Paul McCartney, aka the Energizer Bunny, began his 2018-2019 #FreshenUp tour Monday night (September 17) at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, QC. McCartney had been on a whirlwind promotional tour this summer, at first teasing his new studio album, Egypt Station, released on September 7, and then performing a series of well-orchestrated intimate concerts at iconic locations in Liverpool, London and New York.
The latter two – at Abbey Road Studios and Grand Central Station, respectively – were taped and made available via streaming services Spotify and YouTube. He did several high profile network TV appearances, still unstoppable even at 76. Egypt Station got noticed, debuting at #1 in the U.S.
Thus far, 25 dates have been revealed in Canada, Europe, the U.K. and Japan. (See the updated itinerary below.)
McCartney certainly has a gargantuan repertoire in which to draw from, most notably from his Beatles and Wings catalog. For the tour’s opener at the packed Videotron Centre, he played 39 songs including such “required” numbers as “Hey Jude,” “Yesterday,” “Band on the Run,” “Live and Let Die” and “Lady Madonna,” plus three songs from Egypt Station.
McCartney peppered his between-songs banter with a bit of French, offering “Merci beaucoup” and other colloquialisms on several occasions.
Watch the evening’s third number, “Can’t Buy Me Love”
Watch three songs from mid-set including two early Beatles tunes
RT Marc Beaulé’s broadcast: Paul McCartney LIVE in Quebec… ’I’ve Just Seen A Face’ 🎶 | https://t.co/Ax9HbhkHFX
— JaiGuruDeva (@JaiGuruDeva) September 18, 2018
The concert featured a brief set with McCartney accompanying himself on acoustic guitar performing such songs as “Blackbird” and “Here Today,” a song he wrote after John Lennon died “with words that I never got to say to him.” After several songs on the piano, he donned an acoustic guitar for such numbers, with the band, as “Eleanor Rigby” and “une autre nouvelle chanson” from his new album, “Fuh You.”
As he has done in the past, he intro’d George Harrison’s “Something” by playing a ukelele “some of you may know George was a great ukelele player.” Halfway through, the band joined him for the rest of the song, in front of a backdrop of a slide show of his friend. “Merci, George!” he shouted.
Watch McCartney perform “Back in the U.S.S.R.” in glorious black-and-white
Watch “Live and Let Die,” the second-to-last song of the main set, complete with smoke explosives
Watch one of the encores, “I Saw Her Standing There”
Paul McCartney, September 17, 2018, Quebec City Setlist
A Hard Day’s Night
Hi, Hi, Hi
Can’t Buy Me Love
Letting Go
Who Cares
Come On to Me
Let Me Roll It
I’ve Got a Feeling
Let ‘Em In
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Maybe I’m Amazed
I’ve Just Seen a Face
In Spite of All the Danger
From Me to You
My Valentine
Michelle
Love Me Do
Blackbird
Here Today
Queenie Eye
Lady Madonna
FourFiveSeconds
Eleanor Rigby
Fuh You
Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Something
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Band on the Run
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Let it Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore
Yesterday
I Saw Her Standing There
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Helter Skelter
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End
Watch the Abbey Road medley finale
Paul McCartney 2018-2019 Tour Dates (Tickets for the North American dates are available here and here)
Sep 20 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Sep 28 – Winnipeg, MB – Bell MTS Place
Sep 30 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
Oct 05 – Austin, TX – Zilker Park
Oct 12 – Austin, TX – Zilker Park
Oct 31 – Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo Dome
Nov 01 – Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo Dome
Nov 08 – Nagoya, Japan – Nagoya Dome
Nov 28 – Paris, France – U-Arena
Nov 30 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
Dec 03 – Krakow, Poland – Tauron Arena
Dec 05 – Vienna, Austria – Vienna Stadhalle
Dec 06 – Vienna, Austria – Vienna Stadhalle
Dec 12 – Liverpool, UK – Echo Arena
Dec 14 – Glasgow, UK – SSE Hydro
Dec 16 – London, UK – 02 Arena
May 23 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Arena
May 27 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
May 30 – Greenville, SC – Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Jun 01 – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena
Jun 03 – Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
Jun 06 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center
Jun 11 – Moline, IL – Taxslayer Center
Jun 26 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Arena
Related: Links for 100s of classic rock tours
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThe worlds best ever rock songs- being ruined by the man who wrote them. I could cry listening to this. His voice is shot sadly. Please Paul..Let it Be.
Am getting my Paul buzz on, so impatient to hear him in winnipeg! Sir Paul is the King and at 76 he puts everyone to shame. Yes, his voice has naturally changed, but the guy continues to be Phenomenal! Love his new album!
See you on the 28th, Paul! ♥️♥️