Brian Ray

Written by Brian on Jul 28 2009 at 11:20 AM | Live Shows Paul McCartney

Hey, everybody! I’m hoping you are well, diggin’ the heck out of your gorgeous summer. I’m LOVing Santa Monica on this perfect day off. So, here I am writing to you all from home in the middle of our Stadium tour ‘09 and I couldn’t be much happier with the way things are right now in this moment. As a band, we are feeling better than ever.. I have to say that the boss and the guys have never been in better form. Paul is as happy as he can be and singing his heart out, doing 2 hr. 45 min shows and then hanging together, toasting and laughing as if he had merely had a walk in the park. He is the best advert for vegetarianism I can imagine!

New songs and old

So, Paul added some great new and old songs to the set and it’s been a thrill to play these massive, colorful, thrilling shows. First, we rehearsed together in England for a week and then headed to NY, then off to Halifax, Nova Scotia for the first of many shows this summer..

The people there were so friendly and kind to us. What a fantastic venue, too. We played outdoors in an enormous common, a park that seemed to go on forever. We prepared ourselves in rehearsal but you can’t imagine how it feels to go from a modest practice space, crowded together, to a venue like that with an ocean of smiles.

On TOP of the Ed Sullivan Theater Marquee!!

After Halifax it was back to NY where we did the Late Show with David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

Instead of playing inside, [on the stage where Paul with the Beatles debuted on Feb 9, 1964] we played on TOP of the marquee outside the deco era building, to people working in high rises with signs pressed to the windows and dancing on their desks.

What a sight… looking down Broadway to thousands of people in every direction

What a sight… looking down Broadway to thousands of people in every direction. So funny.. they allowed one lane of traffic to drive by us.. As people saw what and who was going on, the FREAKED in their cars! And each time a city bus drove by, I could see Pablo’s [our ‘front of house’ sound man] head drop because the sound disappeared behind the busses. Hahahahahaa! hilarious!!

We started with “Get Back” and finished with “Sing The Changes” from his great new “Electric Arguments” album. Then we did a webcast of 6 or 7 more tunes. I felt as good as you can feel [without getting arrested for it!]

On to Shea Stadium

On to a few days off, then the new Shea Stadium - Citifield in Queens, NY… Paul was the first to play in the original Shea in ‘64 and the last to play it, [in a guest spot with Billy Joel several months ago] so it seemed only fitting that we should open the new one, right??

Aw, MAN !!! what a vibe!! 50,000 people per night, for three nights! He sold it out in like, 5 minutes… whaaaaaat??? Ok.. that ROCKed! Thank you to our amazing crew, catering and merchandising group for everything!

Mondo Magneto now selling at Paul’s merchandising stands

BTW, speaking of…Paul has invited me to sell my music in the merchandising stands at each of these shows… That guy.. wow, how cool of him is that?

So, while I’m working on my new album -“This Way Up”- I am selling my first CD, “Mondo Magneto” on Paul’s tour this summer!

AND, I’ve had some fantastic meetings in NY with regards to my new music, playing some rough mixes for a few labels and wonderful radio people there. It has been very well received and I look forward to having a good result from all of this to tell you about -very soon- along with CD release information.

Stay tuned for more news..

Please stay tuned for news of touring with Paul and the guys, recording and a possible single… a debut from “This Way Up’ in the very near future..

Rock Onwards,
Brian

Join in with the conversation... leave a comment!

You can post as a guest or login using your favourite social network, including Twitter, Facebook and more. You can also share your comment and a link to this page with your friends by clicking on the share button below.

blog comments powered by Disqus