Head Tale

I honestly don’t know what else I can write about the big Paul McCartney concert tonight in Regina.

Yes, it’s only one former Beatle but for me, this is not just a Paul McCartney show (which would be fine in and of itself) but this is also the closest I’ll ever get to a Beatles concert as well.

I thought about writing a long post about how much the Beatles have meant to me over the years.

I thought about trying to capture the impact they’ve had on the world of music and the wider world.

I thought about how they embodied the values of peace, joy and love – which often sound quaint in our cynical age – but which are more important as ever *because* of that.

I thought about writing a piece where I tried to imagine what it must be like to be Paul McCartney – what does *he* think about his life and legacy as he travels the world putting on three hour shows at an age where most “normal” people have long retired.

I thought about finding an article or a blog post or a photo that encapsulates all of the above.

But frankly, I’m just too excited. I alternate between vibrating with joy and feeling like I’m going to burst into tears (also of joy of course.)

Fred Eaglesmith has a joke about his two breeds of fans – “Fredheads” who are the good fans – the ones who buy his albums and ask how he’s doing and post nice things about him on the Internet. Then there are the “Freddies” who take a week off work before his show, start drinking at 9am on the day of the show and harass him at the merchandise table with stories of “how you changed my life, man!”

I’m not a total “Freddie” for McCartney (not one drip of alcohol has passed my lips today – honest!) But there is a bit of that extremism to my Beatles fandom. It wasn’t intentional but because I’m switching jobs at RPL, I’ve ended up taking some time off which perfectly coincided with this concert and gave me lots of time to read/post/think about the upcoming concert over the past few days. And frankly, if I ever met McCartney I would blubber on and on about how he has changed my life (as well as the lives of millions of other people around the world – if for no other reason than for providing a soundtrack for our births and our weddings and our anniversaries and our reunions and our morning commutes and our shower solos!)

I couldn’t find that one perfect article to capture exactly what McCartney means to me and so many others. But this one comes close – although on a less emotional level looking just at some of the band’s accomplishments (but what accomplishments they are – SEVEN years!)

I can’t wait. And I don’t want the concert to arrive because I don’t want this feeling to end. But maybe it won’t. Maybe, just maybe, this concert will create a feeling that lasts far beyond one night!