Paul McCartney/France 1993 & SC

Paul McCartney’s 1970s was a decade spent as a member of Wings, a fruitful period in which sales surpassed those of The Beatles. Dark clouds began to gather over his career when he was arrested in Japan in January 1980. This caused Wings to fall apart, and at the end of the same year, John Lennon was shot, forcing Paul to retire from the front line. In the 1980s, which was almost the same age as Paul, he rarely appeared on stage, and his studio work was also lackluster. It is hard to say that his ambitious filmmaking was well received, and the 1980s, when light pop songs and bright hard rock were popular, could be said to have been a slump for Paul. Fortunately, Paul has many hit songs in the past. Moreover, there are songs from the Beatles era that would surely be well received if they were played almost untouched on stage. It is only natural to conclude that the stage is the only way to overcome this slump. The tour accompanying the new album “Flowers In The Dirt” took place from 1989 to 1990, the first in 10 years. This tour, commonly known as the “GET BACK TOUR”, was a big success in various places, as it was the first tour in 10 years and the set list included many songs that had never been played before. Many people in Japan saw the Tokyo Dome performance, which was realized despite the fact that it was thought that they would not be able to perform in Japan due to their past. Paul, who felt a sense of accomplishment on this tour, recorded a live recording with the tour members as the main focus. This was “Off The Ground”. With this album released in 1993, they announced that they would go on tour again after the success of the previous tour. It was a new world tour, or “THE NEW WORLD TOUR”. After all, they had a large stock of songs. Some of them were from the Beatles era that they had never performed. Above all, the new album “Off The Ground” was a great production. THE NEW WORLD TOUR kicked off in Milan in February 1993, and by December of that year, it had taken almost a year to complete a total of 77 shows. It was also that year that they came to Japan for the second time, and it is still fresh in our memory that they performed at the Fukuoka Dome for the first time in addition to the Tokyo Dome. The set list was also significantly changed and new, and there is a lot to listen to. The opening song was “Drive My Car,” which was performed live for the first time at this time. It was also refreshing to hear Paul sing all the parts that John would normally sing alone. The diverse composition, including cover songs such as “Good Rockin’ Tonight” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” where Paul sits on drums and guitarist Hamish takes the vocals, gives a sense of the Wings era, which was conscious of “band shows.” I never imagined that “I Lost My Little Girl” and “SGT. Pepper’s” would be part of the official set list on stage, but on the previous tour they performed an arrangement that connected with Reprise as a medley, and this was followed here as well. And the most noteworthy point is that many songs from the new album were played. Although many songs on the album were originally written with the premise of being performed live, six songs were selected from them. “Looking For Changes” appeared early on and connected the momentum to “Jet”. In line with the theme of the song, a video criticizing the cruelty of animal testing was projected on the screen on the actual stage. “Peace In The Neighbourhood” is not suitable for live performances, but Paul likes to include it in the set list throughout the tour. The title song of the album, “Off The Ground”, is performed as a medley with “Iko Iko” in the second half of the tour. “Hope Of Deliverance” is the first single to become the theme song of a TV program in Japan. The speedy “Biker Like An Icon” will be remembered as the highlight of the stage. A church painting is projected on the screen, and a dense world with hard guitars is unfolding. And the highlight of the show is “C’mon People”. As shown in the photo on the back cover, he sits at a piano set at an angle so that it is easy for the audience to see, and reproduces the last magnificent song of the album on stage. It starts with a solemn piano and gradually builds up, and the latter half has a unique rhythm, making it a great song that is a shame to have only been performed on this tour. It is also rare to hear Paul whistle into the microphone. This song may truly represent the impression of THE NEW WORLD TOUR. “C’mon People” is a rare masterpiece. This tour is the only one where you can hear the live version. This work is a complete recording of the performance in Paris on October 13, 1993 from THE NEW WORLD TOUR with high sound quality. The particular feature of this day is “Penny Lane”. The performance starts, but the song progresses normally at first, but halfway through, the song structure differs between Paul and the band. In such cases, Paul may continue playing while forcing it back, but this time he may have decided that it was no longer possible to correct it, and stopped playing, saying, “I made a mistake! Sorry, sorry!” Although there have been many times when they made mistakes and had to start over with the intro, it is very rare to start over at such a stage in the performance. Disc 3 contains the sound check before the concert that day. Nowadays, VIP packages that are bundled with tickets for good seats have become common, but in 1993 they were not yet regular. In Japan, sound check tickets were sold under the pretext of raising donations for LIPA, and I think this was the beginning of the current VIP packages. This package allows you to enjoy the Paris performance as it is a sound check on the same day as the main concert. The Paris performance on October 13, 1993 is completely recorded in high quality. This is a 3-disc set that also contains the sound check before the concert on the same day. ■The Paris performance on October 13, 1993 is completely recorded in high quality ■The sound check before the concert on the same day is also included. PALAIS OMNISPORTS DE PARIS – BERCY PARIS, FRANCE October 13, 1993 DISC ONE 01. Drive My Car 02. Coming Up 03. Looking For Changes 04. Jet 05. All My Loving 06. Let Me Roll It 07. Peace In The Neighborhood 08. Off The Ground 09. Can’t Buy Me Love 10. Robbie’s Bit 11. Good Rockin’ To night 12. We Can Work It Out 13. I Lost My Little Girl 14. Ain’t No Sunshine 15. Hope Of Deliverance 16. Michelle 17. Biker Like An Icon 18. Here, There And Everywhere 19. Yesterday DISC TWO 01. My Love 02. Lady Madonna 03. C’mon People 04. Magical Mystery Tour 05. Let It Be 06. Live And Let Die 07. Paperback Writer 08. Back In The U.S.S.R. 09. Penny Lane #1 10. Penny Lane #2 11. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 12. Band On The Run 13. I Saw Her Standing There 14. O Sole Mio 15. Hey Jude DISC THREE SOUNDCHECK 01. Oh Mama 02. Island In The Sun 03. Just Because 04. Matchbox 05. Improvisation 06. Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying 07. C Moon 08. Ain’t That A Shame 09. Be Bop A Lula 10. Midnight Special 11. Lucille 12. Another Day 13. Summertime