When news broke that Paul McCartney would kick off the latest leg of his “Got Back” tour right here in the Coachella Valley, desert denizens took to social media to share their excitement. McCartney is one of the biggest musical acts ever to perform in the Coachella Valley outside of the festivals, and he was coming to Acrisure Arena, a relatively small space for a show by the former Beatle.
Well … all of these factors led to outrageous ticket prices. Many locals again took to social media—this time to voice their disappointment and shock. Prices aside, fans who could afford a ticket (or somehow get one otherwise) to Acrisure last night, Sept. 29, were treated to an epic performance that was truly priceless.
It was an all-star event, with numerous celebrities out and about. I had a brief conversation with John Mayer about a recent podcast he did with “Weird Al” Yankovic, and later, I spotted Wayne Knight, aka Newman from Seinfeld.
Fans with Sgt. Pepper suits and full-print Wings jackets waited with anticipation as remixes of McCartney songs played over the speakers. On the screen, an animated video slowly panned up a tower adorned with bright colors and photos of McCartney, the Beatles and Wings. When the video finally reached the top of the tower around 8:15, there was a depiction of McCartney’s famous Hofner bass; the cheers grew as the bass reflected psychedelic colors.
Soon after, the band, led by McCartney, walked out. After a few short waves, peace signs and a fist in the air, the band launched into the Beatles hit “Help!” A few days ago, McCartney performed a last-minute surprise show at the Santa Barbara Bowl, where he performed “Help!” for the first time since 1990, and the first time in full with him on vocals ever, as the song was originally voiced by John Lennon. I was impressed with McCartney’s ability to nail his former bandmate’s unique vocal range.
The band was in good spirits, and McCartney’s voice sounded great. “This is the second night of our tour,” he told the crowd, “so we’re young and fresh and restless.”
The excitement continued with “Coming Up,” a synth-dance track from the artist’s experimental McCartney II album. The track is also semi-new for this leg of the tour, as it usually is only played during McCartney’s VIP soundchecks.
A series of vocally demanding tunes, including “Got to Get You Into My Life,” exposed McCartney’s voice as sounding a tad withered. At the age of 83, McCartney’s energy was incredible—but it’s no surprise he had to strain and stretch to hit some notes.
This Palm Desert performance was a hometown show for guitarist Brian Ray. He’s been a Palm Springs resident since 2018, and his guitar-solo gems were particularly appreciated; his first solo of the night, during “Letting Go,” received some thunderous applause.
The rest of the setlist was pretty standard as far as past McCartney tours go, with select solo material sprinkled across Beatles and Wings hits. In some songs, his voice sounded killer; in others, the vocals were definitely under stress—but backup vocals and energetic instrumentals kept the songs powerful.
Sure, his voice is not what it once was, but McCartney deserves a ton of credit for not changing the key on any of these old tunes. While some octogenarian performers mime or fake playing their instruments, McCartney—from bass to guitar to acoustic to organ to ukulele to piano and back again—performed, wonderfully, for real.
A few highlights:
- Paul McCartney was on guitar for “Let Me Roll It,” before jamming into Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxey Lady” right after. McCartney told a story about seeing The Jimi Hendrix Experience late at night in a London club once. “He was so cool,” McCartney said.
- “My Valentine” was dedicated to McCartney’s wife, Nancy, who was in the crowd.
- “Maybe I’m Amazed” was an emotional moment, as McCartney told the audience that it would have been the 116th birthday of his mother, Mary, who died in 1956.
- The string-snapping intro of “Blackbird” caused the crowd to roar—which subsided into a hush as audience was hung on every word of McCartney’s quiet and subdued voice. “I’m very proud of having written that song,” McCartney said, discussing its purpose to soothe racial tensions in the ’60s.
- “We never actually said to each other, ‘I love you, man,’” McCartney said as he paid tribute to Lennon with “Here Today.”
- Another teary tribute, this time for George Harrison, came with Abbey Road banger “Something.” Harrison’s widow, Olivia, was also in attendance at Acrisure.
At times, the concert’s visuals left something to be desired. While vivid art scenes from The Beatles: Rock Band filled the screen for “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “Drive My Car” featured what looked stock footage of old cars, and “Come on to Me,” a track from 2018’s Egypt Station, featured no visuals at all.
After an encore break, the band reappeared onstage waving flags—an American flag, a United Kingdom flag, a California flag and a pride flag.
That said, the visuals were mind-blowing on “Live and Let Die,” a highlight of the show. Huge flames, fireworks and explosions intended for the bigger arenas were truly a spectacle inside the 11,000-seat indoor arena. The pops from the fire were louder than any instrument, and the first pyro hit caused an audible gasp from my entire section.
The show “concluded” with “Hey Jude” and a sing-along that stretched to nearly 10 minutes, featuring vocal breaks from “just the girls” and “just the guys.”
After an encore break, the band reappeared onstage waving flags—an American flag, a United Kingdom flag, a California flag and a pride flag.
“This next one is special to me,” McCartney said—and it was special to the audience, too. McCartney fired through the 1970 gem “I’ve Got a Feeling,” and when it came time for Lennon’s parts, the screen showed Lennon singing. McCartney turned his back to the crowd to watch his friend sing, and then turned around to sing with him.
After an extended, jammy outro, McCartney took the audience back to 1967 with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise),” and then to 1968 with “Helter Skelter.” His voice sounded insane, belting out rock screams some 120 minutes into the performance. The band even went into a double-time, punk-rock outro.
“We’ve had a great time here tonight, but it’s time for us to go,” said McCartney. The crowd booed—even though they had just been treated to 32 songs! Thankfully, McCartney really had three more tunes, concluding with the piano ballad “Golden Slumbers,” the soft-rock sounds of “Carry That Weight” and, fittingly, “The End,” as McCartney, Ray and guitarist Rusty Anderson traded solos and jammed out.
McCartney’s final vocal line—“and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”—sent the desert crowd out singing and smiling. The iconic performer proved that he is still one of the best to ever do it, powering through a nearly three-hour set of 35 songs.
Edited to fix a song title.
