THE LONG & WINDING ROAD:
PAUL McCARTNEY CLOSES OUT HIS 2022 GOT BACK TOUR IN EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ

Some things just can’t be explained. They are so miraculous, so otherworldly that any ordinary answer is bound to feel incomplete. But whatever compelled ancient man to draw in caves, Mozart to sit down at a piano or Magritte to pick up a paintbrush, it undeniably lives and breathes within Sir Paul McCartney. For him, songwriting is not an occupation or a memory. It’s the only way forward. Since storming America with The Beatles in the early 1960s, he has emerged as the human embodiment of music itself, a born artist whose creative genius and vast body of work can feel as magical and mysterious as the pyramids. For over sixty years, he has penned masterpieces of such colossal imagination and beauty that’s it hard to believe that such perfection can even exist. Rarer still, and perhaps most unbelievable, is that he and his one time band mates – the only other three people on the planet to share such astonishing artistic instincts – grew up at the same time, in the same humble port city, within the same five mile radius. When they arrived here in 1964, their impact was instant and life altering. Although what was it about them that excited people so much? “We don’t know, really,” he admitted to a reporter during their first American press conference at New York’s JFK airport, just moments after they stepped off the plane. Generations later, the phenomenon of their journey and talent remains just as difficult to truly articulate or describe. But we all know the story. They found each other and then found us. And though I’m not sure I trust anything but the universe to know exactly why, every so often, the stars align in a way they never will again, watching him perform is to be certain that no one before or since has ever been more excited or inspired by the possibilities that lie within a musical note. 

As the sun set and the sky dimmed, the clouds went their separate ways, lazily making room for the stars that would soon hover above MetLife Stadium. It was June 16th, 2022, two days shy of his eightieth birthday, and just after 8:30 PM when a deafening applause alerted the audience to his arrival. With that iconic violin bass resting on his hip and his arm stretched out high into a wave, he took his place at the center microphone and let the moment settle, giving the thousands in the stands the chance to catch his eye. The sound was rapturous, even poignant – a blaring symbol of what he means to the world, echoing all around the traffic laden landscape of East Rutherford, NJ. He didn’t wait for it to stop – it never would have – before taking a breath and quickly launching into the 1964 Beatles classic, “Can’t Buy Me Love.” For the next three hours, he and Abe Laboriel, Jr., Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray and Wix Wickens brought a palpable sense of natural, unrehearsed joy to the storied pages of the McCartney songbook, all while honoring the character, detail and spirit of the original recordings. 

Encompassing everything he has touched since the very first Beatles album, McCartney’s catalogue is one of extreme magnitude and history. These are unquestionably the most beloved songs ever written, though to see him bring it to life in real time is to appreciate just how prolific, experimental and genuinely unexpected he can be as an artist. He never wanted to write the same thing twice and as the years and records accumulated, so did the ground underneath his feet. It’s a long walk back to 1963, and the night’s euphoric versions of “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five,” “Let It Be,”“Jet,” “You Never Give Me Your Money,” “It’s Getting Better,” “Dance Tonight,” “Hey Jude,” and “My Valentine,” only illustrated the incredible depths reached and miles traveled during an unparalleled career. But as casual, unpretentious and funny as he is onstage – early on, he referred to his native Liverpool as the place where “these four lads got together, formed a band and did okay,” – there’s a tremendous sense of reverence for the past. Tributes to George Harrison and John Lennon took shape through performances of “Here Today,” a song he wrote after Lennon’s unexpected death, and “Something,” a George penned, Abby Road era classic he played on the very Gibson ukulele Harrison once gifted him. Perhaps most unexpected was “In Spite of All The Danger,” a piece that wasn’t widely heard until the 1995 release of The Beatles Anthology, but is nonetheless of monumental significance. Officially credited to McCartney-Harrison, it is one the earliest original efforts of Lennon’s high school era band, The Quarry Men, and would be the first ever demo recording to feature all three future Beatles. Although the teenagers, then performing with Colin Hanton on drums and Duff Lowe on piano, could only afford one copy, so the five friends made a deal: they’d each keep it for a week. But as McCartney comically told the crowd, Duff kept it for twenty years. “Yeah,” he nodded incredulously, responding to their laughter as if to say, can you believe that? “And then he sold it back to us – at quite a considerable profit.”

Peppering his set with humor and stories occasionally made the wonderful monstrosity that is MetLife Stadium – capacity 82,500 – feel a little smaller, though he instinctively knew just when to lean into those lofty surroundings, providing plenty of big moments to counter the quieter ones. And being that the last date of his US tour had fallen so close to his latest trip around the sun, the entire night felt like it was a celebration for both the audience and the band. That atmosphere was only heightened by surprise guests like Bruce Springsteen –showing up to bring the house down with Paul on early Beatles track “I Wanna Be Your Man,” and his very own “Glory Days”– and Jon Bon Jovi, who had arrived with balloons in hand to lead a jubilant happy-birthday-sing-a-long. Through it all, McCartney was gracious and sincere, leaving concert goers with a six song encore whose grand finale was the lush harmonies and enduring message of “The End.”

“And in the end/The love you take/Is equal to the love you make.”

He was just twenty-seven years old when he wrote that, a whole life time already lived and a whole life time ahead of him, just waiting. He’s still writing, still performing, still taking his guitar with him everywhere, I’m sure. Still making it all look so damn easy.

He smiled as he took a bow with the band, ran his hands through his hair, and stepped towards the mic to thank them and us.

“There’s only one thing remains to be said,” he shrugged. “We’ll see you next time.”

Words and Images by Caitlin Phillips 06.22.22

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