Paul McCartney returned to the stage over the weekend with a two-night stint in the comparatively intimate surroundings of the Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles.
Usually, of course, McCartney – one of the few individuals for whom that hackneyed phrase ‘living legend’ is applicable – plays arenas and stadiums, something he acknowledged early on, saying: “It’s great to be at these little gigs - I mean, it’s not that little.”
“It’s very lovely,” the 83-year-old ex-Beatle said of the venue, which used to be known as the Hollywood Music Box Theatre before it was named after Henry Fonda. “It’s good to see the whites of your eyes.”
The 23-song set covered all the Beatles and Wings classics you’d expect, plus the recent ‘last’ Beatles single, Now And Then, as well as a scattering of lesser heard McCartney songs, including Flaming Pie, Every Night and My Valentine.
Interestingly, there wasn’t room for the just-released new track Days We Left Behind (nor anything from the upcoming album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane). Why? The band are “in the process of learning it,” McCartney told the crowd. “But I’m glad you love it, yeah.”
Stage patter was kept to a minimum, with Macca alternating between piano and his iconic Hofner bass. But he did slip into some misty-eyed reminiscences about the Beatles’ first trip to the US in early 1964.
“We hadn’t really seen much, and we certainly hadn’t seen America, so it was pretty amazing,” he said. “What we used to notice was that all the guys in the audience were looking at the chords you were playing, and they’d study it… and we kind of liked that. And all the girls weren’t.”
Cue Beatlemania-style screams from the audience. “Yeah, the girls were screaming. Give us a Beatles scream!” Which in turn prompted another outpouring of appreciative shrieks.
And there was a shout-out to the VIPs. “Hello, people upstairs! The posh seats!” he said, greeting Dustin Hoffman and the documentary maker Morgan Neville, who made the recent McCartney in the '70s/Wings doc Man On The Run. “What a story!” he added, tongue protruding heavily from his cheek. “Well done, Morgan. You've done a good film.”
