McCartney and his band during their 1993 tour.Ī couple of years later, once Paul had started doing expanded sound-check performances for small audiences of fans, someone with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (of which Macca is the patron) arranged for me and brother Tim to be in that select audience in New Jersey. This was in the era before they started selling pricey sound check tickets, so Macca gave us a look like, “You’re not supposed to be here.” We quickly skedaddled. Afterward, trying to find our way out, we suddenly found ourselves on the floor of the Garden in front of the stage - on which Paul and the band were about to do their sound check. On one occasion, I accompanied a friend to interview some of the members of Paul’s band the afternoon of a concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. In later years, I attended several of the press conferences Paul used to do in each city on his tours, and I usually got to ask him at least one question.
#JOHN LENNON SOMETIME IN NEW YORK CITY REMASTERED RAR MOVIE#
The movie itself was one of his least successful solo efforts, but I’ll always look on it fondly, because of the hour I got to spend, sitting immediately to Paul’s left, asking him as many questions as I liked, and snapping pictures. I finally got to meet McCartney in the fall of 1984, when I was invited to be part of a group of half a dozen journalists who interviewed him in a conference room at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, in advance of the release of his film “Give My Regards to Broad Street.” “Yeah, I’m a Paul guy, too.” McCartney’s 1976 concerts with Wings were favorites. We got to talking about the Fabs, and he asked me my favorite Beatle. Still, I don’t think I ever really had said out loud where I stood on the individual Beatles until one night in the early 1980s, when I was sitting in a private hotel bar in New York City, interviewing Lionel Richie. But, despite seeing most of the major acts touring between 19, those Wings shows remained atop my list of the best I’d ever seen. It wasn’t until early the next year that I became a rock critic for a living, and started going to concerts at least weekly (sometimes more often). Leslie and I went back the next night for a second show. That interview with George came a few months after Leslie and I had been joined by my brothers, Jon and Tim, to see Paul and his post-Beatles band, Wings, perform at Atlanta’s old Omni coliseum. I bought everything that all four of them released, however.Īctually, George Harrison was my “first Beatle” in a couple of important respects: the first one I saw in concert, and the first one I ever met and interviewed.
That continued to be the way I viewed the Fab Four once the solo era dawned, although there was no doubt I tended to favor Paul’s musical efforts. Favorite Beatle was a matter of choosing a first among equals. But, that really was more of a first among equals situation. I was a Beatles fan, though I always was drawn to McCartney’s music. I was sitting in the stands at Wake Forest University’s stadium in Winston-Salem, NC, last month, reliving an experience I’ve had too many times to count through the years - watching Paul McCartney in concert.Īs I watched Macca perform for me and about 33,000 other folks, including Leslie and our son, Bill, and daughter, Olivia, it struck me that, although I’ve only met Sir Paul a handful of times, and I’m sure he wouldn’t know me from any of his other millions of fans, this man has been a major part of my life for nearly 60 years.ĭuring the time The Beatles were together, I never really thought about which one of them I liked best.
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