Perth • Friday, December 1, 2017

About

After some days of rehearsals at the Regal Theatre, Paul McCartney and his band moved to the NIB Stadium, for the latest rehearsal before the first concert of his Australia / New-Zealand tour.

As part of the setlist was Wings’ 1977 hit, “Mull Of Kintyre“, rehearsed with the Western Australia Police Pipe Band, the local pipe band from Perth.

“It was certainly a surreal experience. We got a phone call last Friday asking if we were available, and at that point we weren’t. We were booked up to do many gigs that week, we were also doing the Christmas pageant. So there was a lot of logistics, a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails. We did the rehearsal in two takes, Mr McCartney was very happy and that was it, done.“

WA Police Band Sergeant Ian Stewart, From watoday.com.au, December 4, 2017

The youngest player of the pipe band was a 14-years-old girl named Nisha.

I mentioned to Mr McCartney at the rehearsal on Friday night that this was Nisha’s first time playing with the band and that she was only 14, so for him to give her a special mention at the end of the performance was brilliant. Bearing in mind most of the Police Pipe Band are either current or former world champion pipers or drummers, Nisha came in and was a natural and fitted in brilliantly, she is certainly a talent for the future.

WA Police Band Sergeant Ian Stewart, From perthnow.com.au, December 7, 2017

From paulmccartney.com, For Whom The Bell Tells, January 19, 2018:

Stadium rehearsals, Perth, and interview with ABC 7:30 – Friday 1st December

Today Paul is moving from the rehearsal stage at the Regal Theatre to the massive stage at the NIB Stadium (it stands for Newcastle Industrial Benefits, in case you are wondering). It’s hot today but it’s windy (the breeze is referred to locally as the Freemantle Doctor) and we are joined at rehearsals by highly-respected Australian broadcaster Leigh Sales and her crew from leading flagship weekly cultural show ABC 7:30. Leigh’s here to get a backstage tour and chat to Paul during rehearsals about being back here after 24 years.

Leigh has interviewed many cultural icons, world leaders and celebrities but today is her dream interview and after their chat she wrote a lovely piece entitled “Interviewing your heroes can have its pitfalls, but Paul McCartney avoids them all” – and here is an excerpt…

“We then went around backstage and Sir Paul arrived to start rehearsals. I stood in the wings watching as he and the band played ‘Another Girl’ and then ‘Day Tripper’. When the opening riff for ‘Day Tripper’ started, I looked at my producer, Callum, and said, “Oh my god,” with tears in my eyes. It was absolutely thrilling to stand in the wings and watch Paul McCartney practice that. The band finished rehearsing and as I chatted to the crew, I turned around and Sir Paul was about a metre away, walking towards us. He came and introduced himself and shook everybody’s hand. For almost 60 years, he’s had starstruck people standing in front of him, so he’s very adept at putting everyone at ease and being warm and charming. We went on stage and did our interview together. He was delightful and interesting. He has lovely kind eyes and a gentle way of speaking. I was so happy to see that I was going to walk away with my admiration of him enhanced. “Sir Paul,” I said at the end of the interview. “I’ve been very fortunate in my career that I’ve had the chance to interview world leaders, like Aung San Syu Kii and the Dalai Lama, every celebrity you can think of, Elton John, Patti Smith, but I’ve never interviewed somebody of whom I’m a bigger fan than you. “Oh, luv, give us a kiss, come on” he replied and he kissed me on the cheek and gave me a hug. Every time I listen to a Beatles song now, I’ll remember the incredible experience of getting to meet Sir Paul in person and what a beautiful soul he was. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

With the interview complete, Paul then begins work on what will be one of the big surprises on this tour. The Western Pipe band join him to perform ‘Mull Of Kintyre’, which as I write is celebrating the 40th anniversary of hitting number one in the UK and many other countries.

nib Stadium

This was the 1st concert played at nib Stadium.

A total of 2 concerts have been played there • 2017 • Dec 1st • Dec 2nd

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.

3.

It's So Easy

Written by Buddy Holly, Norman Petty