Sir Paul McCartney performed a tribute to Motown during his concert at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan.
He and his band played a cover version of Marvin Gaye’s 1962 song ‘Hitch Hike’, which they had previously performed at the Apollo Theater in New York in December 2010.
We had a little time off today and we went to the Motown museum. Holy grail! When I was listening to records as a kid in Liverpool, learning the songs ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’ and ‘Money’, wow! So we’d like to do a song we don’t normally do, for Detroit and for Motown, one of my favorites by Mr Marvin Gaye.
He also recalled The Beatles’ concerts in Detroit. The group performed in the Motor City four times: twice on 6 September 1964 and again on 13 August 1966, each at the Olympia Stadium.
The first time I came here with the Beatles. I remember it, do you? I say that just to hear your scream.
He also played an acoustic guitar with a sticker showing the logo of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. The sticker has been on the instrument for over a decade, but the audience was audibly delighted to see it once again.
McCartney’s band was Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens (vocals, keyboards, guitar, percussion, harmonica), Brian Ray (vocals, guitar, bass), Rusty Anderson (vocals, guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr (vocals, drums).
The setlist
- Hello Goodbye
- ‘Junior’s Farm’
- ‘All My Loving’
- ‘Jet’
- ‘Drive My Car’
- ‘Sing The Changes’
- ‘Hitch Hike’
- ‘The Night Before’
- ‘Let Me Roll It’
- ‘Paperback Writer’
- ‘The Long And Winding Road’
- Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five
- ‘Let ’Em In’
- ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’
- ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’
- ‘I Will’
- ‘Blackbird’
- ‘Here Today’
- ‘Dance Tonight’
- ‘Mrs Vandebilt’
- ‘Eleanor Rigby’
- ‘Something’
- ‘Band On The Run’
- ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’
- ‘Back In The USSR’
- ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’
- ‘A Day In The Life’/‘Give Peace A Chance’
- ‘Let It Be’
- ‘Live And Let Die’
- ‘Hey Jude’
Forthcoming dates in the On The Run tour:
July 2011
- 26, 27 – Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
- 31 – Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
August 2011
- 1 – Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
- 4 – Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, OH
Also on this day...
- 2012: The Beatles release iTunes compilation Tomorrow Never Knows
- 2010: Paul McCartney live: Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri
- 1969: Recording, mixing: Come And Get It, Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard
- 1968: Recording: Sexy Sadie
- 1967: The Beatles go sightseeing in Greece
- 1967: The Beatles call for the legalisation of marijuana
- 1965: Ringo Starr buys Sunny Heights, Weybridge
- 1963: Live: Odeon Cinema, Weston-super-Mare
- 1962: Live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1961: Live: Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
Paul was better than ever!
I was there last night with my wife, three kids (ages 9, 11, 13) and my parents (ages 72, 74) and we had a blast! McCartney is the only guy on the planet that can be that good onstage for an all-age audience.
My Family Review: http://www.reallifehusband.com/2011/07/family-concert-review-paul-mccartney-in.html
Thanks Paul!
A late comment, but just found this great site. My wife and I were there that night along with my neighbor and his wife and their 20 year old son. I can attest to the fact that there were ages from 5 to 85 there, and they all loved it! Paul went for three hours without a break; heck, I never saw him even take a drink! He was in better voice than he was when I saw him in the late 1970’s! Phenomenal!
Red Wing sticker? In 1976 I worked at Olympia Stadium and went to college at EMU in Ypsilanti. On that day in 1976, I was driving home from college, going right by Olympia that night, was not scheduled to work, but decided to do the ‘old go in early and pretend like I’m working and get in free’ as all the guys at the door knew who I was. I put on a work shirt and sat side stage (best seats in the house that night) and watched Paul & Linda (Wings) band. On a whim, I decided to get a decal, go back stage and give it as a gift hoping to get a chance to meet Paul and it worked! I had no idea that it had become so popular with fans and the guitar company was now selling the ‘special edition’ Paul guitar with decal until just recently and no one knew how it all started….LOL…yep, it was me using my ‘imagination’ to get a chance to meet one of the Beatles! What can I say? College kid giving it the old college try…and it worked!!!
Red Wings sticker, cool!
If Paul REALLY wants to drive the Detroit hockey fans in his audience into a frenzy, he should play Joe Louis Arena and bring along Ringo to sing “Octopus’ Garden”!