McCartney rocks across the river

Paul McCartney performs in front of a sold out crown at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Oct. 21 (PHOTO By Allanah Wills)

“I hear he plays for three hours straight.”

“Last night his set was two and a half hours and he didn’t even take a sip of water.”

These were some of the rumours over heard around Joe Louis Arena before Paul McCartney’s Oct.21 show on his Out There tour. This has been his first time in Detroit since his 2011 gig at Comerica Park. With a capacity of more than 20,000, tickets for the Joe Louis show had sold out within minutes.

As thousands of people poured into the venue it became clear that the appeal of McCartney and The Beatles has spanned generations. The young, the old and the in-between waited in the stands with barely-contained excitement, many wearing Beatles shirts and holding homemade signs.

As the house lights dimmed, McCartney and his four-piece band opened the show with the Beatles’ upbeat 1964 song Eight Days a Week.

As the show went on and many (and I mean many) guitar changes commenced, McCartney’s enthusiasm and charm was clear to see. By introducing nearly every song and thanking the crowd after finishing every song, McCartney seemed to enjoy talking as much as the crowd enjoyed listening. Extra applause erupted when he introduced songs from the ‘60s.

When talking with the crowd he often told personal stories. A stand out moment happened when he spoke of Beatles guitarist George Harrison before going into the Harrison penned song Something with photos of the two playing in the background.

Although his vocals were noticeably more fragile than they were 30 years ago, McCartney’s charisma and stage presence made up for it as he shimmied across the stage. It would be easy to get lost in the lasers, spotlights and the bright moving LED background changes (changed every song). However, McCartney continued to own the stage with vibrancy and witty quips, never once seeming to lose steam.

McCartney played multiple songs on the piano including Let It Be, Maybe I’m Amazed and Lady Madonna. The climax of the piano songs, and perhaps the whole show, was the Wings hit Live and Let Die. The spectacle included flames and fireworks that had the audience gasping.

As the crowd stomped their feet and cheered McCartney came back on stage asking them if they wanted more before giving two encore medleys of Beatles songs including I Saw Her Standing There, Yesterday, Carry That Weight and finishing off with The End.

With a show that spanned exactly three hours and a 41 song set list that included 27 Beatles songs, the 73-year-old McCartney more than lived up to all the rumours.