Greenville • Thursday, May 30, 2019

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From Greenville News, May 31, 2019:

Maybe I’m amazed that, a few weeks shy of his 77th birthday, Paul McCartney puts on a show for the ages, jam-packed with hits, but I probably shouldn’t be.

After all, McCartney has been entertaining audiences, and writing the soundtrack for their lives, for nearly six decades.

And Thursday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, he rocked nonstop for nearly three hours, playing hit after hit after hit, interspersed with wryly humorous recollections of famous friends and fellow musicians.

Opening the latest stop on his Freshen Up Tour with one of the Beatles’ early hits, “A Hard Day’s Night,” McCartney started off a bit sedately, standing still as he played his bass guitar. But he loosened up for the second song, the Wings hit “Junior’s Farm,” and was soon joking with the audience.

“I’m getting a feeling we’re gonna have a bit of a party here tonight,” McCartney said.

Fans were primed for a party, dancing, singing along, and holding up signs asking for an autograph or a song request. […]

McCartney’s voice was a bit diminished from his prime, but it was only noticeable a handful of times during the evening.

After decades of critical accolades and adoring fans, McCartney might be excused for seeming a little jaded, but he came across as humble and genuinely excited to play for his fans.

“This is just so cool,” he said early in the show. “I’m gonna take a minute for myself to just drink it all in.”

From Greenville News, May 31, 2019:

[…] The set lists have been fairly consistent throughout the tour, and at Thursday’s concert, McCartney joked about fans holding up signs requesting songs, saying that while “it’s really nice,” he may not remember the chords and lyrics to songs he hasn’t rehearsed lately.

But, he added, for whatever songs he plays, “if I get it wrong, I’m blaming the sign.” […]

From Paul McCartney.com, June 21, 2019:

To describe Paul’s debut appearance in Greenville SC at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, as the GREENVILLE  NEWS did, “a show for the ages” would have to be an understatement in the eyes and ears of the packed-to-the-rafters crowd.

There’s a particular euphoria to a sold out crowd having its first in the flesh Paul McCartney experience—the energy that kicks in from that first magical chord of ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ the swooning to ‘All My Loving,’ ‘Maybe I’m Amazed,’ and ‘Love Me Do,’ the hushed reverence during ‘Blackbird,’ ‘Here Today,’ and ‘Something,’ the warm welcome to the Hot City Horns on ‘Letting Go,’ the thrill of the new that comes with ‘Come On To Me,’ ‘Who Cares’ and ‘Fuh You,’ the joyous sing-alongs of ‘Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da’ and ‘Hey Jude,’ the bittersweet final swell of emotion that greets the final strains of ‘The End’… Some might—and did—describe that feeling as “tears of joy” (SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS), but as anyone who’s just seen Paul for the first time can attest: There are no words.

From Steve Martin, Paul’s US Publicist

Last updated on June 22, 2019