Head Tale

I’m already on record that The Beatles are my favourite band of all-time.

At the same time, I’ve never seen any of them live (not even Ringo!) 😉 I almost got my chance last November when Paul McCartney was in Edmonton and a friend ended up with an extra pair of tickets. But he ended up giving them to a friend who lived there and it was already a mid-week concert meaning I’d have had to take off at least a couple days to attend the concert. (I’m a big Beatles fan but not “I blow unreal amount of cash buying the absolute best tickets plus airfare plus hotels plus missing work” big!)

So it was *very* exciting to hear last week that Paul McCartney was going to be playing Regina this summer. Mom and dad said they wanted to go as well but Shea decided to take a pass – not being as big of a fan and wanting to not leave the baby for too long either.

I got the advance sale code from Shea (who got it from a mommy board of all places!) and logged in today and after just a *minor* glitch (My sleep-deprived new daddy brain initially ended up buying three tickets for Winnipeg instead of Regina – oopsie! Luckily, TicketBastard has a 72-hour return policy), we’ve ended up with three of the best tickets available ($275 each but you only live once right? I could pay half that but would just end up watching it on a big screen in the stadium so what’s the point?)

So I’m pretty excited. A site called Setlists.fm gives you a pretty good idea of what songs he’ll likely play (anything that’s been played 36-37 times on the Tour Statistics page as I type this is a good bet) but there are also a few rarities that slip into the set list here and there.

I’ve got so many favourite McCartney songs, it’d be hard to narrow it down to say, five songs I’d most want to hear but here’s my attempt (okay, stretched to ten)…

1. Yesterday – Not my favourite McCartney song but to hear the most-covered, best-selling song of all-time by the person who wrote it? Life defining.

2. A Day in the Life – the ultimate Beatles song

3. All My Loving – I just love this song!

4. Maybe I’m Amazed – more like “maybe this song is amazing!” I know Macca gets chided lots for his sappy melodies but so what?

5. Live and Let Die – mostly because they say this is his most “explosive” performance visually

6. No More Lonely Nights – probably one of his best melodies ever

7. Get Back – my dad’s favourite Beatles song so it would be special to hear it live with him

8. Mull of Kintyre – I’m not fiery about my Scottish roots but hearing this song might do it! If hearing “Get Back” with my dad would be special, hearing “Mull of Kintyre” with my mom (whose mom was born in the town closest to where McCartney had his famous farm) would be an awesome experience as well!

9. Calico Skies – one of many favourites I have from McCartney’s most underrated solo album

10. Something – I love the ukelele-based arrangement that McCartney put together as a tribute to George Harrison’s best-known Beatles song

Not on the list – pretty much all of Macca’s biggest hits – “Hey Jude”, “Let It Be”, etc. They’d be great too but, “Yesterday” excepted, I’ve heard them so much – especially in televised concerts and events, I want to hear the lesser known tracks more (although for an artist of McCartney’s stature “lesser known” is a relative term!)