Belo Horizonte • Sunday, December 3, 2023

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From uol.com.br, December 5, 2023 (translated from Portuguese):

If Paul McCartney didn’t know, now, after two shows in Belo Horizonte with the “Got Back” tour, it’s likely that he does. It was for McCartney and another former Beatle, John Lennon, murdered in 1980, that Marcio and Lô Borges, from Clube da Esquina, composed with Fernando Brant the track “Para Lennon e McCartney” in 1970.

Immortalized in the voice of Milton Nascimento, the song refers to the fact that his idols from Liverpool did not know about the existence of the Brazilian fans who signed the composition. Now, more than 50 years later, Bituca was McCartney’s guest of honor during his visit to the capital of Minas Gerais on Sunday (3) and Monday (4) at the MRV Arena, home of Atletico Mineiro.

Milton attended both performances. The production did not say if the artists had met. On Sunday, Bituca followed the show in an area aimed at people with reduced mobility. In the second, he was accompanied by Lô Borges. There was an expectation that he would go on stage, which did not happen.

On Monday, the former Beatle opened the show with “A Hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles. On Sunday, the opening act was “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Two other changes were made to the repertoire. At the time, the band swapped “New” for “Queenie Eye” and “Birthday” for “Saw Her Standing There”. “Fuh You” and “College/Bathroom” were also removed. […]

In addition to saying phrases in Portuguese during the shows, most of them read, Paul also risked a few words in “mineirês”, letting out a “term bom” when commenting on the atmosphere of the show on Sunday and saying “estou aqui, uai” on Monday.

On Sunday, upon noticing that there was a fan feeling sick in the audience, the artist stopped the show and only resumed after people nearby signaled that everything was fine. The cause of the discomfort is the heat, which eased on Monday after a rain in the afternoon, which led many fans to arrive at the stadium with covers, despite the fact that it did not rain during the performance.

The fan who fell ill was taken to a stadium medical center, located on the side of the stage, as were three other people. Sunday’s performance had 42,000 people in the audience, and Monday’s had 40,000, according to the production.

Both shows started late. Scheduled for 8 p.m., Sunday’s started at 9:10 p.m., and Monday’s at 8:50 p.m. The presentations were about 2 hours and 40 minutes long. […]

Just got back from the first concert in Belo Horizonte. It was my first McCartney concert since March 2019, so here are a few quick observations:

The concert started more than one hour late. The DJ did not play his set and that 30-minute video with scenes from Paul’s career was not shown. The big screens suddenly started showing Paul’s bass, a few remixed songs were played (Early Days, Coming Up, etc., plus the ending of A Day In The Life) and then Paul entered the stage. It felt rushed.

The show as a whole was great as expected, but Paul made a lot more mistakes than he used to: song lyrics (not just incorrect words but swapping entire verses) and his piano playing (wrong notes in Let It Be a couple of other ones).

A couple of band members seemed a bit lost at times and their playing was not up to their usual high standards in a few songs. That happened to Paul as well occasionally. It felt like the show had not properly rehearsed but I know that’s not true.

The setlist was the usual one, no surprises apart from a quick “ole ole ole” that Paul started by himself and then the audience happily joined.

Paul was generally in a good mood but there was a moment when he suddenly raised his voice to the audience by saying “stop, stop, stop” several times in a row and people became quiet. He joked about it afterwards but it seemed to me that he lost his temper for a moment. I had never seem him behave like that at a concert.

Before he started “Love Me Do” he asked “is somebody hurt?” and waited a couple of minutes while the audience member received medical assistance. I also noticed a stretcher being taken to the field in order to carry someone. For the past several weeks the weather has been very hot in the cities Paul is playing at and a lot of fans have been feeling ill after hours in the queue for artists like Taylor Swift, so I guess it happened again today.

Forum resident “5th-beatle” – From Paul McCartney – Got Back Tour 2022 – 2023 * | Page 268 | Steve Hoffman Music Forums

From Paul McCartney, February 13, 2024:

Paul has had his fair share of brushes with international royalty on his travels, and his visit to Belo Horizonte in South East Brazil proved no different. Visiting backstage at the Arena MRV on the day of Paul’s first show there on December 3rd was legendary Brazilian singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento. This was Milton’s first sighting since announcing his retirement. Milton took to social media to express his sheer joy at being able to go to Paul’s show.

We got to see the pair hook up and enjoy a chat together. They also swapped gifts – Milton gave Paul a signed copy of his 1970 album, Milton (funny that they both released self-titled albums that year!), which included the hit song ‘Para Lennon E McCartney’ (‘For Lennon And McCartney’), and in return he received one of Paul’s tour T-shirts. Brazilian media called it a “significant cultural exchange between two iconic artists.” It was certainly very cool. Milton enjoyed Paul’s show so much that he returned the following night, and then to the Rio show 12 days later!

The only person more excited than Milton that day was Mike, one of Paul’s security team, who is a huge fan of Milton’s. 

“Paul McCartney thrills packed Arena MRV at the first of two shows in BH!” – Estado De Minas, December 2023

That first night had a couple of memorable moments, but not necessarily for the right reasons! The show had started almost an hour late, but thankfully it wasn’t Paul to blame. The stadium, which only opened back in April, was for the first time full to capacity – 42,000 people – and the bottleneck access understandably took some getting used to, and so moved slowly as a sea of people began to fill every spare space.

Then, halfway through the set, Paul had to call a halt to ‘Love Me Do’, as he noticed someone at the front of the audience was in need of medical assistance. Paul alerted security and assistance was quickly given, and the very appreciative crowd roared their approval when The Beatles’ debut single was resumed.

“This was the biggest and most memorable performance ever received at the young Arena MRV. And there’s a good chance it will continue to be that way for a long time.” – O Tempo, December 2023

Last updated on March 2, 2024

Mrv Arena

This was the 1st concert played at Mrv Arena.

A total of 2 concerts have been played there • 2023 • Dec 3rd • Dec 4th

Setlist for the soundcheck

Setlist for the concert