After Glastonbury, an intimate Adelaide gig for Paul McCartney’s trusted crew
Before he arrives in Australia, Paul McCartney and his four-piece band will take two weeks to blow off the cobwebs, kick out the jams and relearn the songs the band leader may have forgotten.
Before he arrives in Australia, Paul McCartney and his four-piece band will take two weeks to blow off the cobwebs, kick out the jams and relearn songs they may have forgotten since the last time they played before an audience.
“It’s mainly me; I’ve just got to try and remember what the hell I’m doing, and get back in it,” McCartney told The Weekend Australian in an exclusive interview. “Two weeks is normally good with the band. By the end of that two weeks we’ve pretty much got it down, and we’re getting back up to speed.”
What will then follow is another two weeks of production rehearsals, where the quintet is flanked by lights, video screens and the full technical crew.
“It’s four weeks in all, and if, by the end of that we don’t know what we’re doing, then we’ve got a problem,” said the band leader with a laugh.
Their last gig was a three-hour, 38-song monster of a set headlining Glastonbury Festival in June last year – a week after McCartney turned 80 – before 100,000 people. Their next gig? October 18 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, to be played before a comparatively intimate crowd of about 6500, before the band moves on to stadiums interstate.
A few songs demand a little more work to get show-ready, but there’s others that feel as comfortable as a favourite pair of jeans.
“There’s some where the muscle memory comes right back and you just slot right in,” McCartney said. “The old Beatles ones, some of them you just know so well: Got to Get You Into My Life seems to come quite easily.
“It’d be nice if I just sprung up to the mic and knew ’em all – which some people might say, well, I should. But I’d say, ‘Come on, I’ve written so many; I’ve written too many. I don’t know ’em all.’
“But it’s good: with a little rehearsal period, it not only gets me back in shape, it gets the band back in shape, and the roadies and the sound guys. It gives everyone a chance to relearn what we’re doing – but in the end, then, you forget all of that and just go for it, and it’s just a party.”
On Thursday, an exclusive presale for Telstra customers saw the first available tickets for McCartney’s six-date tour flying out the door. After a presale for Frontier Touring members next Wednesday, all tickets will be on sale next Friday, August 11.
Prices range from $85 to $405 for seats, up to $2350 for VIP packages offering front-row spots and soundcheck access.
Don’t be surprised if they’re all snapped up in short order. If you’re considering whether to see the British singer-songwriter and hear him reprise his singular song catalogue, here’s a tip: run, don’t walk.
Given his previous tour here was in 2017, when McCartney was merely a sprightly 75, it seems more than reasonable to suspect this will be Australian fans’ last chance to watch him work the bass fretboard, tinkle the piano keys and flex his iconic vocal cords in the flesh.
As on the previous visit, he will be accompanied by four trusty sidemen in guitarist Rusty Anderson, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr, keyboardist Wix Wickens and guitarist/bassist Brian Ray.
Together, this quartet has backed the former Beatle for more than 20 years and 500 shows, making it the longest live formation of his career by far.
When The Weekend Australian asked the band leader what’s kept that connection between the five of them in place so firmly, he said with a straight face, “They haven’t escaped yet. I’ve been holding them, but none of them has managed to get over the barbed wire yet.”
After breaking into a smirk, McCartney continued: “They’re great guys, we enjoy playing together, and they play really well. It’s a great pleasure to play with people who play really well. It makes it easy. You don’t have to worry about what’s going on behind you, or to the side of you. You just think, ‘This sounds good’.”
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