You Say Shalom and I Say Shalom!
Paul is Dead? No way! Paul isRael! This weekend I saw Paul McCartney from the front row.
The Beatles are my favorite band, they always have been. The first CD my parents ever bought me was The Beatles (White Album). I remember sitting in my room listening to Mother Nature’s Son over and over. When I was young, I enjoyed the fun, simple melodies of early Beatles stuff. But as I’ve gone through adolescence and teenagedom (or my formative years, will you) the message and importance of the later Beatles material has come to mean the most to me.
Paul McCartney, coming to Israel, made a bold and brave statement that endears me deeper towards the Beatles and impresses me beyond conceivable words. His concert this weekend in Tel Aviv, performed in front of 40,000 Israelis butchering Beatles lyrics in hilarious accents, was unbelievable. I am truly at a loss for words. But, for those who know me, I’ll write until I find something that explains how I felt about the experience.
Well, first off, I finished Ulpan. I took an accelerated two weeks of tutoring and increased studying so that I could finish the entire level instead of having two weeks left of “Citah Alef” (literally, first grade. Like the first grade). I took the test on Thursday and probably did well, at least I felt like I did well. After the test, we took a sherut (shared taxi) into Tel Aviv. We dropped our stuff off at our Hostel around 2:00. We stayed at Hayarkon 48, a very nice Hostel in Tel Aviv. It was much nicer than Momo’s (where we stayed last time), with very clean facilities and an Air-conditioned (!!!) private dorm. We spent most of the weekend hanging out at the beach, and went to the New Port in North Tel Aviv. I don’t really feel like talking about going to bars though, as there was one highlight of the entire weekend.
We picked up a cab and got dropped off near the concert. We picked up our tickets without a hitch. We went to go wait at our gate where there were already about 150 people. Josh, Jeremy and I scooted up to the gate along the edge and when they moved us up to the next section, I squeezed toward the front, eventually getting within the first 8-10 people at my gate. This was the last time that I would see my friends for six hours.
When they opened the gates at 5:00, I started jogging towards the stage, not really planning on getting split up from my friends, but maybe securing a patch of land where we could all stand for the show. But, when I eventually got a view of the stage, I saw that there were only two rows of people lined up at the stage so far. I sprinted. I swear to Gd, I haven’t run that far, that fast, since middle school. I ended up just two or three feet stage right from center-stage, behind about 2 rows of people. I was about 15 feet from the stage, which was raised about 8 feet. The giant screens behind the stage and on each side where completely pixelated I was so close. Upon getting to the stage, I was pushed and bumped and squeezed and yelled at and apologized at and stepped on and spilled on… (you get the idea)… until 8:30 (that’s 3.5 hours), when the concert started. In Israel, there are no openers, just the act. But I really wish that there had been an opener for that time, because it was HOT HOT HOT and boring. I met some of the people around me. One guy, Eugene, is a 19-year old from Haifa who blogged the Lebanon war from a bunker and listens to some really good music.
After a long wait, and the sun had gone down, and we had all been sardined into our own little space, the lights came up and Sir McCartney came up to the mic, said Shalom and started rocking. Here was his set list (which was apparently leaked before the concert - Thank Gd I didn’t see it!). From JPost:
Hello, Goodbye
Jet
Drive My Car
Only Momma Knows
All My Loving
Flaming Pie
Let Me Roll It » tribute to Hendrix’s Foxy Lady during the coda
My Love
Let ‘Em In
The Long and Winding Road
Dance Tonight
Blackbird
Calico Skies
I’ll Follow the Sun
Mrs. Vandebilt
Here, There and Everywhere
Eleanor Rigby
Something
A Day In The Life » Give Peace a Chance
Band on the Run
Back in the USSR
I’ve Got a Feeling
Live and Let Die
Let It Be
Hey Jude
First encore:
Lady Madonna
Get Back
I Saw Her Standing There
Second encore:
Yesterday
Sgt. Pepper (reprise)
The End
That’s a total of THIRTY ONE SONGS! So many were highlights, so many were gems for the fans of the McCartney catalogue, from The Beatles, Wings and through his solo material as well. There were so many highlights, I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve played Beatles songs on my own, seen them performed, played them with friends and even played at the Cavern Club, but there is NOTHING in the world like hearing a Beatle playing Beatles songs live. Just nothing like it. His two tributes, Something to George and Day In the Life/Give Peace a Chance to John, were very touching. The sing-a-long on Give Peace a Chance was a sight to see, a real outpouring of emotion for myself and the people around me. I yelled loudly at the end: “WE MISS YOU JOHN!”
On Live and Let Die, the roadies set off more pyrotechnics I had never seen before. Being in the front row and having six or seven huge firecrackers go off at once, at multiple points throughout the song, was frightening. There were big red firecrackers, huge white sparks and white fireworks in the sky for those farther back that had a view of both the stage and the night behind it. Tell you the truth, I was on edge for the entire show as it was. With the threats made at Paul from Muslim extremists, and with the security being advanced but not particularly hands-on (I never went through a metal detector), one friend of mine said that he was “planning on possibly seeing Paul McCartney’s last concert.” Needless to say, the fear of suicide bombing or sniper fire was very much on the edge of everyone’s minds. Huge pyrotechnic displays are heart-stoppers.
When Paul went into I Saw Her Standing There, I unexpectedly turned into a screaming girl - like, 1964 status. It was just so cool to see Maca there, in Israel, singing all of these songs, and all of that emotion had built up, and I had just finished Ulpan. Then the first encore ended - and Israelis were chanting “yesTERday, yesTERday.” Why Yesterday, despite being one of the Beatles most touching songs? Why specifically, yesterday? Why in Israel?
It comes back to another realization I came to during the concert. I’ve been saying for a long time that Israelis and Palestinians are, as a pair, two of the most consistently disappointed peoples on earth. Leaders have let them down, funneled money out of the system. Corruption and violence at the top levels of government spills into the streets. Israelis, in the past month, have had multiple concerts cancelled on them, Chris Cornell and Snoop Dogg come to mind. That Paul McCartney stood steadfast on his promise to play went on stage without any kind of bulletproof jacket on was a huge bolster to these people, who’s standing in the world is unfit considering the daily generosities, kind words and good hearts that I’ve encountered on my trip here. Here’s an upload from YouTube:
(these videos seem to be getting pulled fast…)
This song seems a metaphor for much glimmers of peace and hope this land has seen in the past 60 years. Then, the lighting changes and The End starts. Paul and his two guitarists trade riffs for a couple of minutes. I’m shocked at how much Paul can shred (he showed off his chops earlier on that Foxy Lady outro). The image of a sunrise, the heat from the stage. I get goosebumps as the piano part starts and am struck with such a rush of emotions - Paul is so brave, so strong in his 66 years, so fun-loving in his broken Hebrew attempts and so talented. McCartney put on, musically, the best show I have ever seen. He is the most talented musician I have ever encountered, even with his age starting to show in his less than perfect high notes. The sustain on the guitar, my heart lifts and I finally realize what it is that I’ve seen. As one journalist called it, “the single greatest cultural event to ever occur in Israel.” And I was there to see it.
Thursday night was not only the greatest night I’ve had since I’ve been here in Israel - it’s the single most important experience of my life thusfar. From Israel, and from America, I offer my sincerest thanks for your gesture and good standing, to not heed the call for cultural boycott, for putting your good name on the regularity of Israeli society. For bringing to Israel one of its greatest joys, even at the price of 500 shekles a head. And thank you for letting me be there to celebrate with you, from the front row. Shana Tova.
