Paul at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland-New Zealand – 16 December, 2017
Paul’s near three-hour marathon built momentum and atmosphere as the night drew in and the realisation grew that we would most likely never hear the co-writer of some of our most iconic songs deliver them live here again.
He walked out on stage at his One on One Tour at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, with no words, just a salute.
Paul launched into a note perfect A Hard Day’s Night that set the scene for the marathon gig to come.
He had rehearsed his kia ora and promised the crowd “some old songs, some new songs and some in between songs” and a good night.
SETLIST
A Hard Day’s Night
Junior’s Farm
Can’t Buy Me Love
Jet
All My Loving
Let Me Roll It
I’ve Got a Feeling
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Maybe I’m Amazed
I’ve Just Seen a Face
In Spite of All the Danger
You Won’t See Me
Love Me Do
And I Love Her
Blackbird
Here Today
Queenie Eye
New
Lady Madonna
FourFiveSeconds
Eleanor Rigby
I Wanna Be Your Man
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Something
A Day in the Life/
Give Peace a Chance/outro)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore:
Yesterday
Birthday
Mull of Kintyre
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End
Wryly, he said they could tell when the audience liked a tune because the phones were out “like a galaxy of stars” for the old Beatles hits and it was “like a black hole” for the rest, “but we don’t care”. He did really: an early mix of songs which included the first demo track from the Beatles’ forerunner The Quarrymen, all the way up to McCartney’s recent collaboration with Rihanna and Kanye West, FourFiveSeconds, gave way as the night went on to a heavily Beatles-oriented list – and some cracking yarns. The near-capacity crowd – a relief, given suggestions of slow early ticket sales – which included Peter Jackson and Neil Finn brought a genuine enthusiasm which seemed to give McCartney renewed energy in a cracking final hour.
Highlights included an acoustic Blackbird, a highly charged Back in the USSR, the flamboyant fireworks, flamethrowers and lasers that accompanied Live and Let Die and a set-closing Hey Jude that had the entire crowd singing along. Paul bounced back out for an equally-generous encore that included Yesterday, a live pipe band that transformed Mull of Kintyre into something quite moving,and then closed with The End of the Abbey Road alb.
