Paul McCartney at the Roundhouse
Apologies for not getting this up yesterday, but I was so tired last night I slept for about 10 hours.
So! Here is my little write up of the concert.
I'll spare you all the details of my journey - I arrived at the hotel at about 11pm on Wednesday and, after watching the brilliant Mark Ronson Electric Proms gig on TV (with Sean Lennon!), went off to sleep. I'd decided not to bother going up to pick up my wristband at arse o'clock the next day, so got up about half nine and headed up on the tube. Despite the fact it was on the other side of London it was only one change, so it was an easy journey.
I got to Chalk Farm and, helpfully, there were directions to the Roundhouse from the tube station itself - also you went to the end of the road and went "...oh. There it is."
So I joined a queue, which I shortly found out was in fact people who already had wristbands. So I left that one and went round to the building - and luckily the queue for wristbands was practically non existent at this point (about 11.30). Got my wristband, which was red with Paul's signature and the logos of the venue and the Electric Proms. On the way in I bumped into Lynda, who I'd been queuing with at the Paul signing last year! Small world! I later found out all my other queue buddies were there too - I saw them in the TV broadcast of the concert, right at the front. \o/
My plan was to go back to the hotel and change for the gig, and then come back and join the queue for the gig later, so it was back onto the tube. I stopped off at Starbucks (YAYYYY) and Tescos on the way back to the hotel to grab some lunch, and so had a pasta thingy and a fresh chocolate croissant and my yummy coffee back at the hotel. After that I showered, changed - about 4 times, as I couldn't decide what to wear and settled for good old comfortable jeans, very good decision as it turned out. At one point I was going to wear a skirt and so had put tights on, and I ended up keeping them on under the jeans, also a good decision.
To finish off I wore my black t-shirt with Paul's signature on in diamante. I didn't take my camera, which was probably just as well as it doesn't take very good pictures without the flash and with the flash it probably wouldn't have worked at all in there (too far away - anything's too far away unless it's 10 feet in front of you). I did take my phone though and took a few snaps on that - they turned out a bit crap, but I still love them because I took them. :)
I put off going outside as long as possible, because it was raining by this point and was pretty cold, but at about 3.45 I thought I'd better head over before everyone got out of work and joined the queue, so I arrived about 4.15, I think. The queue by this point was round the corner and up the back entrance of the venue. Not long after I joined they moved the next bit of the queue across the road and squished us down a bit.
About 4.45 Paul and his band arrived for soundcheck in three cars with blacked out windows. (As such, we assume it was them, anyway. LOL.) The queue was squished down a bit more until I ended up on the road rather than on the hill, hurrah.
And the wait went on. I didn't really have anyone to talk to because the people in front of and behind me in the queue were French. It got colder and darker and I got to add a couple more to the tally of 'hours spent standing in the freezing cold to see Paul'. I was also desperate for the loo but as I was queuing alone I couldn't slip out. By 7 the queue was halfway to Belsize Park.
Aaaaanyway, time went on, and on, and on, but eventually 6.45 rolled around and they started letting people in. I got in about 7, relieved to be in the warm, and immediately made a beeline for the loos. I also bought a couple of exclusive show t-shirts (one is white and has the eye from the cover of the McCartney Years DVD, the other is black and pink and has the chair from the cover of Memory Almost Full, both have the date and venue on the back), before heading into the Main Space.
Finding a spot was tricky. Obviously people were grouping more in the middle, so I went slightly to the right of centre and of course found myself behind the attendees of the Annual Tall Person's Concert and Beer Social Night, apparently. So I moved a bit further round and hurrah! Normal height people. I knew I would have problems seeing from anywhere other than the first three rows (which I wouldn't have made anyway, as I hadn't been there from the day before, lol), so this was pretty good, really. If I'd been any further back I might have been in trouble, though. I couldn't see Paul at all at the piano except for one brief moment, but I could see him pretty well at his mike stand, so hurrah.
As we were waiting for the show to start they were playing some weird music in the main space, and I briefly wondered if Paul had decided to go with the Radio Times's idea of playing the infamous Carnival of Light before the show started (as it was written for the venue back in the 60s). Who knows? We were never told what it was.
The time passed surprisingly quickly and soon Paul and band took the stage! By keeping on my toes I was able to see surprisingly well for how far back I was as he launched into Magical Mystery Tour. He was wearing a dark suit and tie and was playing his Hofner; very Beatle-esque. *squee*
After this he welcomed everyone and mentioned it had been a long time since he was last in the Roundhouse - 40 years exactly, to be precise. And as a bit of trivia, Thursday's gig was exactly 50 years and one week after Paul's debut gig with the Quarrymen.
The next song was Flaming Pie, which was exactly the same running order as Paul's 2005 tour, lol. Great song, though. Then it was Got To Get You Into My Life, which he messed up the words to, hehe. Then out came the mandolin, and Dance Tonight, which went down brilliantly. Everyone was singing along with everything at the top of their lungs, it was great. I was a lot more bouncy than I had been at the 2005 show probably because that was the first one I'd ever been to and I was a bit "...whoa!" at the time. I'd never been to a show where it was been free standing on the floor either.
Then Paul introduced the 'stringies' - the string seciotn behind the screen behind the stage, and launched into Only Mama Knows. This is one of my favourites from the new album so I was delighted to hear it.
After this Paul went to the piano and disappeared from my view - before doing C Moon! I LOVE C MOON. Honestly! It's been in my favourite list for years, despite everyone saying it's one of the weakest Wings songs. I LOVE IT. I was so chuffed he played it, it was so good. I remember thinking 'if he plays I've Got A Feeling, I'll just be done in'. Next up, still at the piano, was The Long and Winding Road.
Then it was back to the centre (yay!), and Paul read some of the signs. "Two California girls love you," he read off one. "Only two?" he said. "Oh dear."
Then he pointed out it was a full moon over the Roundhouse, and got everybody howling.
The next song he announced as "a very old one", which made everybody cheer. "Don't cheer it just because it's old!" said Paul, and went into I'll Follow The Sun, which he gave a little extended ending to, "because it's just too short."
Everyone was still singing along raucously with every song, and next up was That Was Me, also from the new album. Next Paul took off his jacket and some girls down the front got a bit over-excited. "It's only the jacket," said Paul, amused. He was handed his acoustic guitar.
"This is a song I wrote for John, after he passed away," he said. "Let's hear it for John!" Then followed one of the biggest cheers of the night, which just went on and on.
"This is in the form of a conversation," he continued. "A conversation - that I never had."
As I've mentioned, everyone was singing along with every song, but when Paul sang Here Today everyone went silent and listened. It gave me shivers. He did it wonderfully and got a huge cheer at the end, and then followed this up with Blackbird and everyone started singing again.
He then did Calico Skies, which went down very well and sounded wonderful with the strings behind it, and then Eleanor Rigby, during which Abe, who had nothing else to do, was up and dad-dancing at the back. :D After this the string section took a bow and Paul thanked them. During this bit he looked at the audience and said, "let's have a wave." And he waved at us and we all waved back.
"I don't know why, I just wanted to do that," he said.
Next up was Band On The Run - the room went wild when it started and it was AWESOME, one of my favourites of the night. After that, to keep the tempo up, was Back In The USSR! ROCK. \m/
Then it was back to the piano for House of Wax, another of my favourites from MAF. Not quite as strong as his performance of it at the iTunes festival (which was INCREDIBLE), but still great. And then - THEY PLAYED I'VE GOT A FEELING!! AHHHHHH. I made such a sort of "AHHHHHH" noise when it started that the man next to me looked at me very strangely. I was dancing and singing along to everything and I haven't had such a good time for ages. :D
Next up was Live and Let Die, another brilliant one, with Paul rocking out on the piano. And pyrotechnics! Wix jumped about six feet in the air when they went off behind him, and the crowd screamed, and Paul had this impish smile on his face, bless him. I couldn't see him very well so ended up watching Abe, who I could see, who was clearly having the time of his life, rocking out on the drums. He's practically a show by himself!
But yes! There were the usual big explosions after the 'live and let die' line, and also golden sparks showered on the stage. Awesome.
Then Paul said he'd like us to join in for the next number (that's Hey Jude then) - and launched into a cockney knees-up round the piano style song called Babyface, LOL. Then it was Hey Jude, and he did the usual thing of splitting the audience into boys and girls to sing, and we girls got to do it twice because we sounded so nice. :D
This was the official end of the hsow, and where the TV broadcast ended, but there were two encores. The first was Let It Be and Lady Madonna (eee!) at the piano, and then Paul, now tieless, took up his bass again and ripped through I Saw Her Standing There like a 22-year-old. As someone else said, close your eyes and you could almost be in the Cavern.
They took another bow and left - and the crowd kept cheering. It just went on and on solidly for minutes before they came on for a second encore of Get Back. And that was it! Paul lifted his bass into the air before leaving the stage with a stuffed toy and bunch of flowers.
Brilliant show, fantastic atmosphere and everyone left on a high. Outside they handed out souvenir tickets and an impromptu singalong of Hey Jude broke out in the hallway.
I was parched and so went into a corner shop for some drinks, before getting back on the tube again and heading back to the hotel, where I watched the gig on TV when it was broadcast an hour later. It was edited, so there were songs missing, but it was still great to see, especially the bits on the piano I hadn't managed to see. The mix was - interesting, in that obviously you could hear Paul and band very clearly and the crowd less so, whereas obviously if you were in the crowd you could hear them (us?) more clearly. But yeah, it was interesting looking at the big crowd, and knowing I was in it. I didn't see myself but I know roughly where I was standing, hee. I also saw my friends in the front, yay!
I was way too excited to sleep after that, despite my early start the next day, but I packed and eventually forced myself to go to bed, and the next day I got up and made the tube-train-plane journey home. Despite an unscheduled stopover in Guernsey I got to work okay (though late) and not too exhausted, hurrah. It was a fantastic night and I had the sore feet and hoarse throat the next day to prove it. :D
So, to summarise - the set list:
Magical Mystery Tour
Flaming Pie
Got To Get You Into My Life
Dance Tonight
Only Mama Knows
C Moon
The Long And Winding Road
I'll Follow The Sun
That Was Me
Here Today
Blackbird
Calico Skies
Eleanor Rigby
Band On The Run
Back in the USSR
House Of Wax
I've Got A Feeling
Live And Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore: Let It Be
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Second Encore: Get Back
And - that's it! I had the longest lie-in ever today and I think I've recovered now. Tell you what, to finish, here are some of my crappy pictures from my camera phone. As I said, they're not much, but they have a nice 'I was there!'-ness about them. And I like the colours.
Haha yeeeeaaah. Told you they weren't great! But still. :D
Right, I'm off to make hot chocolate. It's a bit cold in here.
So! Here is my little write up of the concert.
I'll spare you all the details of my journey - I arrived at the hotel at about 11pm on Wednesday and, after watching the brilliant Mark Ronson Electric Proms gig on TV (with Sean Lennon!), went off to sleep. I'd decided not to bother going up to pick up my wristband at arse o'clock the next day, so got up about half nine and headed up on the tube. Despite the fact it was on the other side of London it was only one change, so it was an easy journey.
I got to Chalk Farm and, helpfully, there were directions to the Roundhouse from the tube station itself - also you went to the end of the road and went "...oh. There it is."
So I joined a queue, which I shortly found out was in fact people who already had wristbands. So I left that one and went round to the building - and luckily the queue for wristbands was practically non existent at this point (about 11.30). Got my wristband, which was red with Paul's signature and the logos of the venue and the Electric Proms. On the way in I bumped into Lynda, who I'd been queuing with at the Paul signing last year! Small world! I later found out all my other queue buddies were there too - I saw them in the TV broadcast of the concert, right at the front. \o/
My plan was to go back to the hotel and change for the gig, and then come back and join the queue for the gig later, so it was back onto the tube. I stopped off at Starbucks (YAYYYY) and Tescos on the way back to the hotel to grab some lunch, and so had a pasta thingy and a fresh chocolate croissant and my yummy coffee back at the hotel. After that I showered, changed - about 4 times, as I couldn't decide what to wear and settled for good old comfortable jeans, very good decision as it turned out. At one point I was going to wear a skirt and so had put tights on, and I ended up keeping them on under the jeans, also a good decision.
To finish off I wore my black t-shirt with Paul's signature on in diamante. I didn't take my camera, which was probably just as well as it doesn't take very good pictures without the flash and with the flash it probably wouldn't have worked at all in there (too far away - anything's too far away unless it's 10 feet in front of you). I did take my phone though and took a few snaps on that - they turned out a bit crap, but I still love them because I took them. :)
I put off going outside as long as possible, because it was raining by this point and was pretty cold, but at about 3.45 I thought I'd better head over before everyone got out of work and joined the queue, so I arrived about 4.15, I think. The queue by this point was round the corner and up the back entrance of the venue. Not long after I joined they moved the next bit of the queue across the road and squished us down a bit.
About 4.45 Paul and his band arrived for soundcheck in three cars with blacked out windows. (As such, we assume it was them, anyway. LOL.) The queue was squished down a bit more until I ended up on the road rather than on the hill, hurrah.
And the wait went on. I didn't really have anyone to talk to because the people in front of and behind me in the queue were French. It got colder and darker and I got to add a couple more to the tally of 'hours spent standing in the freezing cold to see Paul'. I was also desperate for the loo but as I was queuing alone I couldn't slip out. By 7 the queue was halfway to Belsize Park.
Aaaaanyway, time went on, and on, and on, but eventually 6.45 rolled around and they started letting people in. I got in about 7, relieved to be in the warm, and immediately made a beeline for the loos. I also bought a couple of exclusive show t-shirts (one is white and has the eye from the cover of the McCartney Years DVD, the other is black and pink and has the chair from the cover of Memory Almost Full, both have the date and venue on the back), before heading into the Main Space.
Finding a spot was tricky. Obviously people were grouping more in the middle, so I went slightly to the right of centre and of course found myself behind the attendees of the Annual Tall Person's Concert and Beer Social Night, apparently. So I moved a bit further round and hurrah! Normal height people. I knew I would have problems seeing from anywhere other than the first three rows (which I wouldn't have made anyway, as I hadn't been there from the day before, lol), so this was pretty good, really. If I'd been any further back I might have been in trouble, though. I couldn't see Paul at all at the piano except for one brief moment, but I could see him pretty well at his mike stand, so hurrah.
As we were waiting for the show to start they were playing some weird music in the main space, and I briefly wondered if Paul had decided to go with the Radio Times's idea of playing the infamous Carnival of Light before the show started (as it was written for the venue back in the 60s). Who knows? We were never told what it was.
The time passed surprisingly quickly and soon Paul and band took the stage! By keeping on my toes I was able to see surprisingly well for how far back I was as he launched into Magical Mystery Tour. He was wearing a dark suit and tie and was playing his Hofner; very Beatle-esque. *squee*
After this he welcomed everyone and mentioned it had been a long time since he was last in the Roundhouse - 40 years exactly, to be precise. And as a bit of trivia, Thursday's gig was exactly 50 years and one week after Paul's debut gig with the Quarrymen.
The next song was Flaming Pie, which was exactly the same running order as Paul's 2005 tour, lol. Great song, though. Then it was Got To Get You Into My Life, which he messed up the words to, hehe. Then out came the mandolin, and Dance Tonight, which went down brilliantly. Everyone was singing along with everything at the top of their lungs, it was great. I was a lot more bouncy than I had been at the 2005 show probably because that was the first one I'd ever been to and I was a bit "...whoa!" at the time. I'd never been to a show where it was been free standing on the floor either.
Then Paul introduced the 'stringies' - the string seciotn behind the screen behind the stage, and launched into Only Mama Knows. This is one of my favourites from the new album so I was delighted to hear it.
After this Paul went to the piano and disappeared from my view - before doing C Moon! I LOVE C MOON. Honestly! It's been in my favourite list for years, despite everyone saying it's one of the weakest Wings songs. I LOVE IT. I was so chuffed he played it, it was so good. I remember thinking 'if he plays I've Got A Feeling, I'll just be done in'. Next up, still at the piano, was The Long and Winding Road.
Then it was back to the centre (yay!), and Paul read some of the signs. "Two California girls love you," he read off one. "Only two?" he said. "Oh dear."
Then he pointed out it was a full moon over the Roundhouse, and got everybody howling.
The next song he announced as "a very old one", which made everybody cheer. "Don't cheer it just because it's old!" said Paul, and went into I'll Follow The Sun, which he gave a little extended ending to, "because it's just too short."
Everyone was still singing along raucously with every song, and next up was That Was Me, also from the new album. Next Paul took off his jacket and some girls down the front got a bit over-excited. "It's only the jacket," said Paul, amused. He was handed his acoustic guitar.
"This is a song I wrote for John, after he passed away," he said. "Let's hear it for John!" Then followed one of the biggest cheers of the night, which just went on and on.
"This is in the form of a conversation," he continued. "A conversation - that I never had."
As I've mentioned, everyone was singing along with every song, but when Paul sang Here Today everyone went silent and listened. It gave me shivers. He did it wonderfully and got a huge cheer at the end, and then followed this up with Blackbird and everyone started singing again.
He then did Calico Skies, which went down very well and sounded wonderful with the strings behind it, and then Eleanor Rigby, during which Abe, who had nothing else to do, was up and dad-dancing at the back. :D After this the string section took a bow and Paul thanked them. During this bit he looked at the audience and said, "let's have a wave." And he waved at us and we all waved back.
"I don't know why, I just wanted to do that," he said.
Next up was Band On The Run - the room went wild when it started and it was AWESOME, one of my favourites of the night. After that, to keep the tempo up, was Back In The USSR! ROCK. \m/
Then it was back to the piano for House of Wax, another of my favourites from MAF. Not quite as strong as his performance of it at the iTunes festival (which was INCREDIBLE), but still great. And then - THEY PLAYED I'VE GOT A FEELING!! AHHHHHH. I made such a sort of "AHHHHHH" noise when it started that the man next to me looked at me very strangely. I was dancing and singing along to everything and I haven't had such a good time for ages. :D
Next up was Live and Let Die, another brilliant one, with Paul rocking out on the piano. And pyrotechnics! Wix jumped about six feet in the air when they went off behind him, and the crowd screamed, and Paul had this impish smile on his face, bless him. I couldn't see him very well so ended up watching Abe, who I could see, who was clearly having the time of his life, rocking out on the drums. He's practically a show by himself!
But yes! There were the usual big explosions after the 'live and let die' line, and also golden sparks showered on the stage. Awesome.
Then Paul said he'd like us to join in for the next number (that's Hey Jude then) - and launched into a cockney knees-up round the piano style song called Babyface, LOL. Then it was Hey Jude, and he did the usual thing of splitting the audience into boys and girls to sing, and we girls got to do it twice because we sounded so nice. :D
This was the official end of the hsow, and where the TV broadcast ended, but there were two encores. The first was Let It Be and Lady Madonna (eee!) at the piano, and then Paul, now tieless, took up his bass again and ripped through I Saw Her Standing There like a 22-year-old. As someone else said, close your eyes and you could almost be in the Cavern.
They took another bow and left - and the crowd kept cheering. It just went on and on solidly for minutes before they came on for a second encore of Get Back. And that was it! Paul lifted his bass into the air before leaving the stage with a stuffed toy and bunch of flowers.
Brilliant show, fantastic atmosphere and everyone left on a high. Outside they handed out souvenir tickets and an impromptu singalong of Hey Jude broke out in the hallway.
I was parched and so went into a corner shop for some drinks, before getting back on the tube again and heading back to the hotel, where I watched the gig on TV when it was broadcast an hour later. It was edited, so there were songs missing, but it was still great to see, especially the bits on the piano I hadn't managed to see. The mix was - interesting, in that obviously you could hear Paul and band very clearly and the crowd less so, whereas obviously if you were in the crowd you could hear them (us?) more clearly. But yeah, it was interesting looking at the big crowd, and knowing I was in it. I didn't see myself but I know roughly where I was standing, hee. I also saw my friends in the front, yay!
I was way too excited to sleep after that, despite my early start the next day, but I packed and eventually forced myself to go to bed, and the next day I got up and made the tube-train-plane journey home. Despite an unscheduled stopover in Guernsey I got to work okay (though late) and not too exhausted, hurrah. It was a fantastic night and I had the sore feet and hoarse throat the next day to prove it. :D
So, to summarise - the set list:
Magical Mystery Tour
Flaming Pie
Got To Get You Into My Life
Dance Tonight
Only Mama Knows
C Moon
The Long And Winding Road
I'll Follow The Sun
That Was Me
Here Today
Blackbird
Calico Skies
Eleanor Rigby
Band On The Run
Back in the USSR
House Of Wax
I've Got A Feeling
Live And Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore: Let It Be
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Second Encore: Get Back
And - that's it! I had the longest lie-in ever today and I think I've recovered now. Tell you what, to finish, here are some of my crappy pictures from my camera phone. As I said, they're not much, but they have a nice 'I was there!'-ness about them. And I like the colours.
Haha yeeeeaaah. Told you they weren't great! But still. :D
Right, I'm off to make hot chocolate. It's a bit cold in here.