MusicNews

A sight nothing can prepare you for: Paul McCartney onstage, just the man and his guitar, doing "Blackbird" or "I've Got a Feeling" or "Here Today." Merely the greatest of rock & roll performers, in the middle of his usual marathon show. Last night he was in Newark, New Jersey, to kick off the first night of his eight-show New York City-area stand, and – as always – he held nothing back. He played nearly three hours, from the opening guitar crash of "A Hard Day's Night" to the piano ripples of "The End." There's something downright savage about how he works so much harder than he needs to, giving away so much more of himself than it would take to send everyone home happy. But that's why seeing McCartney is an exaltation unlike anything else in live music.




At 75, he refuses to coast – his enthusiasm and vigor and humor are slightly terrifying to behold. He's not just a master at the top of his game – he's on top of a game he invented half a century ago. Unlike peers like Springsteen or Dylan, McCartney doesn't tinker with the setlist from show to show, but what he shares is that mad determination to re-earn the legend every night from scratch. Last night he crashed through nearly 40 songs – Beatle hits, Wings deep cuts, oldies that remind him of absent friends, new tunes that remind him of here and now. The audience wasn't holding back either, representing Maccamaniacs from all different cultures and generations. The ladies a couple rows ahead of me held up a sign that said "Friends Since Shea" – I felt as awed in their presence as I did in McCartney's.

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