After six years of absence, the former Beatles gave the first of his two concerts at the Paris La Défense Arena in front of 35,000 amazed people. We were there.
This man is elegance personified. While spectators struggle to get to La Paris La Défense Arena this Wednesday, December 4, Paul McCartney decides to wait for the latecomers. The start of the show, scheduled for 8:15 p.m., will therefore wait 25 minutes longer. But at 8:40 p.m. when the Barnier government had just fallen, the lights in the room went out and Sir Paul entered the stage first, his Höfner bass in hand. The octogenarian – he turned 82 last June – wears a white shirt, a blue suit and seems more focused than ever. “One two three four” is intended to launch “Can’t buy me love”, one of the Beatles’ first hits. We are surprised by the barely audible trickle of voices before understanding from “Junior’s Farm” that the problem came more from the technique than from the singer. No question of stacking the hits at the start, but rather a dive into all facets of McCartney’s art.
We listen with pleasure to the complexity of the compositions of the Wings era, “Letting Go”, “let Me Roll it” or “Let’Em In” are not just pop songs. No, they are mini-symphonies leaving the classic verse/chorus to seek out other worlds. And when a Beatles single comes on, Paris roars. Here a sluggish “Drive my car”, there a “Got to Get You into my life” reinforced by brass instruments appearing in the stands. And then this “Getting Better” never played in public by the Beatles which sounds like a rarity in McCartney’s set.
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Mandatory highlights
Because – this is the only notable flaw of the concert, the bassist’s followers are starting to know his show inside out. For 22 years Sir Paul has performed more or less the same show with these imposed strong moments, rarely going out of the frame. First there is this bridge which takes off on “Blackbird” which he performs alone on dry guitar. A suspended moment, outside of time, that keeps Paris in suspense. “Here Today” his tribute “to my friend John” or his Ukulele version of “Something” sung “for my brother Georges” are other regular favorites. And as Paul is performing in Paris, he – he feels – has to sing “Michelle”, the Beatles’ sweetest ballad, including a few words in French. But most of the audience loves these obligatory passages and the emotion that emerges from them. When Paul and his four musicians find themselves on stage in acoustic training it is once again to better touch the heart. With this “I’je Just Seen a Face” taken from the album “Help” or this “Love Me Do” “because it is our first song recorded at Abbey Road studio”. McCartney speaks in delicious French with his nose on his cheat sheets “oh my god it’s complex” he wonders about the word “recorded”.
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Little novelty from this “Got Back” tour started in South America in the fall “Now and then” the unreleased Beatles song released last year, saved from John Lennon’s drawers thanks to Artificial Intelligence. McCartney sings it alone but in front of images of the Fab Four reunited, happily surfing between nostalgia and retrofuturism. Who would have thought that 44 years after the death of John Lennon that Paul McCartney would perform an unreleased song by his former accomplice?
McCartney will knock Paris out on his feet
But we barely have time to wonder when he is ready to launch the final assault in the third and fabulous part of the show. In ten songs, McCartney will knock Paris out on his feet. With “Lady Madonna” to start, which he sings behind a piano while jumping. Then “Jet” – one of Wings’ most rocking tracks – or “Being for The Benefit Of Mister Kite” – proving that the Beatles invented psychedelic rock. He has fun with “Ob-La Di, Ob-La Da” to make the crowd sing before setting the record straight on a straight-forward “Band on the Run”, holding the bass and letting his guitarists move from electric to acoustic. On “Get Back” he takes us to the roof of Apple, in January 69, when the Beatles gave one last impromptu concert. McCartney doesn’t let the songs drag on. Not with his group, they play dry and brief, without unnecessary solos. Even “Let It Be” for which he sits down at the piano is not played with the emphasis of the past.
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McCartney has nothing more to prove, no more speeches to make to present his work, because it is so immense, so impressive that it crushes everything else. So yes it takes a few explosions on “Live and Let Die” but it’s nothing compared to the human tide singing “Hey Jude” at the top of their lungs. Being the custodian of such a collective memory must not be easy for the most famous left-hander in the history of rock. But he accomplishes his task – his mission? – with a moving sincerity.
He quite simply invented contemporary pop music
At the encore, he calls out to Paris: “you will understand why the next song is close to my heart” he explains to launch “I’ve got a feeling”. Because after 2 minutes John Lennon appears to sing a duet with him, as if time had stopped in January 1969. McCartney tells us there that he would have liked his story to be written differently. That the annoyances of the late 1960s would inevitably have led to a reunion. And that all this time he has only been searching for the soul of his sparring partner, killed by the bullets of a madman in December 1980. Certainly he has written very beautiful albums without him, but isn’t he asking for still his consent, his look or simply his opinion?
Then McCartney descends into madness for the duration of a devastating “Helter Skelter”. Before coming back to his senses and concluding in style with the masterful triptych “Golden Slumbers”, “Carry That Weight”, “The End”. For 150 minutes, Paul McCartney reminded us that he quite simply invented contemporary pop music. Without Manichaeism, without raised fists, without flags. But with an intact passion, which commands eternal respect.
Setlist for December 4, Paris, La Paris La Defense Arena
1 / Can’t Buy Me Love
2 / Junior’s Farm
3 / Letting Go
4 / Drive My Car
5 / Got To Get You Into My Life
6 / Come On To Me
7 / Let Me Roll It
8 / Getting Better
9 / Let’Em In
10 / My Valentine
11 / 1985
12 / Maybe I’m Amazed
13 / I’ve Just Seen A Face
14 / In Spite Of All The Danger
15 / Love Me Do
16 / Michelle
17 / Dance Tonight
18 / Blackbird
19 / Here Today
20 / Now And Then
21 / Lady Madonna
22 / Jet
23 / Being For The Benefit Of Mister Kite
24 / Something
25 / Ob-la-di Ob-la-da
26 / Band On The Run
27 / Get Back
28 / Let It Be
29 / Live And Let Die
30 / Hey Jude
31 / I’ve Got A Feeling
32 / Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)
33 / Helter Skelter
34 / Golden Slumbers
35 / Carry That Weight
36 / The End
