ROCKIN’ ON AT 80
Paul thrills fans new and old at MetLife celebration
They say it’s your birthday. Paul McCartney — Beatle, solo superstar, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, animal-rights activist, British knight — turns 80 on Saturday, beginning a new decade in a remarkable life and career.
For the final show of his 70s, McCartney turned in an electric performance at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Thursday, playing more than 2½ hours of smash hits and recent gems. And, as John Lennon sang on video at one point, “Everybody had a good time.”
McCartney capped a show that included a Bruce Springsteen visit with words that were music to fans’ ears: “There’s only one thing that remains to be said. We’ll see you next time!”
If Sir Paul does decide to tour as an octogenarian, the fans will follow.
Mike and Cindy Hawver drove from Nicholson, Pa., near Scranton, to catch their first McCartney show. They had a “Happy Birthday Paul” sign in the window of their parked Mini Cooper.
“It’s hard to believe but it’s also inspiring and amazing that someone is doing that at 80 years old,” Cindy said.
The two are big fans who made the trip to celebrate their 25th anniversary.
They were tailgating in a MetLife parking lot when the vehicle taking McCartney to the stadium pulled up and the man himself rolled down his window.
“I really thought they were just going to drive him in and we wouldn’t see him, but he stopped 10 feet away and I got a picture,” Mike said, showing the photo on his cell phone.
So did he speak to McCartney while getting the pic?
“No, my jaw was on the ground,” he said.
McCartney can still have that effect some 58 years after the Beatles made their “Ed Sullivan Show” debut on Feb. 9, 1964.
Rick Cerrone, who came down from Putnam County for Thursday’s show with his wife Karen, was watching that as a kid and fell immediately for the Liverpool lads.
“We went to parochial school and we had to wear gray slacks, blue blazers and ties,” he said. “They were on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ wearing suits and ties.”
He and Karen have seen him multiple times over the last three decades.
“We try to see him whenever he tours and we always say, ‘Let’s try to make it because it may be the last time’, ” Rick said. “It never is but at some point he deserves to sit back and smell the roses.”
Bill and Linda Miller came from Milford, Pa., for the show. And it wasn’t their first on the tour. They caught McCartney earlier in the month at Fenway Park in Boston and loved it.
“He’s killing it, running around, doing 2½-3 hour sets,” Linda said. “He’s just amazing.”
The Millers are both 53, so they’re too young to remember the Beatles being together. But the music made before they were born — and after — continues to resonate.
“There’s never been a time in my life he hasn’t been part of my life,” Bill said.
McCartney acknowledged the adulation on Thursday. He was on the final night of his “Got Back” tour, his first since 2019, as COVID canceled his planned shows in 2020.
Three songs into the show on Thursday, he said, “This is so cool, I’m going to take a minute for myself just to drink it all in.”
Many fans held up “Happy Birthday” signs during the show, others had other messages of love, of thanks and lists of their favorite songs. McCartney joked that he has to try not to read the messages while he sings so he doesn’t flub the lyrics.
One sign did catch his eye: McCartney cited a man with a sign proclaiming it was his 130th show.
“We love him — just a bit obsessive,” he said with a laugh.
McCartney still inspires that level of fandom. He doesn’t come off as an old-timer still seeking the applause. The only time he sat was when he was behind a keyboard — which he played in addition to electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, ukulele and, of course, the Hofner bass that is almost as iconic as he is.
“The basslines he plays while singing, it’s astounding. It’s so difficult to do that. He’s a virtuoso, he really is,” Mike Hawver said.
Before the show, Cerrone talked about all the McCartney shows he’s seen, including one on a 90-plus degree night at Yankee Stadium, and how McCartney never seem fazed.
“The man won’t take a drink of water on stage,” Cerrone said.
But, after “Dance Tonight,” the 15th of the 40 songs he played, McCartney caused a murmur in the crowd by sipping from a bottle of water.
He’s entitled. He’s turning 80, after all.