Salt Lake City • Tuesday, July 13, 2010

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This concert in Salt Lake City marked the 200th show of Paul McCartney with his current band. A press release was issued to note the fact. From Nasty Little Man, July 13, 2010:

[…] Paul McCartney’s concert in Salt Lake City today, Tuesday 13th July will mark this band’s 200th show together.

Paul McCartney, Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens (keyboards), Brian Ray (guitar/bass guitar), Rusty Anderson (guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums) have been touring together since 2002’s ‘Back In The World’ Tour.  Over the last 8 years the band has travelled the world and played some groundbreaking and headline-making shows together. […]

Speaking about the band Paul said: ‘The great thing is that we have grown into a band.  It’s funny because I always felt we were a bunch of guys playing together and were very lucky because we made a good noise that we found ourselves excited to be in the middle of.  Last year I just suddenly said to myself, “Wait a minute, you have been playing with these guys for, like, nine years now.”  Whether you like it or not that makes you a band and that is the great thing.  That is what happened to us, we have become a band almost without noticing.’ […]

From Consequence Of Sound, July 15, 2010:

As I’ve tried to tell you in articles previous: Salt Lake is cool. But never have I felt more proud to be a musically inclined Utahn than last night at Rio Tinto Stadium. Sir Paul McCartney played for the first time ever in the state of Utah to a sellout audience of 25,000+ that spilled out of the venue and on to the stairs and surrounding real estate of the stadium. People were doing anything and everything to catch a glimpse or even just hear a snippet of the music of one of the most beloved icons in the history of rock and roll.

When the announcement was made that Macca would be hitting Salt Lake, I thought someone was playing a sick joke on me, but I was sorely (not so sore anymore) mistaken. Booking agency SCP Worldwide LLC – who are part owners in both Rio Tinto Stadium and the MSL team it houses, Real Sal Lake – reportedly spent months in talks with the McCartney camp to get this deal to go through. Executive vice president of events for SCP Worldwide, John Urban, professed his dedication to the state and to the caliber of its events upon being announced as the new executive in October, and he proved his dedication with the booking of McCartney. For his “Up and Coming” tour, McCartney had expressed interest in visiting cities previously unvisited, so, Urban took that in stride and made things happen. “Our job was to let them know why Salt Lake, and specifically Rio Tinto Stadium, should be included in a finite number of dates,” said Urban concerning the bid. “We were selling Salt Lake, the stadium, the opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind event.”’

Real Salt Lake president Bill Manning echoed Urban’s zeal: “[McCartney]’s never been here before, and you don’t know if he’ll ever be back,” he said. “I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be a sold-out show.” The enormity of this annunciation was not lost on Utahns, and Manning’s prediction turned out to be a gross understatement. Citizens were about to go nuts over this show. One individual even handcrafted a left-handed bass guitar for McCartney, which as I’m told, McCartney gladly accepted, but did not use in the show. […]

Finally, the day arrived, and the city was alive with anticipation. When I got to work that morning, that’s all anyone could talk about around the office (I’m sure my bragging about getting to go to the show did nothing but perpetuate the problem), and for five straight hours I couldn’t stop whistling or humming the tune of “Band On The Run”. I agonizingly watched the seconds pass until the little hand was on the seven and big hand was on the 12, and I was out the door. The streets were flooded with traffic north, south, east and west as far as my bad eyes could see, and it took me half an hour to go one and a half city blocks to arrive at the parking lot. In the 12 years of living in this city, I have never seen so much commotion in this part of town. This was a big deal.

Once inside the stadium, the buzz only increased. People from every walk of life were in their seats and the stadium was completely full half an hour before the show was scheduled to start. Every single demographic was represented: hippies that surely witnessed Beatlemania firsthand, wealthy stadium benefactors, college kids who’d scrapped up every cent in their life savings for a seat, children not a day over eight; White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic alike were waiting patiently to see their beloved Paul. And the only opening act to greet them was a series of rare and re-worked Beatles cuts played over the loudspeakers, which the crowd emphatically sang along to. The wait began to subside as a tweaked version of “The End” started to play as the lights began to go up. Accompanied by a deafening roar of the crowd, Macca had arrived.

Taking the stage in a nostalgia-inducing suit and mop-top combo, McCartney pointed and waved at the adoring fans of every shape and size. He and the rest of his five-piece band jumped right into their set with a classic Wings medley that included “Venus and Mars” and “Rock Show”. After the song(s), he proclaimed his excitement to be in the state, referring to the audience several times as “Utahns” with a wry grin every time, as if to express his fascination with the unfamiliar word. […]

Not a single fan went home unsatisfied (except perhaps those who weren’t fortunate enough to gain entry), and it’s all anyone can talk about here in town. Paul’s picture was on the front page of The Salt Lake Tribune and The Desert News, the two largest news publications in the state. Utah bloggers are going crazy updating their blogs with McCartney news, Facebook statuses everywhere (including mine) express gratitude and love for Paul; there simply is no end to the adoration. Every fan came in expecting to return to the nostalgic moment when they fell in love with Paul and the rest of the Fab Four, and each fan was rewarded with that very thing and so much more. […]

Last updated on November 24, 2020

Rio Tinto Stadium

This was the 1st and only concert played at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Setlist for the soundcheck

The setlist for this soundcheck is incomplete, or we have not be able to confirm in an accurate way that this was the setlist. If you have any clue, pls let us know and leave a comment.

Setlist for the concert

1.

Venus And Mars

Written by Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney

19.

Ram On

Written by Paul McCartney