Macca takes the stage in Grunge Mecca, epic Nirvana collaboration ensues!!


Paul McCartney is a surprisingly spry 71 year old and although his vocal chords are vintage you could barely notice anything but perfection during his Seattle performance of the Out There Tour. As you would expect, he put on a fantastic show. Macca can still rock and it was a pleasure and a thrill to see him perform.

The concert was an epic 39 song, three hour set of classics from The Beatles, Wings, and his solo career, to a sold-out crowd of 45,000. It was a night of milestones and epic surprises. Most notably…. Fucking Nirvana joined the stage for the encores! I mean… COME ON! You do not get a better surprise than that! Not only was it the first public concert at Safeco Field, it was (I believe) the first time Nirvana has played together in Seattle in almost 20 years!

Needless to say, seeing a reunion of Nirvana, in Seattle, at the first concert at Safeco Field, playing “Helter Skelter”, jamming with Paul fucking McCartney, was the absolute apex of my concert-going career. How can I top Grunge legends jamming with rock gods? I don’t know, (but I’ll do my best to try).

When I originally heard that McCartney was touring through Seattle, my original thought as a longtime huge Beatles fan was I am obligated to buy tickets. Since classic rock doesn’t come cheap these days, I (almost grudgingly) purchased the tickets. As the classic rockers age, the pressure is ratcheted up to see them while you can. So I passed on the multi-thousand dollar pit seats, and got cheap seats 3 rows from the top-top. But due to the Safeco Field’s baseball-diamond shape, everyone has at least decent seats, and I couldn't be more pleased with our vantage point. Personally, had I passed up the opportunity to see this concert (especially in retrospect, given the surprise cameos) I would be in a major depression right now.

There were many Beatles and Wings favorites. I thoroughly enjoyed the Wings selections, as I have only recently gotten into the post-Beatles McCartney discography. It was just a completely awesome set, only topped by the encores!

The Setlist


I’ll add some brief notes and discussion  for each song. ALL of the videos are from the very comprehensive video coverage of the show thanks to YouTubers!

Eight Days a Week (The Beatles song)
Excellent opener.



I would have picked just about any other song.



All My Loving (The Beatles song)
An oldie but a goodie.



Good song. Great performance. The horns were all done with some electronic wizardry.



I LOVE THIS SONG! It is my recent favorite song, and seeing it performed live was fantastic.



Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)
As a tribute to Seattle, Paul did an homage to Seattle’s Jimi Hendrix by rocking this guitar cover! It was really cool. Paul then discusses the honor of Hendrix covering Sgt. Pepper 2 days after it's release. (see the 1:09 timestamp of the video for the discussion).




Paperback Writer (The Beatles song)
Beautiful. Melodies were nicely done. Very glad this made the setlist.



This song, written as a wedding song for Nancy, is one of Paul’s new singles. Although it has a very lounge-singer type vibe, it is quite beautiful. Paul said that Nancy was at the show.

This was an excellent Wings selection. I like it a lot. It is fun, and got people groovin’.



The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles song)
I hate to say this, but I wasn’t feeling this song. Not that he did a bad job with it… It a great song and it had to be played, but I just wasn’t feeling it.



I was quite pleased to see this great song, which was written by Paul to Linda during the break-up of the Beatles.



I've Just Seen a Face (The Beatles song)
Its an ok song, but I would have picked from a plethora of better ones.

We Can Work It Out  (The Beatles song)
“Life is very short, and there's no time, For fussing and fighting, my friend.”



I would have picked just about any other song. I dislike the majority of this song.



And I Love Her (The Beatles song)
A nice selection.



Blackbird (The Beatles song)
He discussed how he wrote this song for African Americans during the civil rights movement. It’s a great song and a it was a great performance.



This is an incredibly touching  letter in the form of a song that Paul wrote to John following his death.



Your Mother Should Know (The Beatles song)
I love this song. So great to see it live.



Lady Madonna (The Beatles song)
Fun. “See how they RUN!”



All Together Now (The Beatles song)
This was just absolutely silly. This song is just dumb, and the graphics on the screen were stupid gelatinous blobs bouncing around, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a crowd-pleaser. I don’t know why.

Lovely Rita (The Beatles song)
Love it. Loved it more live. Featuring a Kazoo!



This is a really fun song that got people moving.

Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles song)
Hauntingly beautiful. Probably of the more important songs for me to have seen live.



Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles song)
This was the song he borrowed from John. It was very nicely done. He then got the crowd to applaud John: “Let’s hear it for John!?”



Something (The Beatles song)
This was the song he borrowed from George. He began with an anecdote about playing the ukulele with George, then he started it off with a ukulele intro then they went fully into the song.   This song is so beautiful. He then got the crowd to applaud George: “Let’s hear it for George!?”



Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles song)
Fun.



It was great!



Back in the U.S.S.R. (The Beatles song)
This is rocking Beatles song, which isn’t really my favorite, but I loved it live.



Let It Be (The Beatles song)
This speaks for itself. I mean what do you expect other than a beautiful song.



Awesome. Pulled-out-all-the-stops Fireworks!  PYROTECHNICS!!!!  A pyromaniac’s fantasy. An epileptics’ nightmare.



and here is a wide view for the pyro's out there!



Hey Jude (The Beatles song)
Perfect. Very moving.



Encore 1:

Day Tripper (The Beatles song)
Awesome.



Cut Me Some Slack (the song by Sir Paul McCartney and Nirvana aka: “Sirvana”)
This is where he invited the Nirvana members onstage and everyone shat their pants.This song is pretty good upon further investigation. It was written by McCartney and Nirvana during the making of the Sound City documentary on the recording of the related, Sound City: Real to Reel album.



Get Back (The Beatles song)
 This is a great underrated Beatles song and seeing it with Nirvana, was just awesome.



This got everyone to their feet and twisting. Paul and Nirvana had played it together when hanging out for Sound City. It was a fun addition to the set.



Encore 2:

Yesterday (The Beatles song)
What do you expect other than a beautiful song.



Helter Skelter (The Beatles song)
So. Fucking. Epic. Seriously, so ridiculous.



This deserves another video. Here is an interesting black and white effect.



Golden Slumbers (The Beatles song)
This was the beginning of the perfect beautiful 3-song ending of the show. These songs are perfect, especially when played together as written!  Even more so when Nirvana joins and jams!



Carry That Weight (The Beatles song)
Love it.
"Boy.., you're gonna carry that weight, Carry that weight a long time"

The End (The Beatles song)
"And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make"



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You can find the full “Out There” tour’s average Setlist here, if you are interested in how this show compares the rest of the tour..
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Can I see it all again please?


Sirvana

For the encores, McCartney was joined onstage by original, surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic (along with Pat Smear) for several songs.

For those of you thinking this is an odd match-up, remember that Paul and the Nirvana members paired up for Hurricane Sandy Relief, and did an SNL set.  The collaboration initiated when Grohl put together a documentary on the recording studio, Sound City, where many great records were made including, Nirvana’s Nevermind.

I must mention my annoyance at McCartney’s comment when Dave contacted him about the project: "I didn't really know who they were. They are saying how good it is to be back together. I said, 'Whoa? You guys haven't played together for all that time?’ And somebody whispered to me, 'That's Nirvana. You're Kurt.' I couldn't believe it."   I mean just step down off your high horse and admit you know who Nirvana is already, Paul!

To the naysayers talking about the sacrilege of Paul “fronting Nirvana”. This doesn’t have anything to do with Kurt or John, etc. Kurt is dead. Its unfortunate, but it’s a fact, so let’s move on. Let’s allow a bunch of rockstars to play an epic set with other rockstars, (all of which are from bands who are missing some original members). Nirvana is simply jumping at the chance to play with their biggest idol and the person who inspired them to get into music. See Sound City for Grohl’s discussion about how the Beatles influenced Nirvana. It was an awesome collaboration and for those of us lucky enough to see it, there is no denying how amazing it was. Of course I would have loved to see Nirvana in their element with Cobain at a basement-show in Aberdeen, but I’ll take Grunge legends jamming with rock gods any damn day of the week!

Seeing the members of Nirvana also marks my most “Seattle”-moment since living here (for about 2 years). It was quite cool. There was a girl behind us talking about just moving to Seattle. After Nirvana rocked out, I turned around and exclaimed, “Welcome to fucking Seattle!” I mean, this was her introduction to Seattle!?!  She must be thinking that music collaborations of epic proportions happen at concerts in Seattle every day. Haha. I wish this kind of thing happened more often. 





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