end of Anfield.
At points, the Anfield roar was well in evidence as Sir Paul played songs such as Something on ukulele – as a tribute to George Harrison – and as Dave Grohl took to the stage for rocked-up versions of Band on the Run and Back in the USSR.
As always with any home-coming appearance by Sir Paul McCartney, the adoring crowd did not want to let him go, and he crashed through his scheduled finish time to end with a rousing version of I Saw Her Standing There, with Dave Grohl once again taking to the stage, and finishing off with a spectacular firework display.
Among the thousands of people attending was Alan Roberts, 30, a senior manager at the Liverpool Guild of Students, who said: “It’s great every time Paul McCartney comes to play in Liverpool. He turns up and shows his face in the city, when he could probably make more money doing a gig somewhere else.”
Macca's hometown show
SPEAKING of the gig, Sir Paul said: “When I was asked to do something to celebrate Liverpool being European Capital of Culture 2008, I accepted immediately. It’s a great thing for the city.
“Over the last 10 years or so especially, Liverpool has really come back to its rightful place amongst the cool cities of Britain, so I think it’s the icing on the cake that it got voted Capital of Culture.
“It’s great to be playing Anfield because it’s such an historical ground.
“My dad was actually born in Everton, but I love the Liverpool football team as well, so I say I like them both and let people complain if they want to!
“I just love Liverpudlian audiences because they’re my people. We’ve got so much in common. To them, it’s one of their lads coming to play and, for me, it feels like I’m playing to my mates.
“It’s like family.”
alanweston
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment