I love ya, love ya, love ya
By Valeria Anita Lambiase
May 24
& 25 (1976) marked a historical event in musical entertainment as Paul
McCartney gave us one of the best concerts in the past decade. Ten years have come and gone since he
thrilled the American audience with his talent and charm. On the evening of May 24 & 25 he returned
to New York’s Madison Square Garden where thousands of tickets were sold within
a matter of hours. I was fortunate
enough to get tickets for both days. I
can remember when the tickets went on sale.
Itwas shear bedlam. There were
people climbing over the rails to get closer to the ticket windown and many
people were screaming. An unruly crowd
completely out of control. The police
called in an emergency squad but it didn’t help. The crowd continued to scream, push, fight,
anything to get closer to the ticket window.
I never fully realized the impact of Paul McCartney’s popularity until I
saw the insane reactions of this crowd.
Glass doors were shattered, a few people were injured and I was crushed in
the center of this human stampede. However,
the pleasure and enjoyment I derived from the concert had made all my efforts worthwhile.
At 7:30 Monday night I arrived at the Garden; excited,
anxious and overjoyed. Outside there
were scalpers selling tickets for $50 to $100 a piece. I just thanked God I already had my
tickets. When we got inside my friend
was kind enough to buy me a program. The
color pictures in that large booklet were beautiful to say the least. Soon after we were directed to our seats,
which were in the Orchestra section of the Garden (great seats). A little while after we were seated, a young
girl approached me and asked me where I had gotten the button I was
wearing. She liked it and wanted to buy
one for herself. I told her I had bought
the button 12 years ago when Beatlemania was at its height. The button simply and sweetly reads, “I love
Paul.” By the end of the evening four
other people wanted to know where I had gotten the button.
I was sitting on pins and needles waiting for the concert to
begin when I suddenly noticed a large crowd gathering around one small area in
the balcony. Someone up there was
definitely attracting a lot of attention.
Later on I found out that Jacqueline Onassis was in the audience. But, of course, the 20,000 people in the
Garden came to see Paul, not her, so the excitement she generated quickly died
down. However, I am still surprised that
a woman of her standing would take time out from her highly important social
and political engagements just to attend a Wings concert. It seems that McCartney’s appeal reaches even
the most sophisticated people. Then the
house lights dimmed and the concert began.
My God! I never heard so much
screaming. I thought that by the end of
the evening I would be deaf from all the cheers and screams. Paul stood in the center of the great stage,
looked around and said, “Good evening New York, how ya doing?” Bright colored lights showered down on Paul
as he and his group sang their first song, “Venus & Mars Rock Show,”
followed by “Jet,” “Let me Roll it,” “Spirits
of Ancient Egypt,” “Medicine Jar,” “Maybe I’m Amazed” “Call me back again” an
old favorite, “Lady Madonna” then in a seductive Liverpool accent he said, “Oh
yes, are you enjoying yourself?” The
audience response to his question was too overwhelming to put into words. With the audience still cheering he sailing
into one of his great classical songs, “The Long and Winding road” which
brought me to tears. He kept moving
around the stage as he sang different songs.
Sometimes center stage playing bass guitar, sometimes side stage to play
the piano, then back to the center to play the acoustic guitar, while Jim
McCulloch tossed his tambourine in the air.
They seemed to be having a good time.
The next song, “Liver & Let Die” was one of the most dynamic songs
of the evening. The entire stage seemed
to explode with music and smoke as thousands of fans stood on their chairs in
astonishment. Smoke filled the air in a
loud blast a second time as the song came to an end, I guess you could call it
a real “dynamite” song.
People couldn’t stop cheering and they were constantly
standing in the aisles and on top of the chairs, and all through the concert
the people in the back who couldn’t see kept yelling “sit down, sit down.” I must have heard “sit down” a hundred times
that night.
Next came “Picasso’s Last Words (drink to me)”, “Richard
Cory,” “Bluebird,” “Blackbird.” In
between songs a young lady walked up to Pau on stage and handed him a bouquet
of red roses, in turn Paul handed the roses to Linda and she placed them on top
of Paul’s piano. Paul then treated us to
an old Beatle Masterpiece, “I’ve just seen a Face.” Then the “piece de
resistance” Paul with one solitary ray of light shining on him in the mist of
the darkened stage sat solo and sang “Yesterday.” That was what I consider a historical moment
and I’ll never forget it. I consider
myself fortunate for having seen it. On to
“You gave me the answer” and “Magneto and Titanium Man.” Then as an introduction to his next song Paul
asked the audience, “Do any of you have lovers out there?” The question prompted another outburst of
cheers while Linda took center stage to sing “My Love.” He continued the concert by explaining what a
“music box” was only I couldn’t hear everything he said because of the undying
cheers from the fans, the cheers just kept getting louder and louder as Wings
took off with the next song, “Listen to What the Man said,” “Let Em In,” “Time
to Hide”. He then ran his finger through
his hair, looked out to all ends of the Garden and said “You’re making me very
proud to be here,” a statement which brought the house down. Again he looked around to all ends of the
Garden and asked, “Do you love my Rock n roll?”
A thunderous applause from the audience constructed a unanimous yes
answer to his question. While the
audience continued to applaud, Wings swirled into their next song, “Silly Love
songs.” Onto “Beware my love” and “Letting
Go.”
This bliss lasted 2 hour 15 minutes (8:30 to 10:45) and I
was shocked at how quickly time went by.
They say time always goes quickly when you enjoy yourself and I must
admit time never flew so fast before. I
was really stunned when he announced the last song, “Band on the Run.” All I kept thinking was “Paul, don’t leave!” The girl behind me was in tears. You just had to see this concert to believe it. He gave two encores, very lavishly done with
a green laser projecting all through the Garden. I’ve never seen that before. Very impressive, however, I didn’t think he
needed to have a laser light in his concert for a good reason – his talent
outshines the laser. He sang “Hi Hi Hi.” The audience screamed for more and Paul came
back and for a second encore, “Soily” was his very last song.
All through the concert I kept looking at Paul through my
opera glasses. Being in the orchestra
section I was very close to the stage and looking through opera glasses at such
a close distance made it seem like I was right next to him. I could see him so well, all I can say is
that he is, indeed, beautiful His
facial bone structure and facial features are so perfectly arranged; he was a
pleasure to look at. Once I a while I
looked over at Linda who was wearing a long dark colored dress which didn’t do
a thing for her figure, however, I thought she looked nicer in person than in
her pictures. Paul wore black satin
slacks with a black shirt and a pendant around his neck. Matching black jacket with sparking designs
on the shoulders and pink trim around the edges. His hair was long and beautiful and as I said
before, he was a pleasure to look at.
It was a concert to remember. We screamed till our throats were raw;
applauded till our hands were sore; stamped our feet till they were numb and
continued to beg Paul for more, more, more.
Flash bulbs were popping constantly and the radiating joy of excitement
never let up for a moment. It was shear bliss. This bliss repeated itself a second time on
May 25th. But all good things
must come to an end and so did Paul’s concerts.
I remember thinking to myself “Paul don’t leave,” but he did leave. After the two encores he left the stage for
the last time and did not return, but he left us all feeling so overjoyed that
his presence lingered on even though he wasn’t there.
Just before he left he stood in the center of the stage, and
with sincerity in his voice, looked out to the audience and said, “I Love ya,
love ya, love ya.”
When the concert was over there were people outside the
Garden selling all kinds of T-shirts, buttons, 8 x 10 glossies. I bought a few glossies, a button, a poster,
a magazine and a t-shirt. In the way
home I could still envision Paul in my mind.
I could still see him there, in the center o the stage, as he looked out
to his audience, waved his hand and said “I love ya, love ya, love ya.” What a beautiful way to end a concert.
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