Milan

one of the best night of my life

Of noteworthy note: Paul signed my ukulele on stage that night, just before leaving the stage.

I'd brought it with me for two reasons: To entertain myself and the others during the long -And cold!- hours cueing outside the Forum (I was one of the first people to arrive, early in the morning) and, secondly, because it was a mere two days apart from the 10th anniversary of George Harrison's passing (29th November of 2001) so I thought it would be a nice thing to bring a ukulele, an instrument George was very fond of, with me.

I had very very little hopes, too, to somehow get it signed by Paul, but I wasn't very convinced I could get that. It was more a dream than a concrete hope.

Anyway, the gates opened, I ran and I got to front row, which I generously then left for an Argentinian fan who was at his first McCartney concert -I'd already seen Paul front row in Zurich in 2004, so I relented and gave him the position-.

Not knowing where to put the ukulele during the concert, fearing it might get damaged, I just kept it in my hands the whole time, so everytime I was cheering and lifting my arms to the air, the ukulele was there, and I think Paul noticed it various times, being standing in the second row.

Especially during Something, which surely must have been a particularly heartfelt performance, given the sad anniversary I mentioned before, I lifted the ukulele purposely in the air as Paul was telling how much George loved ukes.

Than the show went on, and just before definitely leaving the stage, Paul made some gestures to one of the security guys instructing him to retrieve my ukulele and passing it to him.

The guy came, asked for my ukulele, and then proceeded to throw it on stage. Yessir, THROW it. I actually feared for the uke, in case Paul missed it. But Paul didn't miss it, quite a good catch he did!

He tried to play it for a second, probably noticing it was tuned left-handed (I'm a lefty as well).

He then asked for a marker, which was launched on stage as well. Paul caught it as well, then left his wonderful unmistakable signature -The same one that adorns this very site- over the front bottom part of the uke.

After that, Macca threw the ukulele back to the security man and, twice luckily for me, the guy caught it without problem, then returned it to me, amidst the ammiration to every single person around me in the crowd.

As the bouncer returned me the ukulele, Paul on stage said his usual "See you next time!" thing, ran away andconfetti were sprayed upon us.

Signing my ukulele was practically the last thing he did before leaving the stage, and I'm lucky enough to have at least two videos on YouTube that can testify the moment.

Then, as the crowd was leaving the venue, I was asked to pose with the signed ukulele for tens of fans' photos, and I was warmly cheered by some friends who very way back in the audience and finally got to reach me.

Actually, that night I was asked to play with a band of nice and good friends in Rome the next week, and I brought the ukulele with me.

Yessir, you heard right: I didn't decide to hang the ukulele on a wall, or to put under a glass coffin as a relic.

I decided to keep playing it, with Paul's spirit imprinted in it.

I just thought it was a thing the young Paul McCartney himself would have done.

The years passed, the signature has started to fade, but it's still there, especially if you put the ukulele under a certain light you can clearly see it.

It was a night I will NEVER forget

Whaou, what an awesome experience !!! Thanks for sharing, Walzer!