Paul McCartney at Citi Field

When I bought my tickets, I felt a sting in my wallet. I had never seen McCartney in concert and I thought this might be the only time I would have the opportunity to see the Beatles legend live. The closest I came to anything remotely related to the Beatles was attending the John Lennon memorial in Central Park in 1980 a week after he was killed.

So I figured I'd pony up the dough and take the wife to the first concert in Citi Field, in itself an historic event for the new stadium. And boy, was it the best spent money in a long time! Although the slight rain that came down for about an hour might've dampened our clothing, it didn't dampen our spirits as McCartney blazed through a myriad of songs, old and new and rocked the stadium.

A video backdrop behind the band included pictures of the young Beatles days, computer-animated Beatles from the video game “The Beatles: Rock Band”, video of a Wings photo shoot during "Band on the Run" that included James Coburn, Christopher Lee and Robert DeNiro, and even a couple of simulated Obama headshots during "Sing The Changes." I'll try to add some photos and maybe a video later.

One particular thing that warmed my heart were the parents who brought their young children to witness the Rock 'n Roll legend. There was a dad with his daughter of perhaps 9 or 10 years of age, who sat in front of us and knew every lyric to every Beatles song being played. To our left was a mom and her 5 year old girl who sang along with "Hey Jude." In this age of the Jonas Brothers, Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus, it's nice to see the history of rock music being handed down to the next generation. Too many times I've come across some in their late teens and early twenties who think the genre started with Nirvana and answer questions of The Beatles with, "Who?"

If you can come up with the scratch and can score tickets for one of the remaining two concerts, it's well worth the experience.

Jon Pareles has an excellent write up in the New York Times.

Here's Friday night's set list:

“Drive My Car”
“Jet”
“Only Mama Knows”
“Flaming Pie”
“Got To Get You Into My Life”
“Let Me Roll It” (with a “Foxy Lady” coda)
“Highway”
“The Long and Winding Road”
“My Love”
“Blackbird”
“Here Today”
“Dance Tonight”
“Calico Skies”
“Mrs. Vandebilt”
“Eleanor Rigby”
“Sing the Changes”
“Band on the Run”
“Back in the U.S.S.R.”
“I’m Down”
“Something” (on ukulele)
“I’ve Got a Feeling”
“Paperback Writer”
“A Day in the Life”/“Give Peace a Chance”
“Let It Be”
“Live and Let Die”
“Hey Jude”

Encore:

“Day Tripper”
“Lady Madonna”
“I Saw Her Standing There” (with Billy Joel)
“Yesterday”
“Helter Skelter”
“Get Back”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (reprise)/“The End”