Electric Proms • Thursday, October 25, 2007

About

From Collectors Music Reviews:

The Electric Proms is a relatively new festival organized and hosted by the British Broadcasting Company. In only the second year they managed to present Paul McCartney for this full length show at the Roundhouse in Camden, London. The artists who participate for the Electric Proms are encouraged to do something different and out of the ordinary. McCartney, like other artists, plays some of the songs accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra along with his back up band (Paul Wickens (keyboards), Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray (guitars), and Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums)). […]

Unlike the secret gigs with “Drive My Car” or the iTunes Festival with “Coming Up,” he chooses to employ the 2005 set list double salvo of “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Flaming Pie” as the opener. “Welcome to the Roundhouse. It’s been a while since I was here. Quite a little while” Paul says before “Got To Get You Into My Life,” a number that opened the final Wings tour in 1979. Afterwards Paul says, “We are going to have a great time tonight” before the first single from the new album “Dance Tonight.” Paul introduces the first appearance of the orchestra saying, “you see we are augmented by our friends in the string department. They join us now” as they play the introduction to “Only Mama Knows.” “C Moon” with the heavy emphasis on its reggae roots has been a constant at the rare live appearances and includes a reference to Jamaica thrown in. […]

Minute by minute report from BBC website:

19.59 – At 7pm the queue stretched halfway to Belsize Park. Five minutes to go and already the packed crowd are going wild.
20.05 – And straight into ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. This is one man who doesn’t need to worry about wasting his hits early in the set!
20.07 – Paul’s looking damn sharp in a skinny mod suit.
20.09 – It’s “a long time” since he’s been in the Roundhouse…
20.12 – He’s got his mandolin out. Must be time for ‘Dance Tonight’.
20.15 – The jacket comes off. Some ladies down the front seem a bit over excited!
20.16 – ‘Only Mama Knows’ is complemented by a string octet.
20.18 – First Wings song of the night and it’s the early b side ‘C’Moon’.
20.24 – Sticking at the piano for ‘The Long And Winding Road’. It’s the first big singalong of the night.
20.29 – There are a lot of glowsticks in the audience tonight. Anyone would think we were at a Klaxons gig.
20.36 – Macca pays tribute to John with ‘Here Today’ and gets the biggest cheer of the night so far.
20.42 – The strings return for ‘Calico Skies’.
20.43 – Paul asks for an audience wave, and he gets one.
20.48 – ‘Eleanor Rigby’ now and Paul’s drummer is up and dad-dancing at the back.
20.51 – The Wings songs are going down as well as The Beatles ones. ‘Band On The Run’ now and two headbangers down the front are loving it.
20.55 – Signs in the crowd show people have travelled from as far afield as Canada and Japan for this gig.
21.04 – Macca’s band take over Lennon’s vocals on ‘I Got A Feeling’.
21.06 – Macca’s spotted an X-Factor contestant in the audience…
21.08 – ‘Live and Let Die’ comes complete with pyrotechnics.
21.09 – Paul’s thumping those keys Jerry Lee Lewis style.
21.11 – An impromptu baby face turns into the ultimate singalong, ‘Hey Jude’.
21.15 – “Na na na, na na na na, na na na na Hey Juuuuuude”.
21.17 – The balcony is finally on its feet.
21.21 – He’s off but not for long… Back to the piano for ‘Let It Be’.
21.22 – The smoking ban hasn’t stopped an age-old tradition. Lighters in the air.
21.27 – The bass is back on for ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. That voice doesn’t seem to have aged. Close your eyes and you could almost be in The Cavern
21.31 – What a gig! You can tell this audience will be talking about it for years to come.
21.33 – Hang on, he’s back!
21.38 – Macca plays ‘Get Back’ and then he’s gone… but you get the feeling he could have gone on for a few more hours at least.

Sir Paul McCartney performs during the BBC Electric Proms, at the Roundhouse on October 25, 2007 in London, England.

Sir Paul McCartney performs during the BBC Electric Proms, at the Roundhouse on October 25, 2007 in London, England.

Last updated on January 6, 2016

Roundhouse

This was the 1st and only concert played at Roundhouse.

Setlist for the concert