Mrsflat and I are going to see Sir Paul next Friday night here in Bogotá. I got us seats on the ground on the right side of the stage in the second row of the second group of seats for $300 each.

😳

🤓

Until I saw that the ones that were left were $450 each and I can’t justify it.

It might be worthwhile to check if you were on a legitimate ticket site, or if you got hijacked to a “broker” site that lies to you about ticket prices and availability.

Well. Just ... wow. You guys missed out.

* The tour is called Got Back, and he certainly did that. There were several newer songs, on to his new wife called My Valentine, I think. But mostly it was in some ways a tribute to his life and an embracing of his legacy as a Beatle, at least it seemed to me. I especially think that's true because he played Let Me Roll It, which was for me the most moving song. All I could think about was how hurt he must have felt during that time, and then Lennon, his closest friend and collaborator turning on him with How Do You Sleep and the picture and everything. And now of course Lennon is dead and there's no repair. So to me, that was when I shed some tears. What a life.

* I thought Wix Wickens and Abe Laboriel were flat out amazing. The guitar players didn't impress me at all, though they sang GREAT. The singing was really phenomenal. And the horn section was fantastic too.

* The stage was HUGE, he played a grand piano on a big riser and an upright, painted, on the ground with the band. The lights were great, the screen behind was cool and there were big screens on either side of the stage to watch it closer up. Saying that, though, I didn't like the mix - it was loud in unpleasant ways, and the kick and bass was so much that the video screens on either side of the stage shook at every kick or low bass note. My ear is still ringing. I didn't notice when my hearing aids died during the show.

* Our seats were really good I thought. Worth it.

* To me, one of the most mind-blowing things was that there were 40-50,000 people in this stadium - it's a football pitch - most of whom do not speak English all singing along at the tops of their lungs in English to songs that were hits 30-40 years before they were born.

* He is 81 years old and he just killed. Sure there's a little wear and tear on the voice, but ... he did all of those songs in the original keys. Also, and this is not trivial: We are at about 8800 feet here in Bogota. It's like the second highest capitol city in the world. That really, really affects people. He didn't look like he was feeling great, honestly, but I didn't notice the altitude affecting anyone. It was also quite cool - he went on at 9:00 and it was about 50 degrees F. Humid, also. And I think that affected the guitar players especially. So I am really amazed that he was as great as he was, under those conditions and at his age. Just incredible.

* Scott, you were not kidding about Live and Let Die. It was pretty over the top.

I took a few pictures, not many - I wanted to be in it. I was on my feet for most of the show. They started at 9 and finished at midnight. No souveniers, though mrsflat and I tried to get her a hoodie because she was cold. We warmed right up when they started.

Oh! There was an opening act who was ... a DJ and he played a bunch of Beatles and Beatles covers over like a simple drum beat that was way too loud, keeping the songs at the tempo of his drum beat which most of the time was much faster than the songs were, then he twiddled knobs for delays and flanging and stuff. I thought that was an attempt at applying modern stuff to old stuff that completely and utterly failed. He sucked and was annoying.

Set List, or what I can remember/what I knew:
Hard Day's Night
Junior's Farm
Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It
Getting Better
Let 'Em In
My Valentine
Maybe I'm Amazed
I've Just Seen a Face
In Spite of All the Danger
Love Me Do
Dance Tonight
Blackbird
Here Today
Lady Madonna
Jet
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Something
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Get Back
Band on the Run
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:
I've Got a Feeling
Birthday
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End

Really, really, really glad I went (and I hate going to concerts because I hate crowds, they make me super uncomfortable). Mrsflat loved it. It was a fun date night for us for sure.

Doug, Sky, I really wish you guys had come down, it really would've been fun. Check and see if he's heading your way!

Well. Just ... wow. You guys missed out.


[quote: flatcat] All I could think about was how hurt he must have felt during that time, and then Lennon, his closest friend and collaborator turning on him with How Do You Sleep and the picture and everything. And now of course Lennon is dead and there's no repair. So to me, that was when I shed some tears. What a life.[end quote]

I have been reading a lot lately about the various contracts and deals and business management of the Beatles and how screwed up it was, how inept Epstein was, etc. Bad management cost the Beatles a lot of money. It really was Yoko who destroyed the Beatles, not by sitting on on practice sessions or sitting on amps or putting in her two cents on the music, but by first getting John Lennon hooked on heroin, which made him even more stupid, irrational and ugly. McCartney was the smart Beatle, the only one who passed A_level exams. Lennonn was just not that smart and had no business training or sense, he did not even pass vel exams. Epstein's experience was selling records at his parents' shop, but he had no business or legal or management education that would have qualified him for managing the biggest music act in existence. PAUL NOW SAYS that Epstein was "green." Yoko decided the Beatles should hire the crook, Alan Klein, because KLEIN asked: "What does Yoko want? and took direction from her. Yoko, who was an impecunious self-declared '[erformance artist' and mooch, wanted Lennon's money. The Beatles went with Klein, John got very ugly and sIirred up unnecessary dissension and was very ugly and nasty to Paul. John was NOT a very nice man. He treated Julian and Cynthia horribly, beat Cynthia, cheated on Yoko LOSING control of the Beatles'sn catalogue and publishing was major malpractice, selling it to NEMS was a big error. Too bad the Beatles were so egotistic and unwilling to scknowledge who was the smart and savvy one of them. John Eastman describes in detail very advantageous transactions he had worked out, but John and Yoko went with Klein, costing the Beatles multi millions and scragging a great creative relationship with Paul. The Beatles could have gone with an experienced team of lawyers with a long successful history of managing big acts, but chose a stupider road. in the long run, PAUL is still performing and seems very happy. Amazing life.

I also think Wix and Abe are wonderful.

* He is 81 years old and he just killed. Sure there's a little wear and tear on the voice, but ... he did all of those songs in the original keys. Also, and this is not trivial: We are at about 8800 feet here in Bogota. It's like the second highest capitol city in the world. That really, really affects people. He didn't look like he was feeling great, honestly, but I didn't notice the altitude affecting anyone. It was also quite cool - he went on at 9:00 and it was about 50 degrees F. Humid, also. And I think that affected the guitar players especially. So I am really amazed that he was as great as he was, under those conditions and at his age. Just incredible.

* Scott, you were not kidding about Live and Let Die. It was pretty over the top.

I took a few pictures, not many - I wanted to be in it. I was on my feet for most of the show. They started at 9 and finished at midnight. No souveniers, though mrsflat and I tried to get her a hoodie because she was cold. We warmed right up when they started.

Oh! There was an opening act who was ... a DJ and he played a bunch of Beatles and Beatles covers over like a simple drum beat that was way too loud, keeping the songs at the tempo of his drum beat which most of the time was much faster than the songs were, then he twiddled knobs for delays and flanging and stuff. I thought that was an attempt at applying modern stuff to old stuff that completely and utterly failed. He sucked and was annoying.

Set List, or what I can remember/what I knew:
Hard Day's Night
Junior's Farm
Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It
Getting Better
Let 'Em In
My Valentine
Maybe I'm Amazed
I've Just Seen a Face
In Spite of All the Danger
Love Me Do
Dance Tonight
Blackbird
Here Today
Lady Madonna
Jet
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Something
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Get Back
Band on the Run
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:
I've Got a Feeling
Birthday
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End

Really, really, really glad I went (and I hate going to concerts because I hate crowds, they make me super uncomfortable). Mrsflat loved it. It was a fun date night for us for sure.

Doug, Sky, I really wish you guys had come down, it really would've been fun. Check and see if he's heading your way!