He’ll be 82 years old on his next birthday. He once performed for a crowd of 185,000 in Rio . He drew three crowds that size that week.
At the time, those were the largest live audiences in the history of live performances.
His voice is virtually shot from the hundreds, maybe thousands, of performances and studio time.
But people don’t care that he doesn’t sound like he used to. And more importantly, HE doesn’t care.
This man loves his work and, specifically, loves to perform and sing and make people happy. Anywhere, anytime.
A few years ago, he was paid $10 million for ONE performance at the Coachella Music Festival.
It’s no crime to get paid, but he didn’t need the money. He’s a billionaire.
But you can’t put a price on his joy in connecting with a young audience, and many at Coachella never saw him perform, and knew him only as a Beatle.
Some people who perform are elitist, almost snobs when it comes to performing. They refuse to go on stage if the lighting isn’t exactly right…or the sound monitors aren’t mixed properly. I’ve seen a lot of “divas” in my time.
Not him. Just give him a microphone and a stage and he’s ready to go.
He has gotten aboard a Supersonic jet to arrive just before Billy Joel finished his last set at Shea Stadium. He made it to the stage and wowed the crowd of 54,000, and he wowed Billy Joel, too. Billy said it was the biggest thrill in his career to share the stage with him.
A few years ago, a friend of mine who worked closely with him said Paul McCartney did an impromptu set at something close to a strip bar.
Paul has walked into piano bars and performed and left tiny crowds there speechless. He loves shocking people with an impromptu set in some small dive bar.
Is it narcissistic to do this? Nah. He’s had more than enough of an ego stroked by millions every day of his life. He isn’t a narcissist. He does it because he wants to, and because he can…not because he needs to.
I don’t know where this clip came from, but I’m quite sure this happened very recently.
There was Paul McCartney either at an office party, or Bar Mitzvah, or some very small gathering suddenly jumping on a stage and leading his small crowd in singing “I Saw Her Standing There.” He didn’t HAVE to do it. He WANTED to do it.
Hell, even his soft-spoken wife, Nancy, started dancing with him as he took the tiny stage. Paul McCartney is probably the most famous live performer in history.
He’s written hundreds of massively popular songs…sold hundreds of millions of records…and had enough adulation to last a hundred lifetimes.
Still, he takes the stage, almost anywhere… for the only real reason that matters. He loves what he does.
Thats all that really matters now.
Paul McCartney is the gift that keeps on giving.
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