On The Run Tour

From Jul 15, 2011 to Nov 29, 2012 • By Paul McCartney

About

From Wikipedia:

On the Run was a concert tour by English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney. The tour began on 15 July 2011, with McCartney’s first two concerts at Yankee Stadium in New York City. McCartney’s appearances at Yankee Stadium occurred nearly two years to the day after his 17, 18, and 21 July 2009 concerts at Citi Field, documented on the Good Evening New York City CD/DVD.

Contents

Background

The tour was promoted by AEG Live, and six of the eight shows in the first leg (with the exception of the Yankee Stadium shows) were presented by HP. The Mexican concerts were promoted by Nextel. In an interview with Billboard in February 2012, McCartney said of his tour band: “Aren’t they cool? We’re having a really great time, and last year we played quite a few dates. They’re such a pleasure to play with. We all enjoy each other’s company and the musicianship, and next month we will have been playing together 10 years. That’s long enough to make us a proper band.”

In North America

In response to overwhelming popular demand for tickets to McCartney’s 15 July Yankee Stadium debut, a second date was added for Saturday, 16 July. McCartney also performed on three more dates on the tour: 24 July at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan, 31 July at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, and 4 August at The Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio. McCartney’s Detroit, Chicago and Cincinnati stadium gigs were hugely anticipated returns to cities with that have hosted historical performances in the past: The 24 July Comerica Park and 31 July Wrigley Field shows were his first visits to the Detroit area and Chicago since 2005 (McCartney has not performed within Detroit City limits since 1976 during the Wings Over America Tour), while the 4 August Great American Ball Park was his first Cincinnati appearance in 18 years, his last show in the city being on The New World Tour in 1993.

In Latin America

In Montevideo, Uruguay all tickets were sold-out in about 40 minutes. On 15 April, McCartney performed for over a 54,000 sold-out crowd in the Estadio Centenario for the first time in Uruguay. The artist also visited Asunción, Paraguay for the first time in his career. In the Defensores del Chaco stadium he gave a show for more than 30,000 fans (29,000 sold tickets). He claimed after the show in his website that “he will never forget the lively Paraguayan crowd”. On 27 March, 29,000 tickets for McCartney’s 19 April first ever show in Colombia became available; 24 hours later 90% of the tickets were already sold. Days before the concert 2,000 extra tickets became available and sold-out in a couple of days. Hours before McCartney performed for the very first time in Colombia, less than 900 tickets hadn’t been sold, which made the concert a sold-out show. Paul performed for a 32,000 crowd at the Stadium El Campin for more than two hours and a half and declared that the audience in the show where possibly the best one he have had during all his career. For the first time in 19 years, McCartney performed the song “Hope of Deliverance” in Bogotá, Colombia, on 19 April, being it the very first time that he performed a song from Off the Ground album with his current line-up.

Paul McCartney performed on 5 May 2012 at Omnilife Stadium at Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, his first concert in that city. For the first time, on 8 May 2012, he performed at Estadio Azteca, stating he was in front of “the loudest crowd ever”, and he finished his tour in Mexico with a free show at Zócalo; for this last one, attendance was estimated to be around 250,000 people, making it the biggest audience since the Kiev (350,000) and Quebec (250,000) shows.

PAUL McCARTNEY - Photographed by DUSTIN RABIN Yankee Stadium, NY - July 15, 2011 Dustin Rabin Photography - Job #2562
PAUL McCARTNEY – Photographed by DUSTIN RABIN
Yankee Stadium, NY – July 15, 2011
Dustin Rabin Photography – Job #2562

From paulmccartney.com, October 10, 2011:

Today, Paul announces his new ‘On The Run’ tour is coming home and he will bring 2011 to a close with 11 special shows. Starting out with his first ever show in U.A.E at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the tour will then rock n’ roll into Europe and Russia. It concludes with a concert in Paul’s hometown of Liverpool exactly a year to the day since he played a tiny intimate show at Liverpool’s O2 Academy late last year, which ended with Paul handing out hot drinks to fans waiting outside the venue in freezing weather conditions.

Paul is already earning something of a reputation for his extraordinary Christmas homecoming shows after a series of special UK shows last December as well as his first ever, much talked about show at London’s O2 Arena in December 2009. These new dates will also take in the O2 Arena once more, Paul’s first visit back to the venue since using it to rehearse for his massive 2010/2011 ‘Up and Coming’ tour. As well as his first visit to Abu Dhabi, the ‘On The Run’ tour will see Paul’s first ever live show in Bologna, Italy as well as his first shows in Sweden and Finland in seven years.

He also returns to France, Germany and England and will make his third ever appearance in Russia; his first of which was immortalised in the historic 2003 DVD ‘Paul McCartney Live in Red Square’ and his last being in 2004 in St Petersburg.

Playing live is one of the most exciting parts of my job. I’m really looking forward to the next run of shows and to playing places that I have never played before with my band. I’ll be starting with my first ever U.A.E concert and from there I’m on the run across Europe and Russia, before finally getting back to my hometown of Liverpool in time for Christmas. My audiences seem to get better each year and the band and I love the buzz and feedback that they give us. I can’t wait to see you all for some wild nights of rock n’ roll and partying

Paul McCartney – From paulmccartney.com, October 10, 2011

Last updated on November 7, 2020

40 concerts • 18 countries


2nd North American leg








Latin American leg












2nd European leg






1st European leg















1st North American leg









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