Paul McCartney Sparks Emotions, Unity at Coachella Show

When I heard that Sir Paul McCartney would headline opening night (April 17) at this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, my enthusiasm was on the fence. Would the audience be subjected to song after mediocre song from the former Beatle’s recent solo projects? Or would Sir Paul ‘wow’ us with a plethora of classic Beatles tunes?

Most chatter among festivalgoers during the first day eminated disillusionment with the set before it started, but when the show actually began, the shit-talking stopped abruptly. For all of those that have forgotten or never realized the power of the Beatles’ music, this show was a true testament, and it warrants further discussion.

McCartney did pull from his solo projects, including a couple tracks from his ‘alter-ego’ The Fireman, but the songs were expertly woven between spurts of passionately played Beatles hits that spanned the band’s career.

Take a gander at the 35-song set list:

Main set: Jet / Drive My Car / Only Mama Knows / Flaming Pie / Got to Get You Into My Life / Let Me Roll It (with a coda of Purple Haze) / Honey Hush / Highway / The Long and Winding Road / My Love / Blackbird / Here Today / Dance Tonight / Calico Skies / Mrs. Vanderbilt / Eleanor Rigby / Sing the Changes / Band on the Run / Back in the U.S.S.R. / Something / I’ve Got a Feeling / Paperback Writer / A Day in the Life > Give Peace a Chance / Let It Be / Live and Let Die / Hey Jude

First encore: Birthday / Can’t Buy Me Love / Lady Madonna
Second encore: Yesterday / Helter Skelter / Get Back / Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) > The End

Although the nearly 3-hour show was held on the main stage with thousands of fans watching, I believe I speak for many others when I say that the vibe felt intimate and highly emotional. I think the tears started forming when McCartney announced that that day was the 11th death anniversary of Linda McCartney and subsequently dedicated “My Love” to her. Or maybe it was during his other dedications to deceased Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison. I’m not sure what the breaking point was, but I do know that during “Blackbird” (which featured McCartney solely on acoustic guitar), I witnessed countless others through my own tear-blurred vision losing their wits and letting emotions run free.

True, people tend to cry at concerts during meaningful ballads, but this time was different. By the end of “Blackbird”, even those that had tried to write off McCartney as an unworthy headliner were emotionally invested. Out of all my hundreds of live music experiences, I’ve never witnessed such an open display of sentimentality and – dare I say it? – love.

If you don’t believe me, ask anyone that was there. By the time the fireworks went off during “Live and Let Die”, audience members were hugging each other left and right and saying corny things like, “I love you, man!” Sounds a bit hokey, but there was a wonderful epiphany to be taken away from the experience. And that epiphany is that The Beatles music, even if it’s just one of ‘em belting it out, runs as a unifying thread through the lives of (most) music fans – at least for my generation and the one before. At the height of their popularity, The Beatles influenced cultural and political changes with their music. What this particular Coachella show demonstrated was that the unified spirit, a spirit that opened new paradigms worldwide, is more alive than ever before – it just takes a few nostalgic ballads to re-ignite it.

When Sir Paul reiterated, ‘Just let it be and give peace a chance – that’s what I’ve always said’ after performing the two songs consecutively, the audience was positively sold. If only the rest of the world’s population could have been there to feel the untainted love for humankind spilling out of the Coachella festival grounds, then maybe the true value of peace could be realized globally.

Sounds like a stretch, I know, but if you’d been there, you’d be raving, too. And something tells me McCartney is far from finished, so there will be plenty of proof (for all you McCartney doubters) to back up my revelation.

If you were at the show, how would you rate/describe the performance?If you doubted Sir Paul McCartney’s vitality, was your opinion swayed? Do you still believe in the unifying power of The Beatles’ music?

Photo by Chris Pizello/Associated Press

Set list source: Orange County Register