On August 17th, my boyfriend and I decided we were going to take a spur of the moment roadtrip to Dallas the next morning to catch a Paul McCartney show. We bought a pair of tickets on eBay for “party pass” seats, which were the most inexpensive ones that offered standing room several hundred rows back and a few rows up from where the stage would be. The concert was going to be at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, which still was not completely finished and had only had a couple other events there prior to the McCartney show. We figured, with the massive jumbo tron screens, the far away tickets would be sufficient for us. And being on a limited budget, we decided to just go for it and have a good time, poor seats or not.
Pulling into downtown Dallas, we noticed the stadium right away. It was enormous. 2o stories at least, we guessed. Here’s a pic of it when it was still in the construction stage to give you an idea of just how massive this place is:
http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv14/savagevixen/Cowboys_Stadium.jpg
Anyway, we drove around a bit trying to avoid paying the $40 “convenience” (since its so convenient to spend extra money…) charge to park in a nearby parking lot, and we found a Wing Stop nearby. Assuming Wing Stop would be open pretty late, we took a chance and left our car parked around back near the dumpster, hoping we wouldn’t get ticketed for it.
It took us a few minutes and a lot of sweating in the humid Texas summer air, but we only had to walk about 3 blocks to get to the stadium. Small price to pay.
After a long time of sweating and purchasing a 6 oz., $5 water bottle, we finally got inside. We were greeted instantly by the copious amounts of A/C gushing from inside the doors, and both my boyfriend and I exclaimed about how gorgeous and well done this venue was. It was huge! We scored a place by the railing wayyyyy up up and away from the stage; section H.
http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv14/savagevixen/seatingchart.jpg
The picture makes it look much closer than it is. The alphabetized sections are above the floor, the floor seats aren’t even listed on this page. I’ve never been one to complain much, and this would be my first time to see Paul McCartney, my boyfriend’s second time, and I wasn’t about to let anything ruin my night. We leaned on the railing, admiring the stadium and chatting with a couple beside us. Some pretty cool people, Glenn and Jennifer, I think their names were. The opening band started playing at about 7:30; an Irish band called The Script, who were an easy listening, mainstream rock band.
When they were through, our new friend Glenn approached my boyfriend with a hard tap on the shoulder.
“Hey man,” He said, “They’re giving away free floor seats over here!”
As I was still processing what he said, my boyfriend took off running in the direction that Glenn led him. I gathered up my purse and water bottle, and wondered whether I should save our place or not. I decided to follow them.
A girl about 28 stood there in a Dallas Cowboys Event Staff uniform, orange wristbands clutched in her hand. About ten people stood crowded around her, including my boyfriend and I.
“Ok,” She addressed the group, “Sir Paul (as he insists his staff refer to him as) won’t start playing until every seat in the front is filled. So we need ten people to come down there and fill those empty seats. There are only ten, and if someone comes to claim the seat you’re in, you need to get up and find another one. At worst, you’ll just be walking around the whole show either trying to find a seat or just pacing. But you’ll still be on the floor. Now if everyone will follow me to the elevator we can get you seated.”
My boyfriend and I were ecstatic. We kept looking at each other with these wide eyes and huge smiles. Everyone in the group was turning to each other saying how excited we were and how much we couldn’t believe what was happening. We were led to a big elevator in the corner of the top floor that looked like it may have been just a staff only elevator. We went down several levels until we got to what looked like an underground passageway; leading to the floor level.
Walking through the archway that led from the corridor to where our seats soon would be, we saw the stage. The huge, magnificent stage, and turned to see where our standing seats had been; extremely far from where we stood, at several levels above and behind us. When we got the signal, my boyfriend and I took off briskly, looking for a seat as close to the front as possible. We saw a couple empty seats in about row 36, but decided to look closer. After not very long, we scored two end seats in row 15! The only word I can think of to describe the way we felt is ecstatic.
The lights went down, and Paul walked out onto the stage. Everyone cheered wildly, I was beside myself with excitement! My eyes watered and I told my boyfriend, “I can’t believe I’m actually seeing one of The Beatles in person!” It took until halfway through the second song for me to even realize there were other people -his band- on stage and that there were elaborate screens behind him showing all kinds of artistic animations and film footage. What an awesome backing band they were, too: “guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray, thundering drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., and Macca’s longtime keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens.”
(http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2009/08/paul_mccartney_shows_no_signs.html)
All I saw was a man whose music I had listened to for years and years while growing up, and admired greatly. It was completely surreal. We were so close to the stage we could see his every facial expression as he spoke and sang, and we could hear him talk when he was stepped away from the microphone.
Every time the disbelief would fade, something else would snap me back into the reality of the awesomeness of what I was witnessing. Like when he started talking about how “At this one show we played, we couldn’t even hear ourselves play, the ladies were screaming so loudly. The ladies loved us!”, I couldn’t believe how cool it was, hearing these things about The Beatles straight from Sir Paul’s mouth who had been there! It wasn’t just a documentary on The Beatles, or a quote on a website, this was first hand.
When he started playing Blackbird, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. One man, one acoustic guitar, on a stage at an enormous venue, and the entire place was hushed. The echo in that place made every note just soar around all of us at that stadium. I was completely enveloped in his voice. The experience was utterly magical.
After a few songs, the distinguished McCartney took off his blazer.
“That’s the big wardrobe change of the night!” He joked, now wearing only his white collared shirt and red suspenders. He is the most stylish and classy 67 year old. He is the only person I can think of who could pull off red suspenders, and look great while doing it. What an icon. Musically, sexually, fashionably, artistically. What a great guy.
He played a bit of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” at the end of about the third song, talking about what a great guy he was and how he is proud to count Jimi as one of his friends. He also started talking about how much he loved Texas, and how intrigued by this state he was.
“It was the kind of place you could only see in movies, as a kid,” He gushed. “Speaking of Texas, there was a man from Lubbock, Texas; another friend of mine, Buddy Holly. I’m going to play you one of his songs. Now nobody else gets this, Dallas, this is just for you.” And he played “Its so easy to fall in love”, just for us at the Cowboys Center. I wonder if he did that because he’s so fond of Texas, or if it was because it was the last night of the tour? Either way, it was savage to hear a classic musical icon playing another musical genius’ music!
Sir Paul McCartney played for nearly 3 and a half hours. Most of the other nights of this tour, he had played for 2 and a half. He played a beautiful, sweet song for his late band member, John Lennon.
“It’s written as if we were having a conversation,” McCartney said. “Because when you’re young, you’re working, you’re hanging out, you know, and you don’t always get to say everything you want to.” What a touching and beautiful song. He also played a song for George Harrison; one that George had written and loved to play, which McCartney played on a Ukelele that George had given him.
When he played “Give Peace a Chance”, a massive peace sign was shown on the screen behind him, and people held up lighters and cell phones as the whole stadium invisibly transformed in my mind into an outdoor festival in the sixties. The music stopped but for the bass pedal on the drum set, and everyone’s voice harmonized perfectly. It was so cool to see everyone united in such a way, just for the evening.
Paul played a few songs from his new project, The Firemen, and also from Wings, plenty from his Solo work, and of course several Beatles songs. The screen behind him played footage from the Beatles edition of Rock Band, slideshows from his personal life, and several other various picturesque and fun scenes and videos. There were fireworks and pyrotechnics shot up from the stage, and we were so close that the heat from the fire made us sweat almost instantly! Again, the concert was truly magical. It was comparable to the feeling you get at Disneyland, when its late at night and the fireworks are overhead, and you’re standing in line for Peter Pan feeling just like a kid again. At least, I still get that feeling.
After two false exits, Paul finally announced that it was time to go home. By this time it was 12:02. He played Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and at the very end of the song, red, white and blue confetti sprayed everywhere, and the fireworks went off once again (the Cowboys Center is so big, they didn’t even reach the top of the enclosed stadium!). My boyfriend and I each grabbed a handful of confetti, along with the tag off the chair in which I sat, marked with the aisle number, 15. You’ll be seeing bits and pieces of it in one of my projects soon;)
The set list of that night:
1. “Drive My Car”
2. “Jet”
3. “Only Mama Knows”
4. “Flaming Pie”
5. “Got To Get You Into My Life”
6. “Let Me Roll It”/”Foxy Lady” ending
7. “Highway”
8. “All My Loving”
9. “The Long And Winding Road”
10. “My Love”
11. “Blackbird”
12. “Here Today”
13. “Dance Tonight”
14. “Calico Skies”
15. “Mrs Vanderbilt”
16 “It’s So Easy”
17. “Eleanor Rigby”
18. “Sing The Changes”
19. “Band On The Run”
20. “Back In The USSR”
21. “I’m Down”
22. “Something”
23. “I’ve Got A Feeling”
24. “Paperback Writer”
25. “A Day In The Life”/”Give Peace A Chance”
26. “Let It Be”
27. “Live And Let Die”
28. “Hey Jude”
Encore 1
1. “Day Tripper”
2. “Lady Madonna”
3. “I Saw Her Standing There”
Encore 2
1. “Yesterday”
2. “Helter Skelter”
3. “Get Back”
4. “Sgt. Pepper’s Reprise/ The End”
Best concert I’ve ever been to, by far, and I’m guessing it will remain the best forever! No band or single artist can compare to Paul McCartney, for he is the savage magic that is The Beatles.
Here you can see some pics from that night on the Cowboy’s Stadium website:
http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/photo_gallery.cfm
And those epic suspenders:
http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv14/savagevixen/suspenders.jpg
-Vixen
August 25, 2009
Categories: Personal . Tags: 8/19, 8/19/09, Concert, Cowboys Stadium, Dallas Cowboys Center, Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Dallas TX, George Harrison, good luck, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Savage Vixen, The Beatles, The Script . Author: Savage Vixen . Comments: 1 Comment
