The Cardinals’ chase for the National League pennant has not been the only exciting thing to happen recently... though THAT came to an abrupt end last night.  Farewell Busch Stadium II, you provided some very fond memories!

Anyway, as I was saying other exciting things have happened recently...  Friday was probably one of the most memorable things I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing in person, at least music-wise.  

As some may know Paul McCartney is currently on his US Tour.  Now I have wanted to see him since I was fairly young.  I had promised myself that I’d see him before he gets too old to perform anymore.  So you can imagine that I was pretty disappointed when I looked into tickets and the only seats available were on the floor at a mere $253 (plus fees). At that point I pretty much put the idea of going to see him out my head.  Heck, for that price I could go to 5 Dave Matthews Band shows!

So come Thursday night my friend calls me up, “Hey is Paul McCartney in town this weekend?  They’re playing all kinds of Beatles stuff on the radio…”  I remember that this was the month that he was going to be here.  And she suggests that I look to see if there are any tickets and that we should go.  So I check on TicketMaster and sure enough… there are a bunch more tickets available for Friday night.  And it just so happened that I had gotten someone to pick up my shift that night.

The tickets still seem pretty expensive and even though I have a bit more money right now there is no way that I can fork out over $250, even for Paul McCartney.  She tells me to check out eBay where she bought her last tickets.  So I do… and what do I find??  Why, only a bunch of tickets for Friday night, at bargain prices.  These weren’t from scalpers but from people who had bought tickets and can’t go.  I didn’t buy any tickets that night because I wasn’t 100% sure that the girl who had said she was going to work for me actually could. I hadn’t signed the book or anything…

Friday morning I go to work and try to get people to work for my friend and me.  No luck.  Thankfully my co-worker calls me and tells me that she will definitely work for me!  So I call my youngest brother and ask if he wants to go.  Consider it his birthday/Christmas present.  I figure that since there are still lots of tickets available on TM as well as on eBay that we would probably be able to get tickets in the parking lot without a problem.  When I get home around 4:30 I hop on eBay and check to see if there are auctions still up.  I emailed a few ppl to see if the tickets were still available. And got a couple phone calls and replies back through email.  Finally at 5pm I bought two tickets in a lower bowl section for $199.00.  Even though it’s still a bit pricey I figure I’m still getting a very good deal.  Last I saw those seats were in the $250 price range!  The sends the tickets through email and by 6pm we are on our way with tickets in hand!

Both Dave and I were really excited to be going.  We called my other brother, who was in Arizona visiting my Dad… “So whatcha you doing?”  He says in a bragging voice, “Oh just getting ready to sail out of the harbor in San Diego.  What are you doing?”

“Oh, Dave and I are on our way to go see… PAUL McCartney!”

“I hate you both…”

Let’s just say he was a bit jealous.  And I don’t blame him.

When we arrived at the Palace we could hardly contain our excitement.  It was a bit weird when we finally got through security though.  Most of the shows that I’ve been to, the music that is played in the outside halls is by other bands.  However, this time it was all Paul, all the time.  On the TV screens are commercials featuring Paul songs, commercials peddling Paul products.  Heck, for a mere $25 you could even buy a Paul McCartney program. 

When we arrived in our seats I met a nice couple from Indianapolis who came up just for the show (and paid $160 per ticket more than I did!).  Even better though was the opening act… the commercials peddling Paul McCartney endorsed products faded into a DJ spinning mash-ups of Paul McCartney and Beatles music…

Finally, when the DJ was done the house lights went down and on the screens above the stage appeared, “Paul McCartney – June 18, 1942” followed by a 10-15 minute documentary on Sir Paul and his career.  After all this I half expected for the curtains to be raised and a golden statue of Paul to appear and the crowd to erupt in chants of “PRAISE MACCA! PRAISE MACCA!”

I guess when you’ve been told that you’re great for nearly 45 years you really start to believe.  My brother said it best when he said it reminded him of a scene from the Spinal Tap movie.  “In the cold dark days…” or something like that…

Anyway, aside from all the self-indulgence it was really a good show.  I enjoyed the four new songs he played, his solo songs such as “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Too Many People” as well as the stuff from Wings like “Live and Let Die” – very cool – And “Band on the Run”.  Even better was the chance to hear stuff from the Beatles.  Simply amazing… for me really a dream come to true.

He played for nearly 2 ½ hours and featured several of my favorites such as Blackbird, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Let It Be, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude.  Dave was excited to hear Back in the USSR.  He also played songs that I had kind of forgotten I liked so much such as “I’ve Got a Feeling,” “For No One,” and “Fixing a Hole”.  He came out for two encores and even played Helter Skelter, as well as Sgt. Pepper’s and the rocking The End.  With that last song I just had to say to my brother in the manner of Chris Farley, “Hey, remember, remember when you said in that one song, ‘the love you take is equal to love you make?  Is that true?”

After the show all we could say, also in the manner of Chris Farley, “That was Awwe-SOME!”

One cool thing that happened – A guy proposed to his girlfriend!  Someone held up a sign for Paul that read, “Can Ben in the 4^th row ask Melissa to marry him?”  Paul, who had been going on about the signs for most of the night, turns in that direction and says, “Well, Ben…go on then… get down on one knee and ask her already.”  Then in a few minutes another sign was read by Paul, “’She said yes!’ Congratulations Ben and Melissa, that’s a first for me and hopefully a last for you!”  What a proposal!  So cool.

All in all, a great experience.  I only wish I could have taken my little sisters to the show with me.  They both love the Beatles and it would have been so neat to let them see a living legend.  Who knows… the way Sir Paul was looking at the show maybe he’ll manage to keep going for a couple more years…

And on a final note… if there is one thing I have learned this year.  Never panic about finding tickets to a sold-out show.  They’re almost always available and you can almost always get tickets for less than face value.  Trust me I learned that the hard way earlier this summer with DMB.

Oh I’ve also bought the Paul’s new CD.  And I have to say I am really enjoying it.  It’s fairly mellow, but his new producer has really done wonders for him.  He reminds you why he is one of the great songwriters of this century.  There are several songs I could see appearing on any of The Beatles latter day albums.  I have been rather leery of buying much of his solo stuff but this is a top-notch CD and definitely worth a listen.

And while we’re talking about CDs… I also bought “Let It Be… Naked” a de-Phil Spectorized version of the album, “the way the Beatles intended it.”  It’s pretty much the same but I do enjoy the simpler versions of the songs.

As a non-Beatles purchase I bought the new O.A.R. CD “Stories of Stranger”.  It’s a bit different from their usual sound but I have to say it’s really good.  The songs are really polished and the album as a whole is nicely put together.  Purists might hate it but I think they have really evolved into a good group.  Will definitely have to check into going to their show should they come to town again.

Anyway, that’s more than enough for now.  Don’t worry the next entry (whenever that is) should be a bit shorter.