A Beatle fanatic at a Paul McCartney soundcheck for the
first time
By Sara Schmidt
For Meet the Beatle for Real
May 2013
When you pay half of a month’s paycheck for something, you
expect amazing things. I have to admit
that I was not disappointed with the Paul McCartney “Hot Sounds” VIP package
but I still feel like it was way too expensive and I most likely will never get
to do such a thing again.
I decided to write up what happened as a VIP Paul McCartney
concert goer because there seems to be some unwritten rule that you aren’t
supposed to talk about it with those who don’t go. Actually there seems to be a lot of secrets
that go on among the Beatle community.
As far as I am concerned, this isn’t a secret! I wanted to know what to expect and couldn’t
find any information anywhere. So this
is written with the fans who are considering shelling out the big bucks for the
once in a lifetime opportunity to see Paul McCartney on a more personal level.
The biggest myth with this whole thing is that only the
extremely wealthy can do the VIP package.
And yes, you do have to have some money to afford this luxury. However, I found that the majority of people
that I met there had never done this before and acknowledge that they will
never be able to do it again. Most of
them were like me, and middle-class working Americans who decided to treat
themselves. Some of them gave up
vacations, are making payments on their credit cards, cut back on eating out,
etc etc to pay for the VIP package. As
for me, I just don’t buy a whole lot of extra things. I don’t spend my money on clothes, make-up,
shoes, or things like that. Plus I am
single and have no children, so I really do not have extra expenses. So I had enough money tucked away in my
savings account to pay for this. It
isn’t anything I could afford to do again, but one time was alright. I know there are people who do the VIP thing
for Paul’s concerts 5+ times a year.
They must be the rich people.
So here is what happens with the VIP package:
A little under a week before the concert, I got a special
email that told me where I was to enter and what I needed to bring with
me. I needed an ID and my ticket. I was told that I was allowed to bring a
“point and shoot camera,” but no memorabilia because Paul would not be signing
anything. Right before they let us in,
they told us that we couldn’t bring in any food or drink, and that we weren’t
allowed to leave once we allowed inside the auditorium. They also informed us
that if you had flowers or a gift for Paul, you had to hand it over to the
security guards right then and they will get it to Paul (yeah right).
We all lined up and waited to have our bags checked and our
tickets scanned. Then we were ushered
over to a table where they checked our IDs and we had to sign in. Then
we were told that we had to stay inside of the lobby area until told
otherwise. In the lobby was a
merchandise table that we could buy from, which was nice because you could
actually look at the shirts and items without a huge crowd. There were also jugs of water with cucumbers
in it to drink. I thought it tasted a
little strange. We waited there for
well over an hour because “the artist was running late.” It made me laugh that they never once said,
“Paul McCartney,” but kept referring to him as “the artist.” It was like they thought a riot would break
out if they said his name. I was
fortunate to make a friend with a fellow
Beatle fan named Pam, and chatting with her made the time go by a lot faster
than if I was all alone.
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| I took this photo to show how far back from the stage we had to sit. Look at all the empty seats near the stage! |
Finally after a long wait they told us to make two lines
(which no one really did) and follow the guards down to the arena. Here is a little known fact (at least I
didn’t know it): if you get to go to a
sound check, you are not allowed to sit in the front section. You have to sit a whole section back. Yeah, that was disappointing to me. I thought we would be right up front, but
instead we were back a little ways. We
were still on the floor, but still it wasn’t as close as I had thought. You do not have assigned seats for the
soundcheck. It is just first come first
seated. Some people stood up, and
other sat while we waited some more. Wix
(the keyboard player) was the only person out there and he plunked around on
the keyboards for about 10 minutes while we sat and waited some more. Finally the rest of the band came out and
then the big moment: Paul!!! He started by hugging each of the band
members and then they all stood around in a circle and talked and goofed around
with some Elvis sunglasses.
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| Paul greets Abe. Photo copyright: Sara Schmidt |
Finally Paul got to the microphone and welcomed us to the
soundcheck. To look at us, he had to
put his hand up above his eyes. Why
were we sitting so far from him….I kept wondering. He called us the “soundcheckers.” He explained how he was going to run
through a few songs with the band. He
talked a bit about Memphis and Carl Perkins and started by singing
“Matchbox.” Of course I associate that
song with Ringo and it was pretty neat hearing Paul perform it. The
he moved onto “Blue Suede Shoes” and everyone started dancing. The soundcheck was sort of a blur in a
way. I was trying my best to take it
all in, but it was hard to really do.
At one point he noticed a girl who had a sign about how it was her
birthday and then they played “Birthday.”
I held up the “soundcheck” sign I made that said “1K PPL WANT ME 2 MEET
U 4 REAL.” I think he saw it, but I don’t
think he understood what it meant. He
did thank everyone for making signs.
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| Paul McCartney at the Memphis Soundcheck Photo copyright: Sara Schmidt |
He played some on the piano and it was really nice. Then he got out his ukulele and played “Ram
on,” which was fun to hear. And next he
played, “Big Barn Bed.” The Wings album, Red Rose Speedway has always
been one of my favorites and I had actually been listening to it in the car the
past week, so hearing this song was awesome!
It was sounded amazing on the uke!
It wasn’t until long after the soundcheck that I learned that Paul has
NEVER performed that song live before.
I hadn’t looked at the soundcheck set list on purpose, so I didn’t know
that he hadn’t been playing that one all along. After playing “Things we Said today,” he
then played one of my top favorite McCartney solo songs: Bluebird.
Oh I was in heaven!!! The “magic”
piano was rolled out and Paul played my mom’s favorite Beatles song, “Lady
Madonna.” And that was it! The soundcheck was over. Paul thanked us for coming and told us to
enjoy the show. He played many songs,
but I just can’t remember them all.
Paul looked really good. He was
wearing a blue suit jacket that looked similar to the one from the Abbey Road
cover. To me he looked a bit younger in person than
he has looked in recent photographs.
All during the soundcheck he was drinking something that sort of looked
like Gatorade. I am not sure what it was, but he was chugging
that stuff. It is interesting because
he never takes a drink at all during the concerts I have been to.
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| Paul playing "Big Barn Bed" on the uke during the Memphis soundcheck | Photo: Sara Schmidt |
|
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| The soundcheck was over. Boo! Photo: Sara Schmidt |
They ushered us out of the stage area, but I didn’t want to
go. Paul was still up on the stage! There were people just filing out and there I was still mesmerized by the
fact that I was in the same room as Paul McCartney! How could I walk out with Paul still right
there? A small group of us decided to
yell out to Paul before we left, so we screamed out, “We love you Paul!!!” And he turned around and waved at us. I was still craning my neck to see him as I
was forced to leave.
We were next moved upstairs for our meal. It was held in a room that was located above
the stage. There were glass windows that
faced the auditorium and you could see everyone taking their seats while you
were eating. We were given our souvenir
gift while we were in line for the food.
We received a Paul McCartney “Out there” backpack. It is a hiking backpack made out of very
heavy material and it has reflective parts as well. We also got a Paul McCartney “Out There” bag
that is just like the ones I typically use for my grocery shopping.
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| This was the backpack that the VIP package people received. It is really nice! |
I was told that the food was going to just be hors d'oeuvres,
but that simply was not true. We had a
full meal and one drink. It was
vegetarian and mainly was pasta. There was
cheesy alfrado, a macaroni dish, mashed potatoes and a variety of cheeses and
veggies. For dessert there was ice
cream with all sorts of toppings and a chocolate cake. We were given a ticket for one drink from
the bar, and there was a variety of beverages to choose from (just don’t ask
for a blush wine because the people sure didn’t know what that meant).
After the meal we had to find our way to our floor
seats. By this time the pre-show photo
were beginning to be shown. The usher who
was to help me find my seat could not tell me how to get to it and I was
running back and forth trying to find it.
But I finally located where I was supposed to be and was able to get
ready to see Paul!
Was going to the soundcheck worth it? That is a hard question to ask, because it
sure was a lot of money. I had an
amazing time and it is something that was worth experiencing. I am glad that I decided to go ahead and do
it, because I would regret it if I didn’t.
Most likely I wouldn’t do it again unless they add that you actually get
to meet Paul and get his autograph or something to the package deal.
