Lima

From El Comercio, October 28, 2024 (auto-translated from Spanish):

The stage is his second home; the first, he says, is the one he has with his current wife Nancy Shevell, who accompanies him on his most recent tour and Peru has not been the exception.

Wearing a black suit, blue shirt and semi-long hair, Paul McCartney performed on the night of Sunday, October 27 before an audience that had been waiting for him anxiously since 2011, the date of his last concert in Lima. The road back began in 2023 with “Got Back”, a tour that has taken him to Mexican, Brazilian, Uruguayan, Argentinian and Chilean lands. This is the third time that the ex-Beatle visits our country. On this occasion, however, Sir Paul was not seen touring the capital unlike the previous ones.

Punctuality is one of his great qualities, and the night’s concert (scheduled for 9 p.m.) began with a little more than ten minutes of waiting. As soon as the instrumental notes of the song “A Day In The Life” began to play, the banners were raised and the stands were painted red and white. A fist went up in the darkness and a silhouette lit up showing the legendary singer who, clutching his guitar, launched into playing “A Hard Day’s Night”. […]

From El Comercio, October 28, 2024 (auto-translated from Spanish)

From For Whom The Bell Tells: ‘GOT BACK’ Central and South American Tour 2024, January 13, 2025:

It’s been a full decade since Paul was last in Peru, so excitement here at the Estadio Nacional in Lima was, literally, at fever pitch. With more than 50,000 exuberant Peruvians piling into the historic stadium, it was down to Brian “Swalley” Riddle, Paul’s Head of Venue Security and part of Team Macca since 1989, to make sure that the public were safe when entering and leaving the venue. “That’s the most important thing,” he tells me. “After all, if it wasn’t for them, we would all be out of a job.”

In all his time on the job, Swalley says that Paul has always been the best boss, and even after all these years, he’s still “a great guy to work for”. Other things have changed though, as life and technology continues to advance, and tour processes adapt with the times. Largely, he says, it has thankfully seen audiences behaving much better than before. “People are starting to listen to us, and they’ve got their act together,” he says, “which is great.”

So how exactly does Swalley instruct his and the venue’s extended security teams to keep fans in order, so that everyone can enjoy themselves and the gig goes smoothly? “It’s all about communication,” he reveals. “Get the right message across. Get it across nicely. Don’t be harsh with it. Talk to them like how you want to be talked to, and you get a lot of respect out of that.” Wise words.

One thing I haven’t mentioned in all this talk about life on the road is the essential distractions that are required when travelling. In my blog last year, I told you about Paul’s secret love for the US quiz show, Family Feud, and how it can sometimes be a bit all-consuming! These are long days, and my spare time is limited, but airplane journeys are a good opportunity for some binge-watching, and since there have been quite a few of them, I have enjoyed watching a few things too. Lots of recommendations and tips being shared by the team, like The Penguin which was brilliant and tour photographer MJ pointed me in the direction of the chilling Monsters: The Menendez Brothers Story on Netflix.

So, while in Peru, the setting for Paddington 3, which while we’re here is a week away from opening, and with viewing pleasures on my mind, I grabbed Paul to find out what’s been gripping him on screen.

“I’m the last person in the world to see Slow Horses,” said the latest convert to the MI5 thriller on Apple TV+. “Everyone had been saying, ‘Have you seen it?’ It’s great. Gary Oldman is fantastic. I just never got around to it, but I finally have, and they were right. It’s totally addictive. And because it’s set in London, I know most of the locations, so it’s like a nice little reminder of home while I’m away.”

There was another nice little reminder from home for Paul in Lima, as he met with the meet and greet competition winners in the afternoon of the gig there. One of the winners was an English man, named Michael, who as we learned married a woman from Peru, settled there, and raised his family. Dressed in a ‘RAM’ T-shirt, Michael – now 79-years-old – explained to us how the music of The Beatles had given him the confidence to propose to his wife, and that it was his granddaughter who had entered him into the competition that he’d won. 

Michael admitted to me how nervous he was to meet and talk with Paul, and how that day he’d read a recent funny story in The Guardian, and empathised with an awkward story told by comedian Bill Bailey who, having found himself in a similar predicament, got so flustered he made up a new word.

“What I wanted to say to him,” recounted Bill of his meeting with Paul at London’s O2, “was, ‘It’s a very rare thing you have created, a cultural moment where everyone from all these different backgrounds have their own connection with your songs, until they are almost beyond songs, in a way – they are a part of our cultural fabric.’” But, he goes on, the combination of alcohol and apprehensive eagerness sent his brain reeling, and his words followed suit. “I started babbling this pre-prepared speech that was all back to front. I said, ‘Paul, you’re, with the song, like, isn’t it like, a cultural part of the thread, with, you know, like ‘Yesterday’, Everyone in the culture?’”

“The next day,” Bill revealed, “I asked [my friend] what I’d said and he sent me this hilarious transcript of the exact gibberish. I had tried to say, ‘Your songs are enmeshed in the cultural fabric’, but almost said ‘entrenched’ by accident. I changed it to ‘enmeshed’ too late, so I said: ‘Your songs are enmenched!’ Paul went, ‘Enmenched?’ And I didn’t know what I had said, so I went, ‘What? What’s enmenched?’ This is not how it was supposed to go, me going, ‘What are you on about?’ at Paul McCartney! It was hellish.”

Thankfully, in Lima, Michael was much more successful with his composure.

Lima was also the destination of the second Got Back South American marriage proposal. Aixa Salinas could be described as the luckiest Paul McCartney fan in South America! In 2014, aged 21, Aixa held up a sign saying “I want to dance with you”… and her dream came true.  She was called to the stage and got to dance with Paul. Well in 2024 not only did Aixa win the fan meet and greet competition but she got called up on stage once again! This time after Paul spotted a sign that read “Marry Us Pls”, she and her fiancé Jazet were invited onstage to make it official.  If you need advice on lottery numbers I’d suggest contacting Aixa! 

Stuart Bell – Paul McCartney’s publicist – From For Whom The Bell Tells: ‘GOT BACK’ Central and South American Tour 2024, January 13, 2025