I was crestfallen to learn that Paul McCartney, my musical idol, was touring again but only in Peru, Chile and Argentina. I’ve been to see him nine times in concert and was hoping to catch him one last time before he gets too old to tour. To be fair, for a man in his 80s, his stamina is extraordinary and his gigs go beyond the two-and-ahalf-hour mark.
While his voice shows understandable signs of wear and tear after a lifetime of performing, there’s just something magical about seeing the Beatles who wrote Yesterday, Blackbird and Hey Jude singing those songs right in front of you. I first saw Macca in Liverpool in 1990 and it was the beginning of a lifelong fandom that is as strong today as it was then, if not stronger! One of my favourite gigs was when he played The Cavern in Matthew Street. There was a small crowd of fewer than two hundred of us, sweating in this tiny space as Paul banged out all the hits from Love Me Do to Band On The Run.
I was in heaven. I took my daughters to see him separately, one in London and the other in Munich. The poor girls have been spoon-fed Macca since they were children but thankfully, while they love that music, they have diversified their tastes (unlike their dad).
I was trying to figure out what to do about this tour in a land far, far away when I went to work on Monday, only to be told that Paul had just announced dates for Manchester and London! Panic over, crisis averted and joyous calls to the girls with a request that they keep .
