Written by Daniel Lamontagne
MONTREAL – It took me a few days to write about the best damn show of the year, which I saw at the Bell Centre last Thursday, September 20th, 2018.
You may have heard of a certain Paul McCartney, Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Abe Laboriel Jr and Paul ‘Wiz’ Wickens. If not (and that would be a major surprise!), I strongly recommend going on YouTube to watch some videos, see one of their concerts live (or on iTunes) or buy their latest album: Egyptian Station. It is actually the number one album in Canada.
It was my second time seeing them live and you know what, it felt like it was my first time.
Why?
Simply because they have the ability to give the best concert you will ever saw and make you feel part of it. Even if it’s been more than 15 years of being together as a band and they have played in the biggest arena in the world, you feel this special feeling watching a fun band in a small club.
Where do I begin my review?
First of all, the sound quality was perfect. The sound crew are probably the best there is. You could hear each instrument and each lyric with such clarity. I’m sending my shoutout to Paul McCartney’s sound crew!
Second, I was happily surprised to see some new members such as….. (I am waiting on Macca’s team to give me the names of the horn players)
The best part was seeing a band having fun and being happy doing what they love. I still get chills with just the thought of it.
I won’t write all the songs they played, but I will be all nostalgic and say it was a beautiful marriage between nostalgia and the future.
How?
They played the Fab Four classics. They jammed with the sound of Wings, but they played some of the new stuff on their brand new album. They played with such ease considering it was 3 hours non-stop. Paul spoke in French on top of it all! He was very good.
Ok, I’m must admit, I cried like a baby during the rendition of Something. Like big time! But I am not ashamed.
Rusty and Brian were giving us some serious guitar riffs and the band did a little shoutout to Jimy Hendrix.
Wix was, as always, the ethereal keyboardist. I was pretty close to the stage and could see Abe and Wix exchanging some funny faces between them, having the biggest smiles on their faces.
Oh oh! Speaking of Abe. One sentence: The best drummer of the 21st century. I rest my case.
For me, there are probably two bands in the world that seem to be so alive and so happy on stage. Bruce Springsteen and The East Side Band and Paul McCartney and his boys. I saw some Bruce Springsteen shows on DVD, but I haven’t gotten the chance to see him and his band live. So for me, if I have to choose between the two of them, I’m team Macca.
For 3 hours, I didn’t think of what a certain person by the number 45 is tweeting or the current state of our beautiful planet and mankind. I was in a beautiful bubble with thousands of fans and my valentine being happy.
Being the music lover that I am, I imagined that I was jamming with them (It’s on my bucket list – jamming with Rusty, with Godin’s electric guitar).
As we left after the concert to go back to our little world, I was wondering if we would ever feel this beautiful, happy feeling of love again as that was what the concert was all about.
I guess we still can as Paul and his boys showed us.
