Meeting Paul McCartney at Tokyo Dome

Here is a story from Japan.   It comes from the first issue of the Tokyo Beatles Fan Club magazine which was published in the Summer of 1991.   It was written by Seinosuke Shirahata and translated into English for the magazine by Kenji Maeda.  

Paul signing autographs backstage at the Tokyo Dome in 1990  Photo:  Yukio Furuya

Paul and Linda greet fans from the Tokyo Cavern Club in 1990  Photo:  Yukio Furuya

Paul's autograph for Seinosuke Shirahata

Meeting Paul McCartney at Tokyo Dome

By Seinosuke Shirahata

13^th March 1990:  This date became an unforgettable one for me.  Every time I think of the incident of that day, it reminds me of that glorious emotion.  Story begins from the Cavern Club in Tokyo, which is a famous pub (live house) among Beatles fans in Japan.  You can always hear bands playing Beatles’ tunes there.  I am a friend of the director of the pub and am also a regular writer for the Cavern Club News.

The crew of the McCartney band came to this pub on the 4^th of March for the first time, and since then they came back often on their off days.  Chris (the drummer of the McCartney band at that time) made a session with a band called Juniors there, and he called Robbie (guitarist of the McCartney band) to come and join them.  Two days later, audience’s excitement rose to a peak when Wix (keyboard player of the McCartney band) joined with Chris and Robbie, making a big session at last.  Naturally, Paul might hear about these sessions and about the pub of the familiar name to him.   His manager asked the director of the pub if Paul could come at the weekend night.  People of the Cavern Club wanted to welcome Paul, but they could not assure Paul of his safety because the Roppongi area of Tokyo where the pub stood was open of the very crowded places especially at weekend nights.  So they had to turn down the idea of Paul’s visit, and a possibility of Paul’s live gig at the Cavern Club disappeared.  But the crew of the McCartney band and the band members of the pub got close with each other, and in the end, Paul’s tour publicist, Geoff Baker, promised the band members to make sure they meet Paul if they come to the dressing room of the Tokyo Dome.  And I was invited by the band members to go and see Paul together. 

On the 13^th March, the date of Paul’s last concert in Tokyo, I asked a friend of mine who could speak English well to call Geoff to reconfirm the appointment and got a message from him to come to the entrance of the gate #22 of the Tokyo Dome until four in the afternoon.  After I informed the members of the pub and my Beatle friends of that message from Geoff, I went to Ginza to buy gifts for Paul and Linda.  When I arrived at the Dome with my friends at 3:45 pm, I noticed the band members had already met Paul.  I felt regret and thought, “I should have arrived a little bit earlier.”  Then Geoff appeared and said, “Could you please wait until 5:30 pm because Paul is going to have a TV interview?”   So we waited and waited at a cafeteria in the Dome.  All of us sat silent in tension for an hour and a half. 

We went toward the gate at 5:30 pm again.  Thanks to the staff of the promoter and concert crew, we were ushered into the VIP room although a guard insisted we could not be allowed to go into it without identification cards.  Five “Beatles Cine Club” members  and three “Friends of the Earth” staff were already waiting for Paul there, and there were lots of bottles of champagne, wine, beer and mineral water.  I was so restless that I repeated involuntarily the behaviors such as sitting on a sofa, standing up and taking a cup of water, and I kept asking to myself what should I say (or what should I not say) to Paul.  Time was ticking away and when I felt a little anxious about time, there came a sound of “a Hard Day’s Night.”  I thought it would be difficult to see him in the end as I knew that the film would run for only 20 minutes.  We began taking picture for souvenirs, soothing each other.  Then staff of “Friends of the Earth” appeared and said that there was a message from Paul saying, “Sorry. Unfortunately we have no time left for you as many friends including TV staff visited me today.”  The last song for the film “that Day is Done” was heard.  We began to make our weary way toward the reserved seats at the arena of the Dome.

When we came to the landing of the staircase, I noticed a figure of Paul’s son James.  Flash bulbs popped soon after that, and then I saw Paul and Linda coming toward us!  When we came across at the landing, I handed gifts over to Linda and then to Paul without a moment’s delay.  Paul said to me, “Thank you” raising his hand.  All of us cried out, “Paul! Paul!” in spite of ourselves.  Then Paul asked us, “you Cavern Club?”  We shouted “Yes!  Yes!” repeatedly.  Paul spoke something after that, but I could not remember what he said.  Later, one of the coolest person who had heard it from behind told me that Paul had asked us, “Who gave Geoff a ring?”  I got an autograph on a shikishi (a Japanese hard paper board for autographs) and one of my friends got an autograph on a ticket.  Both of us shook hands with Paul, of course,.  After I watched after Paul and Linda went to the stage downstairs with three guards surrounding them, I suddenly burst into tears sitting at the spot.  It was just a blink in contrast to the long time (eighteen years) for which I had longed for Paul, but this date -13 March 1990 will be an unforgettable and the nicest day for me all of my life.

I must say thank you to Mr. Shinzato who phoned to Geoff, Mr. Naganuma of the Juniors, People of Cavern Club, staff of promoter and Mr. Geoff Baker.  Thanks a lot everybody!