Sir Paul McCartney performed the first of two concerts at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, as part of his Up And Coming Tour.
The set was largely the same as his previous concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, although he didn’t play ‘Ram On’. The 1977 Wings hit ‘Mull Of Kintyre’ was also added to the set during the second encore, for which the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band joined McCartney’s band.
A fan was also invited onto the stage. Twelve-year-old Julia Savage, from Fredericton, New Brunswick, had been holding a sign in the crowd saying: “My dad drove me 2,000 kms to hug a Beatle.” Another fan requested McCartney’s guitar plectrum and was duly rewarded.
The show, seen by 16,000 people, was McCartney’s 10th solo concert in Canada. The first had taken place on 9 May 1976 at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. He also played Canadian shows with The Beatles in 1964, 1965 and 1966.
Canada is a great music loving country. I love it. When I was growing up in Liverpool so many people were emigrating to Canada. We would see a lot of friends and family leaving and we’d see them off from the docks. I’ve a lot of relatives and friends who have moved here over the years so it’s always a brilliant place for us to visit.
Here’s the performance of ‘My Love’ from the show:
The setlist
- ‘Venus And Mars’/‘Rock Show’
- ‘Jet’
- ‘All My Loving’
- ‘Letting Go’
- ‘Drive My Car’
- ‘Highway’
- ‘Let Me Roll It’
- ‘The Long And Winding Road’
- ‘Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five’
- ‘Let ’Em In’
- ‘My Love’
- ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’
- ‘And I Love Her’
- ‘Blackbird’
- ‘Here Today’
- ‘Dance Tonight’
- ‘Mrs Vandebilt’
- ‘Eleanor Rigby’
- ‘Something’
- ‘Sing The Changes’
- ‘Band On The Run’
- ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’
- ‘Back In The USSR’
- ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’
- ‘Paperback Writer’
- A Day In the Life/‘Give Peace A Chance’
- ‘Let It Be’
- ‘Live And Let Die’
- ‘Hey Jude’
- ‘Yesterday’
- ‘Mull Of Kintyre’
- ‘Helter Skelter’
- ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)’/‘The End’
Also on this day...
- 2019: The Beatles announce Abbey Road 50th anniversary reissue
- 2009: Beatles fans mark 40 years of Abbey Road photoshoot
- 1969: Recording: The End, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Oh! Darling
- 1969: The Abbey Road cover photography session
- 1968: Recording, mixing: Hey Jude, Not Guilty
- 1966: The South African Broadcasting Corporation bans The Beatles’ music
- 1966: US album release: Revolver
- 1966: US single release: Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine
- 1963: Live: Candie Gardens, Guernsey
- 1962: Live: Co-op Ballroom, Doncaster
- 1961: Live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
My wife and I saw Paul McCartney for the first time live despite living in the Uk for most of our lives we waited until we moved to Canada to go and see him in Toronto on Sunday evening. I cannot find the words to describe the man! He played for 3 hours without a break, sang every song (36 in total) and looked as though he could go on after that! how many of today’s artistes could play their own songs for 3 hours and still have many left in the locker! Fabulous, magnificent, brilliant! Thank you Paul.