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Opening night of Back in the World - Paris Set List
Hello, Goodbye
Jet
All My Loving
Getting Better
Coming Up
Let Me Roll It
Lonely Road
Driving Rain
Your Loving Flame
Blackbird
Every Night
We Can Work It Out
You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight
Fool On The Hill
Here Today
Give Peace a chance (crowd singalong)
Something
Eleanor Rigby
Michelle
Calico Skies
Here, There, and Everywhere
Band On The Run
Back In The USSR
Maybe I'm Amazed
Let Em In
My Love
She's Leaving Home
Can't Buy Me Love
Birthday
Live and Let Die
Let It Be
Hey Jude
The Long and Winding Road
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Yesterday
Sgt. Pepper Reprise
The End
The launch of the three-month trek will coincide with the release on March 17th of two special souvenirs of the tour - a 37-song live album, titled Back In The World, and Back In The U.S. - a 3-hour DVD filmed inside the world tour during its run across America.
The European tour, which will play include gigs in Paris, Barcelona, Arnhem, Koln, Hannover, Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Dublin, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham and London, will be Paul first in since his New World Tour of 1993.
Fronting a lean new band, Paul will perform his acclaimed and hugely-successful new show that last year broke 20 box office records during its 50-date tour of America. The tour won Billboard magazine's Tour of The Year accolade as the most triumphant concert trek of 2002.
Paul McCartney's two and a half hour, 36-song show caused crowd mania last year in Mexico, Japan and America - where it was dubbed "the greatest hits show on Earth".
The show includes 22 Beatles songs - the most Beatles songs ever performed in any one show - plus more than a dozen hits from his Wings and solo periods. The Back In The World 2-CD album follows the hit album Back In The U.S. which was recently released in America as a souvenir of the first U.S. leg of the world tour. As the set list for the European tour will differ from the first American shows, the Back In The World tracklist has been changed so that the European album is a proper souvenir of the European show.
The Back In The World album will feature four songs not released before: live performances of She's Leaving Home, Calico Skies, Michelle and Let 'Em In. These will feature alongside such classics as All My Loving, Back In The USSR, Band On The Run, Blackbird, Can't Buy Me Love, Carry That Weight, Coming Up, Eleanor Rigby, Fool On The Hill, Getting Better, Hello Goodbye, Here There And Everywhere, Hey Jude, I Saw Her Standing There, Jet, Live And Let Die and many others.
The Back In The U.S. DVD was previously only available in the U.S.A. and Japan, where it has already been a huge hit with fans as sales in America alone have been of triple-platinum status. The DVD has been dubbed "a rock and road movie" as it records not only the onstage concert action but also takes the viewer right inside the tour; filming Paul, the band and road crew backstage and offstage, inside dressing rooms, in the limos with Paul and even aboard his chartered jet for after-show mile-high party antics.
The 'Back In The World' concert show will include performance of Beatles songs never before played live in Europe. Said Paul: "I had a lot of fun touring this show across America last year and instead of been exhausted I felt exhilarated because I am enjoying it so much. I'm looking forward to playing through Europe and bringing the show back home to Britain.
"I think the crowd is going to like this gig - when I was thinking of what songs to play I just imagined myself as one of the audience and thought 'What would I like to hear him play?' "So that means we'll be playing some of my Beatles stuff - rather a lot of Beatles stuff, actually - some Wings stuff and some more recent stuff; so basically the show pretty much spans my whole career. And I'm really getting off on playing it all with my new band, their energy and musicianship is phenomenal".
Letter from Paul on the road in the US
Sorry that I've not written back before but life out here on the "Back In the US" leg has got hectic; we've been out on the road for 30 days now and we've already got 16 shows under our belts. And whilst that's not quite the whistle-stop rate of the early Beatles tours, we're not exactly hanging about.
What is especially cool out here on this leg is that the show is going down so stormingly we're breaking house records in all the places we've played - 15 cities we've done and we now hold the house records in every one of them.
Maybe we've got something here. And the crowds are getting so loud! We played in Oklahoma the other night and you could hear them all yelling OVER the PA. If that keeps up we're gong to have to up the power by another million watts just to hear ourselves on stage.
You've probably heard by now that we've changed the set around a bit on this leg, adding "Let 'Em In," "Michelle" and "She's Leaving Home," and I'm very gratified to see that these "new" songs are going down well. You can kind of judge that by the sight of all the couples holding each other and swaying in their own private smooch during the songs. It's good to see that. Good that you're reaching somebody to the extent that they're oblivious to all who are around them; a bunch of waltzing figures in the crowd, just dancing in their own private love bubble as we soundtrack their moment. Makes you feel like "The Wedding Singer" up here onstage. But that's OK; the privilege of touching you guys is what it's all about.
And I'm chuffed that "Freedom" is going down so well now. It was a crowd-rouser on the "Driving USA" leg, but now there's so many flags out there in the crowd and so much honest fervour for the spirit of the song that you feel like you're at a Fourth of July rally. That's humbling, giving America a little song on which it can vent the passion we all feel over the reasons that made me write that song. As I've said, we're all in this together.
One of the great things about the way this tour is panning out is this new band of mine. They're not only so into it up on the stage, but all of them are good enough musicians to be able to cope when the whim strikes me to throw something unscripted into the set - like we did the other night in Houston when we suddenly launched into "Midnight Special," seemingly appropriate for the lyric 'And if you ever get to Houston, you better act right'. It's a number we'd been doing at the sound check and it fitted the moment. I like to ring the changes like that; like when we played some nights back in St. Louis on the night of John's (Lennon's) birthday. I was introducing "Here Today," the song that I wrote for John, and the crowd just stood in this unending ovation at the mention of his name. So I thought, OK, this is a bit crazy but let's all sing "Happy Birthday" to John. Here. Today. Now. That was moving for me. We did another change in St. Louis when my old mate from the Wings days, Thaddeus Richard, came backstage as a one-man brass section. We got him up to play on "Lady Madonna," which was cool.
Cool too is the news that on the first day, on-sale for the tickets to our coming Tokyo and Osaka (shows), they sold 170,000. It's always good to play Japan because I know the fans are into it all down there. But I also know that the stewards at the gigs like to keep everyone in their seats, because that's the accepted way - be polite, be respectful and stay in your seats and clap.
Between you and me, I've got a feeling that we should give them stewards a shock this time around. Never mind what the rules say; how about WE say that we break the rules and you guys in Japan party and bop as much as you want to. Let your hair down, guys; and if they give you any problem with their rules tell them Paul said it was OK to holler and leap about. Don't worry about 'convention', pass the word and let's keep it among ourselves - give the stewards a Mac Attack. I'll back you up; nobody ever got busted for dancing at a rock show.
And anyway, the more you enjoy yourselves - whether it be in Japan or Oz or anywhere - the greater your chances of getting in this film that we're making out here on the road. We've got camera crews out there in the audience every night filming the wildest of the wildness. And although we've already filmed a lot of the American crowds on the first leg for 'Back In The U.S' - the DVD of the tour (both front of stage and backstage) that we've got coming out with the live album on November 26th, little is it known that we are STILL filming for something special besides. I'm very excited by this; we're filming now for a secret website that's going to be accessible to everyone who buys the DVD. I'm not sure I'm allowed to tell you this yet, so don't say I said it. But what happens is this - you buy your DVD, which is a cool little insider view of life on this tour, plus the best of the gigs, and then you put the DVD into your computer and because the DVD will be encrypted, it'll get you into this secret website that'll be full of stuff happening now or that which has yet to happen. I'm very into that - for the cost of the DVD you get this constant memory of the gig with this built-in ticket to the future. And anything is going to happen up there on that site; there will be extra songs from Sound Check that nobody's seen before; there's a lot of takes of a lot of you fans interviewed by our cameras, there's going to be a whole special show that will be shot totally in private just for you and other stuff that we're working on now. As I say, we're filming at every gig for this website, so if you want to try to get featured on it, get yourself noticed. I'm sure you'll find a way...........
One last thing; the promoters tell me that by the time we get down to Australia for the Melbourne gig, we'll have sold just under one million tickets. That means somebody in Oz is going to buy the Millionth Ticket. And I hear there's a whole bunch of surprise treats - like flights to see a show outside of Oz and more - in store for whomever gets that millionth ticket. Good luck. I hope it's you.
Anyway, I've got to go and do a show now. Nice talking to you. Let me hear any feedback you've go on this and any ideas for what you might like besides. See you soon at the gigs.
Keep rockin' PAUL
Minnesota
Chicago
Hartford
Atlantic City
Houston
Tacoma
Sacramento
Oklahoma
Phoenix
Mexico
Japan
Set list
The Fireman - Special Auraveda Remix (Opens with circus performers)
Hello Goodbye
Jet
All My Loving
Getting Better
Coming Up
Let Me Roll It
Lonely Road
Driving Rain
Your Loving Flame
(solo set)
Blackbird
Every Night
We Can Work It Out
You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight
The Fool On the Hill
Here Today
Something
(end of acoustic set)
Eleanor Rigby
Michelle
Here There and Everywhere
Back In The USSR
Maybe I'm Amazed
My Love
Let 'Em In
She's Leaving Home
Can't Buy Me Love
Freedom
Live and Let Die
Let It Be
Hey Jude
(First Encore)
Long And Winding Road
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
(Second Encore)
Yesterday
Sgt. Peppers Reprise/The End
| Sat | 09/21/02 | Milwaukee, WI | Bradley Center | ||||
| Mon | 09/23/02 | St. Paul, MN | Xcel Energy Center | ||||
| Tue | 09/24/02 | Chicago, IL | United Center | ||||
| Fri | 09/27/02 | Hartford, CT | Hartford Civic Center | ||||
| Sat | 09/28/02 | Atlantic City, NJ | Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall | ||||
| Tue | 10/01/02 | Boston, MA | FleetCenter | ||||
| Fri | 10/04/02 | Cleveland, OH | Gund Arena | ||||
| Sat | 10/05/02 | Indianapolis, IN | Conseco Fieldhouse | ||||
| Mon | 10/07/02 | Raleigh, NC | Entertainment & Sports Arena | ||||
| Wed | 10/09/02 | St. Louis, MO | Savvis Center | ||||
| Thu | 10/10/02 | Columbus, OH | Schottenstein Center | ||||
| Sat | 10/12/02 | New Orleans, LA | New Orleans Arena | ||||
| Sun | 10/13/02 | Houston, TX | Compaq Center | ||||
| Tue | 10/15/02 | Oklahoma City, OK | Ford Center Arena | ||||
| Fri | 10/18/02 | Portland, OR | Rose Garden Arena | ||||
| Sat | 10/19/02 | Tacoma, WA | Tacoma Dome | ||||
| Mon | 10/21/02 | Sacramento, CA | ARCO Arena | ||||
| Tue | 10/22/02 | San Jose, CA | Compaq Center At San Jose | ||||
| Fri | 10/25/02 | Anaheim, CA | Arrowhead Pond | ||||
| Sat | 10/26/02 | Las Vegas, NV | MGM Grand Garden Arena | ||||
| Mon | 10/28/02 | Los Angeles, CA | Staples Center | ||||
| Tue | 10/29/02 | Phoenix, AZ | America West Arena | ||||
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paul McCartney, whose first U.S. tour in nine years was the top-grossing road show in the first half, will return in September for 22 shows, his publicist said on Tuesday.
The former Beatle, who turned 60 last month, will kick off his "Back in the USA" tour of indoor arenas in Milwaukee on Sept. 21. The tour will end Oct. 29 in Phoenix.
He will mostly play markets he did not play the first time around, although he will return to Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Las Vegas and the California cities of Los Angeles, San Jose and Anaheim.
The first leg of the tour, during which McCartney played to 407,000 people over 22 shows, grossed $52.8 million, according to concert trade publication Pollstar.
McCartney will compete for the same graying demographic as the Rolling Stones, w ho begin their North American tour in September. Fellow "British Invasion" rockers the Who began their tour earlier this month.
Counting Crows New Album Influenced By Paul McCartney
(7/5/02, 3 p.m. ET)
A former Beatle had a marked influence on the new Counting Crows album Hard Candy, which comes out Tuesday (July 9).
Crows frontman Adam Duritz tells LAUNCH that his goal to make the songs on the album punchier and more focused was inspired by a chat with Paul McCartney that gave Duritz a fresh appreciation for the craft of songwriting.
"I'd had this conversation with Paul McCartney a couple of years ago at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and I just left the conversation thinking, 'Man, what a treasure the guy is,' and so underrated, I think, and underappreciated at times. To, like, write a melody that sticks in someone's head for 40 years--I mean, how the hell do people do that? I thought, 'Well, I want to really concentrate on that for this record. Every song has to have a great melody. That's the starting point,'" he says.
Hard Candy features guest appearances by Sheryl Crow on the single "American Girls" and cameos by Ryan Adams and Matthew Sweet.
The Crows--who recently finished a stint opening for the Who--are slated to play a concert on Saturday (July 13) at Irving Plaza in New York City. The group has a European tour slated for August, with North American dates expected in the fall.
GLASLOUGH, Ireland (Reuters) - Sir Paul McCartney and his new wife, former model Heather Mills, were beginning their honeymoon Wednesday after a fireworks display brought their lavish Irish wedding to a spectacular close.
Some 300 guests, including rock stars and movie actors, partied until the early hours following Tuesday's ceremony at 17th century Castle Leslie in Glaslough, County Monaghan.
"It was a fabulous event, really fantastic. Everything went according to plan and everyone had a superb time," McCartney's spokesman Geoff Baker told Reuters.
He refused to confirm the couple's honeymoon destination but hinted it may be "somewhere in the Caribbean."
McCartney, 59, and Mills, 34 -- now Lady McCartney -- crossed the castle lake in a flower-bedecked boat after the fireworks display at around 1:30 a.m. before boarding a helicopter for Belfast airport where a private jet was waiting.
Organizers said the fireworks display was the biggest held in Ireland since a Millennium extravaganza in Dublin two years ago.
After the wedding ceremony in a 300-year-old church on the castle's 1,000-acre estate -- during which the bride broke down with emotion while making her marriage vows -- guests feasted on Indian-style vegetarian cuisine washed down with vintage champagne in a lakeside marquee.
Live music was provided by five bands, including the group ex-Beatle McCartney recently toured with in the United States.
True to form, guests said, McCartney was the musical highlight of the evening, climbing up on a specially constructed outdoor stage to perform a "marriage rap" for his bride.
"He looked like he was improvising but it was unbelievable. The energy was incredible," one guest, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
Later, Chrissie Hynde, former frontwoman with rock group The Pretenders, sang backing vocals on a medley of 1970s disco hits.
Others attending the showbiz event of the year included Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour, U.S. film actor Steve Buscemi and Fab Four producer Sir George Martin.
Wedding guests checking out of hotels in the area on Wednesday morning looked tired but happy.
British musician and television personality Jools Holland, spoke for many of them: "It was marvelous -- a beautiful traditional family wedding," he told Reuters, adding he may have had "one too many pints of Guinness."
For the tiny village of Glaslough -- for several intense days the focus of the world's media -- it was time to move on.
"It was exciting," said shop assistant Marie McNaughton, "but I'm glad it's over. Now we can get back to normal."
Castle is the romantic setting for Wedding of Paul McCartney
(AP) Tue Jun 11, 4:39 PM ET
GLASLOUGH, Ireland - Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills were married Tuesday in a remote Irish castle under siege by an army of fans and journalists who thronged the gates for a glimpse of the couple.
The couple were determined to have a private wedding despite the growing crowd of journalists and fans outside the castle walls and the noisy helicopters hovering overhead
More than 2 1/2 hours after the ceremony, while the couple and their guests feasted on Indian food in large tents on the Castle Leslie estate, McCartney's spokesman Geoff Baker emerged to reveal some details.
The bride, wearing a fitted ecru lace dress she designed herself, carried a bouquet of 11 pink McCartney roses — named in honor of her new husband — and two peonies, Baker said.
Mills entered the 17th century church in the grounds of Castle Leslie to the strains of the song "Heather," which McCartney, 59, wrote for his recent album.
"The ceremony was joyful and moving," Baker said. "Heather captured the hearts of the congregation when, overcome by the emotion of the occasion, she briefly faltered and wept tears of joy whilst making her vows."
The couple's friend, poet Adrian Mitchell, read "Roses In The Summertime" — a poem he wrote for them.
And as the beaming pair walked back down the aisle after the formal part of the ceremony, the organ played the "Wedding March" McCartney wrote for the movie "The Family Way," in the 60s, Baker said.
McCartney's brother Mike was best man.
After an evening of music from five bands, the celebrations were to end dwith a spectacular fireworks display.
Among the 300 guests were McCartney's children from his first marriage, Stella, Mary and James, and stepdaughter Heather.
McCartney, Mills Get Help From Friends at Wedding
Jun 11,10:11 AM ET
GLASLOUGH, Ireland (Reuters) - Paul McCartney and fiancee Heather Mills had a little help from their friends, if not the weather, as they prepared to marry Tuesday in a rambling castle under threatening Irish skies.
Intermittent rain was the only negative factor as celebrities and family members gathered for the spectacular wedding of the ex-Beatle to the former model.
The 59-year-old rock legend and Mills, 34, will tie the knot in a lavish lakeside ceremony at 17th century Castle Leslie in the Irish border county of Monaghan at around 3 p.m.
The band that has been touring with McCartney in the United States was due to play and there were rumors McCartney and Mills might well take a boat out on to the castle's private lake to view a mammoth fireworks display.
Among the celebrities was former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, dressed in a frilly white shirt and jeans, who flew into Belfast airport and was chauffeured to the castle.
Chrissie Hynde of rock group the Pretenders, 1960s fashion icon Twiggy and former Beatles manager Sir George Martin were among other guests.
Guitarist Eric Clapton and former U.S. president Bill Clinton were also expected. Pop veteran Sir Elton John was rumored to be on his way while Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour arrived Monday night.
Despite the star-studded guest list, McCartney has stressed the wedding will be first and foremost a family occasion -- although for a very special family.
The sleepy village of Glaslough, where Castle Leslie is located, has never seen anything like it, and activity had reached fever-pitch, with Ireland's World Cup victory against Saudi Arabia adding to the excitement.
"It's hectic -- good for business, though," said food van owner Brendan McKenna, whose "Big Macca" burgers looked like good value at three euros ($2.84) each.
No "Big Maccas" will be served for the strictly vegetarian wedding feast, but the 300 guests will be treated to champagne, live music, dancing and an extravagant fireworks display.
McCartney and Mills were due to be married at St. Salvator's church in Castle Leslie's 1,000-acre estate, McCartney's spokesman Geoff Baker told Reuters.
Next on the agenda was unlimited champagne and an Indian-style vegetarian banquet beside the lake, with giant marquees and stages for live music and dancing.
Baker said it was possible that McCartney could take to the stage himself. "You never know. We've got Macca (McCartney), Ringo and guests like Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour -- who knows what could happen," he said.
The evening was scheduled to culminate with the fireworks display, which an 11-strong team of experts flew in several days ago to set up.
FAMILY OCCASION
Estimates of the cost of the wedding range from 500,000 pounds ($735,000) to over one million, although with a personal fortune of more than 700 million, rock legend McCartney can certainly afford to pull out all the stops.
However, Baker stressed that despite the presence of high-profile celebrities the wedding would be first and foremost a family affair.
"The theme is definitely relaxed and informal -- this is not a glitzy event in that sense," he said.
McCartney himself told reporters Monday there would only be around a dozen people at the bash "that you would recognize."
McCartney's four children, including leading fashion designer Stella, arrived at the castle Monday, scotching press rumors they had rejected their father's new partner.
The ex-Beatle's brother Mike, best man at Paul's marriage to Linda in 1969, was repeating the honor.
The couple, who plan to marry Tuesday at Castle Leslie in County Monaghan, stood at the heavily guarded estate gates as cameras flashed and journalists from around the world jostled for position.
"As you know there is going to be a wedding tomorrow, but it is a secret," joked McCartney, who was dressed casually in gray trousers and a blue long-sleeved T-shirt.
"Ten people at the wedding you have heard of and the rest will be family and friends," the former Beatle said, but did not confirm press reports that former President Clinton, Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton were on the guest list.
"If it had to leak, it leaked in the best way," he added as he clutched his fiancee's hand and kissed her several times for the cameras.
Mills, dressed in jeans and a light brown sweater, looked relaxed and casual. She bent down to pick up two pink roses thrown to her from the crowd of some 300 people, which had formed outside the castle gates in a semicircle.
McCartney said a single photo of the wedding would be released to media organizations, in return for a small contribution to Mills' anti-land mines charity.
As organizers put the finishing touches on decorations, some villagers in Glaslough near the Northern Ireland border complained that the celebrity bride and groom weren't supporting the local economy, and criticized them for importing items for the ceremony.
Florist Aileen Scott complained that flowers, including lilies and roses, had been specially shipped from Holland.
"They are sourcing nothing at all at local level," she said. "Even the castle staff have been sent away so that they can bring in outsiders."
However, three enterprising youngsters said they've already profited from the nuptials by sneaking into the estate with disposable cameras that journalists had given them and photographing the preparations for 25 euros, or $23, each.
"We did not know who they were," 14-year-old David Bellow said of the reporters with whom he and his two friends struck a deal.
"But it was easy money so we did it. The journalists wanted a picture inside the marquee but none of us had the guts to go on the other side of the lake and get that," said Bellows, who added that he'd heard of the Beatles, but preferred rave music.
Castle Leslie, which is now a luxury hotel, has been the center of frenzied media activity since reports of the wedding emerged last week.
McCartney spokesman Geoff Baker said the 59-year-old singer and Mills, 34, will be married by a local priest at St. Salvator's church within the estate before throwing a lavish party for 300 guests at the castle.
A giant tent and dance floor have been constructed next to a lake, and a pontoon has been built with a luxury boat moored alongside.
The estate boasts about 1,000 acres of grounds and a helicopter landing pad, but the castle has no phones, clocks or televisions in its 14 rooms.
McCartney and Mills — a model who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident nine years ago — met at a charity function where she was raising money to oppose the use of land mines. The couple announced their engagement last July.
Before her accident, Mills helped set up a refugee crisis center in the former Yugoslavia. Later, she established the Heather Mills Trust to raise money for young disabled victims of war and provide artificial limbs for land mine victims.
Mills was married briefly in 1989. In 1999, she'd planned to marry documentary cameraman Chris Terrill, but the wedding was called off two weeks before the ceremony.
McCartney, who was knighted in 1997, has three grown children and a stepdaughter from his marriage to Linda McCartney, an acclaimed photographer and crusader for vegetarianism and animal rights who died of breast cancer in 1998.
