Up and Coming Tour: Toronto - 08-08-2010 :: report slideshows video

Mike Kovacich macca-central.com

Paul and the band play their first of two gigs at Toronto's Air Canada Center tonight. I will be there and will be submitting a report of the concert afterward. If possible I will also try to send live Tweets during the concert. Other fans are always encouraged to send in their reports/photos as well. Stay tuned to this space . . .

Just got back from Toronto and wanted to through up a quick report with more detailed reports to follow. I ran into many fan friends while walking around the floor section and the venue prior to and after the concert. Many of which I recognized but could not put a name too, sorry. We ended up in section 119 which is about 45 degrees from the station, row 11, pretty good seats. In fact just before the concert started there was quite a commotion just over to our right and 20 seats away Michael Buble was being seated and posing for fan photos for a few. Guess he's playing the Air Canada Center after Paul clears out playing here Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  Buble was returning from a backstage meet & greet with Paul himself. As report in the press, Katie Holmes and daughter Surie were backstage as well. She apparently hounded Paul for an autograph and got it. Katie was said to have told Paul that 'she was a huge fan and Tom was really disappointed at missing out. She is a vegan and backs a lot of the same campaigns as Sir Paul'. Paying more attention to the concert than wwho was around me, though I could not help but notice Jonathan Torrens (J Rock from Trailer Park Boys) sitting across the isle from me.

I was suppose to tweet updates throughout the concert but my HTC phone died, freakin thing. Mind you it is just about 3 years old so I may cave and get an iPhone. Point is sorry for not tweeting.

The show these guys give us never ceases to amaze me. What was so special for me was I got to bring two of my kids, Courtney (16) and Jacob (13) who are fans on their own. As you can see the expression on my face, words are hard to come by to explain how certain songs affect you but to share that with my kids again is an ocassion we will certainly reflect on for years to come. I Didn't have a great camera to use as my daughter was quite dissappointed not being able to bring her new Canon SLR. To think of the nice shots I could have got, oh well. Just imagine some of the fantastic photos taken on this tour by Bob Gannon.

So many moments for me. Seeing one of my favs, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five for the first time, wow. Let 'Em In, Letting Go and I've Just Seen A Face brought back memories of seeing Paul & Wings in Toronto back in May 1976 where he played those same songs. Paul's performance of Hear Today was very good. All those photos of George during Something, well just thinking about that again is bringing tears to my eyes again.

I supposed I should mention that he got some words/verses mixed up but geez, he wrote the stuff so he's allowed. Particularly, Blackbird he reversed the first and second verses and for those who didn't notice he brought it to our attention when he finished the song. The crowd loved the story he told after Let Me Roll It / Foxy Lady. Seemed to be an extended story about when Pepper was released on the Friday and Hendrix was playing it live on Sunday. Paul was in the audience at that and he said that Jimmy would add these will licks and Paul would imitate, the "wwwwooooreeeh" guitar scretch. Paul said back in those days the guitars got wildly out of tune and that Jimmy asked Clapton to come on the stage to tune his guitar. Paul imitates Clapton attempting to hide. Guess you had to be there but Paul did tell a great story to the 16,000 in attendance.

We had some idiot who tried to take these empty seats in front of us during Live and Let Die, what an a-hole. The people told him countless times they are spoken for but he thought he could just take them, thought they were gonna through punches. I usually get floor seats and forgot about how some people can't just sit or stand and enjoy the music without leaving their seats every 10 minutes to either get more beer or relieve themselves.

Of course Paul could not play a Toronto gig without doing Mull of Kintyre. In fact that's how he introduced the song. I took video of it and though the quality if not very good, you certainly get the perspective. You can click here or see Mull of Kintyre I uploaded to youtube or see it embed just below the Set List. It's a shame this isn't a regular tune on his songlist but he has to have some surprises along the way right.

Toronto Sound Check Set-list 1. Instrumental  electric guitar 2. Matchbox electric guitar 3. Honey Don't electric guitar 4. Another Instrumental electric guitar 5. Only Mama Knows bass 6. Penny Lane bass 7. All My Loving bass 8. C Moon grand piano 9. I Want To (Come Home) grand piano 10. Celebration grand piano 11. Midnight Special acoustic guitar 12. Two of Us acoustic guitar 13. San Francisco Bay Blues acoustic guitar 14. When The Wind Is Blowing new song 15. Mull of Kintyre several times 16. Dance Tonight mandolin 17. Ram On ukulele 18. Yesterday acoustic guitar 19. Lady Madonna magic piano  Slideshow of the Sound Check   Toronto  Set-List 1. Venus and Mars / Rockshow 2. Jet 3. All My Loving 4. Letting Go 5. Drive My Car 6. Highway 7. Let Me Roll It 8. The Long And Winding Road 9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five 10. Let ‘Em In 11. My Love 12. I’ve Just Seen A Face 13. And I Love Her 14. Blackbird 15. Here Today 16. Dance Tonight 17. Mrs Vandebilt 18. Eleanor Rigby 19. Something 20. Sing The Changes 21. Band On The Run 22. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 23. Back In The USSR 24. I’ve Got A Feeling 25. Paperback Writer 26. A Day In The Life / Give Peace A Chance 27. Let It Be 28. Live And Let Die 29. Hey Jude First Encore 30. Day Tripper 31. Lady Madonna 32. Get Back Second Encore 33. Yesterday 34. Mull of Kintyre 35. Helter Skelter 36. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / The End    Slideshow from yplady  Another Slideshow from yplady  Slideshow from Toronto Sun

Sound Check SlideShow - Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

In the meantime here is a video from a Toronto press conference Paul did prior to the Skydome gig on December 6th, 1989.

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