Earth Day Concert • Friday, April 16, 1993

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From UPI, March 24, 1993:

LOS ANGELES — Paul McCartney will return to the Hollywood Bowl next month to headline an Earth Day concert, his first performance at the landmark since a Beatles concert nearly 30 years ago.

Concerts for the Environment, the promoter of the April 16 Los Angeles event, said Wednesday that concerts also are slated for April 18 in New York and April 22 in Washington.

The group Midnight Oil will headline those two concerts and Violent Femmes will appear at the Washington event.

Promoters say they have planned environment-conscious concerts. The lighting, sound and video screens will be solar-powered and one sponsor, O wear, will sell commemorative T-shirts made of organic cotton.

Vegetarian items will be offered at concession stands and promoters are encouraging carpooling and the use of shuttle buses to cut down on pollution from idling cars. While parking at the Hollywood Bowl will cost as much as $20, shuttle bus tickets will sell for $2.

Tickets for the McCartney concert go on sale Saturday in Los Angeles. Prices range from $25 for a bench seat on the hillside far from the stage to $1,250 for a box seat.

McCartney last appeared at the Hollywood Bowl in 1965, the second of two concerts recorded for the Beatles’ ‘Live At The Hollywood Bowl’ album.

From Variety, April 20, 1993:

Someday, Paul McCartney may have as much respect for his songs as he obviously does for the environment. But not this day.

Tossing off most of his material with little passion, the “cute” Beatle continued his somewhat vexing post-Fab Four habit of playing it safe, giving competent but ultimately bland versions of his material from a song catalog that ranks among pop music’s finest.

Instead of reinterpreting his work, trying to find new meaning and new inspiration, McCartney’s performance here was akin to that of a lounge performer , trotting out old favorites for the folks but never challenging himself or his audience. Perhaps that sufficed on his last tour, when a 12-year absence from the road allowed him a bit of grace and good will from an audience starved for any crumb of McCartney.

But at an age when many classical and jazz performers begin to produce some of their strongest work, McCartney instead seems content to coast.

That said, let us pay tribute to the brilliance of his body of work. Who in the crowd doesn’t get a chill to hear live versions of such memories as “Can’t Buy Me Love,””Band on the Run” (even though McCartney is starting to lose his top end, straining to hit the upper notes), or “Live and Let Die”?

While it would have been nice for Ringo Starr to have been given more to do than walk out during the mass finale of “Hey Jude,” it was still touching to see the old bandmates embrace once again more than two decades after they last played the Bowl. […]

Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles – Paul interrupts the tour schedule to stage a special concert in support of the USA Earth Day appeal for a cleaner planet. He headlines a line-up of P.M. Dawn, 10,000 Maniacs, Bruce Cockburn, Kenny Loggins, Steve Miller and Don Henley. Paul performs a shortened, 17-song version of the New World Tour set, adding ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ and ‘Blackbird’, k d lang guest-stars with Paul and Linda on ‘Hope Of Deliverance’. For the finale, all the artists join Paul for ‘Hey Jude’ – with a huge roar erupting from the crowd as Ringo Starr walks out to sing the chorus shoulder to shoulder with his former partner.

Notes from Geoff Baker, Paul McCartney’s publicist – from Club Sandwich 66, Summer 1993

Last updated on June 15, 2019

Hollywood Bowl

This was the 4th concert played at Hollywood Bowl.

A total of 8 concerts have been played there • 1964 • Aug 23rd • 1965 • Aug 29th • Aug 30th • 1993 • Apr 16th • 1998 • Jul 19th • 2010 • Mar 30th • Mar 31st • 2024 • Apr 11th

Setlist for the soundcheck

Setlist for the concert

7.

Hope of Deliverance

Written by Paul McCartney

K. D. Lang :

Vocals

Album Available on Earth Day Concert - Live At The Hollywood Bowl 1993