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Paul McCartney
in Concert
- RDS - Dublin
27 May 2003
The paul McCartney gig in Dublin by Mick
Page 1
Just like 7th November 1963, May 27th
2003 is a date that will be forever etched in the minds of Irish
Beatles fans. For two members of BEATLES IRELAND it certainly
wasn’t just ‘Another Day’ as they were given
Access All Areas at Paul McCartney’s ‘Back In The
World’ Dublin Concert. This is their story:
Our members had arranged the previous night to meet at 3:30pm
in the Horseshow House in Ballsbridge, and when I arrived around
3:00pm, there were already some fans there including Debbie
& Peter from Liverpool, and the lovely Pat Moore.
I was instructed to be at Gate H on the Simmonscourt Road for
4:00pm so Pat and I headed down early. The fans had already
gathered outside, and we were met by Aine (Chris Roche Promotions)
who seemed to spend her entire day on the phone.
 After
passing through two different levels of security, we were passed
over to Abigail Potter (Tour Manager for the Pre-Show). She
brought us down to her dressing room area where people were
getting dressed up in various costumes and putting on make-up.
It was like been in a Circus, and it was great to witness it
first hand behind the scenes, how a show of this magnitude is
put together.
Abigail arrived back with our ‘Dancer’ passes which
she explained, enabled us to go anywhere except the dressing
rooms. We were also told we couldn’t take any photographs
backstage, except in the pre-show dressing room.
 She
offered us the choice of whether we wanted to carry a Helium
Balloon or not for the pre-show, but having witnessed the event
six days earlier in Hamburg, we were fully aware that we would
miss at least 30 minutes of the concert if we participated.
She explained that we would have to return to the dressing room,
take off the costumes, and make-up, so we declined politely.
We spotted Wix whom Pat shouted over to “You’re
my hero”. He acknowledged us embarrassingly.
With our VIP Passes displayed, we decided to have a look around,
and made our way out into the empty arena. The sound-check was
about to start and for Pat & I it was a private performance
by Paul, just for us.
There were only about 20 people visible, most of them sound
technicians, and at 4:45 Paul & the band walked on stage
and kicked straight into Coming up. Next came a real treat as
Paul performed a Eurovision Song. He had only performed Volare
in Rome so it was great to hear it in Dublin and after a couple
of minutes of it he said to the band “we should extend
this a bit”, and he did.
“This is the Dublin Remix of Volare he announced, and
they played a long 4 – 5 minute version for us to enjoy.
After Honey Don’t, Yakety Yak and Honey Hush he thanked
the handful of people “thank you uncontrollable people”.
Then he spotted us (he couldn’t miss us) and commented
“There’s people wearing Yellow Submarine T-Shirts,
we know a song about that don’t we”. He continued
with ‘Matchbox’ and the brilliant C Moon which was
the highlight for me, and sounded fantastic in the empty arena.
It was now 5:30pm, the time the gates were due to open but
Paul didn’t look like he was finished yet. Midnight Special,
Blue Moon of Kentucky, and Here There and Everywhere followed,
and again the small applause provoked him to comment “Thank
you uncontrollable people, you wild bunch”.
After Celebration we shouted up to him to sing Another Day.
“I don’t know it” he replied in a scousers
accent. “We do” said Pat. “Well come on up
and sing it then” he joked. If he’d have meant it,
Pat and I would have been up on that stage before you could
say Coming Up.
It was now 5:50pm, so he quickly went through You Never Give
Me Your Money / Carry That Weight on the piano and then switched
to his psychedelic piano for Lady Madonna. He had only left
the stage a couple of minutes before the crowds started arriving
in, and running up to the front of the stage to get the best
positions.
With the sound-check over, Pat and I hung around backstage
and one by one we met the band. Firstly I got to speak to ‘Wix’
who was very friendly and signed by album booklet. I asked him
about their recent Moscow Concert in Red Square three days earlier,
and if he got to meet the Russian President. “I got to
meet Gorbachov” he said. “I’ve always wanted
to meet him, he was great”.
Brian was next to pass by and he told us how much he’s
enjoyed the tour. I think they all sounded a little disappointed
that it was coming to an end. While chatting to him, a dark
shadow appeared over my left shoulder, it was the loveable friendly
Abe.
Pat had sent him in my direction and he was lively and very
happy, shaking hands and smiling. “I’m having a
ball on this tour” he said. Pat then told him that she
knew where the best places in Dublin to party were.
“We’ve got a day tomorrow in Dublin to look around,
but tonight we’re going out to party in a castle near
Dublin” (Luttrelstown Castle) said Abe. Pat was quick
to add “we’ll come along” but Abe informed
us that “I think it’s a private party tonight”.
Well, you can’t blame us for trying.
 The
final band member Rusty was close at hand also. He’d been
within earshot for the past 15 minutes, talking to several people
and when he signed my booklet he tried to find a marker because
the pen wasn’t making much of an impact on the dark background
of the two pages devoted to him, but what the heck. I was just
glad to be in his presence. I now had the four band members,
I’m sure there’s someone I’m forgetting.
The pre-show was now almost ready but the sudden downpour had
upset their plans. “We’re now doing a rain-show,
so it’s umbrellas all round” shouted Abigail (Pre-show
Tour Manager). “I’m scrapping the stilts”
shouted another clown, as the stage was getting wet. “Be
very careful on stage. They’re drying it as I speak but
it could be slippy” she added.
It was great to witness all this. True professionals doing
their job and having to make last minute changes to their daily
routine. “It’s a 7:45pm Show-time” someone
else shouted into the dressing room.
Time was now ticking on, and we’d been standing around
for a while and nobody had come near us about meeting Paul.
My thoughts started drifting to the two German fans who were
promised they’d meet Paul, and then it never happened.
Surely this couldn’t happen to us ? We’d waited
40 years for this moment and we knew he was nearby.
 We
approached Abigail who was unaware we were due to meet him,
so she went looking for Geoff Baker (Paul’s Press Officer)
but couldn’t find him. It was now 7:30pm and we were running
out of time dramatically.
Abigail tried again but had no luck, and it wasn’t looking
good for us. Then, a slice of Irish luck. We spotted Aine (whom
we met when we arrived) and explained to her that we hadn’t
seen him yet, so she contacted Geoff immediately. Things were
now happening !
Geoff spoke to Aine and then he walked promptly over to us. “Sorry
about the mix-up, come this way” he said. We were now only
feet away from the great man. We walked pass an important looking
man (well he had an ‘ACCESS ALL AREAS’ laminated pass
hanging from his neck, and that’s important enough for me).
We walked into Paul’s dressing room and he met us just
inside the door. “Oh it’s the people in the Beatles
Ireland T-Shirts, come in” he said. We shook hands and
introduced ourselves. “What song was it you were looking
for at the soundcheck” he asked. Pat told him it was ‘Another
Day’ . “Oh we never actually rehearsed that one,
so we can’t do it” he added. I mentioned to him
that the song was a number one for him here in Ireland and he
seemed pleased.
I asked if we could have a few photographs with him and I handed
my camera to Geoff, but Paul’s official photographer said
“It’s okay, I have a camera”. He took a few
photos and told us they would e-mail them on to us.
Just before we were ushered out, we asked for an autograph
so Pat got him to sign her ‘Blackbird’ book of poems
and lyrics and I got him to sign a photograph of us shaking
hands in Monaghan last June.
We shook hands again and as we were leaving Pat told Paul “Tell
your lovely wife that we think she’s great”. He
appeared genuinely impressed with our support for Heather and
he leaned over and kissed Pat (to go with the wink she got in
Liverpool), so we’ll never hear the end of this. With
that, it was time to go, the clowns were already on stage, the
pre-show had started and the twenty minute countdown had begun.
 Pat
and I made our way out into the arena by the side of the stage,
and proceeded to make our way in towards the front of the stage.
Thankfully our ‘crew’ passes were working a treat.
Everyone moved back and let us through without any quibble.
If only I had these passes at every concert I went to. We met
Damian & Deirdre and were eventually in the middle of the
crowd, about six people deep from the front.
We watched the Pre-Show which consisted of The Fireman Special
Auraveda Remix and consisted of several people running around
in costumes. Some people carried giant blue & white helium
globe balloons (which we were supposed to do), and one clown
balanced on a large ball. Some of the audience were getting
impatient and were wondering when we was going to appear.
At 8:06pm the giant screens displayed a silhouette of Paul’s
Hofner Bass, and seconds later a silhouette of the man himself
holding his prized Hofner above his head. The screen went up,
the crowd went wild and Hello Goodbye and Jet got the crowd
roaring.
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