Not long after I got the tickets for me and Mal to see David Byrne together, I discovered that Paul McCartney would be touring locally, and although Dave would have loved to come to this show, he knew that he would be in Shanghai at the time, so I invited Mal, saying, "For sure, this is your Christmas present." And of course, Mal had no complaints about that.
I posted that picture of us on facebook (yes, I'm wearing the Paul McCartney Sgt Pepper jacket that I once made as a Halloween costume for Mal) with the caption, "Twelve year old me and twelve year old Mal would have never imagined we'd be here tonight", and that's so true: I was an out-of-time preteen Beatlemaniac in the late 70's, and Mal was an out-of-time preteen Beatlemaniac in the early 2010's, and neither of us really thought we'd ever see Paul live (even though I have seen Ringo more than once, this just seemed somehow less likely). Ultimately: this was a very surreal concert experience, and Sir Paul still commands a crowd.
It seemed strange that of only two Canadian dates, one of them would be in Hamilton (instead of nearby Toronto), but Mal explained that not only was this the venue where M Night Shyamalan's latest movie Trap (about a big concert) was filmed, but McCartney had been booked as the first performer after a 300 million dollar upgrade to the stadium. By the time I decided to get tickets, I had to pay reseller prices (not quite as high as the group behind us who mentioned that they thought $800/seat was reasonable for the view) and high up overlooking the side of the stage was the best that I could find (which was actually a pretty good and interesting perspective, with many large screens showing us the head on view).
It was simpy incredible to me that, at eighty-three-years-old, McCartney performed for three hours straight and sang everything from Love Me Do to Helter Skelter; from Band on the Run to Maybe I'm Amazed; my favourite Paul song of all time. Over dinner (incredible food, service, and atmosphere at Mystic Ramen) I was telling Mal that I had a sentimental spot for Mull of Kintyre (Cora and I had worked up the harmonies on it [when we were preteen Beatlemaniacs] to sing for her family's get-togethers), and although we agreed it wasn't likely to be on the setlist, McCartney did end up doing this song, too; the crowd absolutely blowing the roof off when a local pipe and drum band came marching out in their kilts to add the bagpipe line. And the crowd was one of the best parts of the whole concert: from our high vantage point, I could see the superfans on the floor and in the stands — Beatlemaniacs of every age — and we all knew all the words, and we all na-na-na-naed along with Hey Jude, and it was personal and it was communal and I got to share it all with my own erstwhile Beatlemaniac.
