An Evening with James McCartney -- Sara's review

An Evening with James McCartney

Written by Sara Schmidt for “Meet for the Beatles for Real” June 2013

Back in February of this year I had seen on the James McCartney website that he was going to be touring the United States in the Spring of 2013.    I was very excited when I saw that St. Louis was on the tour and I became even more excited when I learned that the tickets were only $15!     So I purchased the James McCartney concert tickets and have had them in my possession since March.    

I am going to be honest here and admit that when I bought the tickets I had never really heard James McCartney sing.    Besides a few youtube videos, I really just wanted to see him because he is the son of Paul McCartney.   So I bought the only album he had available at the time, his EP set.   And I was surprised how much I genuinely enjoyed the music.   

The venue in St. Louis was this place in the Tower Grove section (near the Botanical Gardens) called “The Demo.”   I never heard of the place before.     I got in line outside of the venue about a half hour before the doors were to open.  There were a few people there who were at the Paul concert in Memphis and they remembered me as the “girl with the read my sign” sign.    So I got to tell my story about Paul reading my sign again.   I am sorry if people are tired of hearing about this, but it basically is one of the biggest highlights of my life!  

My mom (who went along with me for the fun of it) and I walked into The Demo and we were a little surprised to see that James was going to be playing in such a small venue.  Only about 75-100 people were there by the time James started his set.   The Demo did not have any seating and so we found ourselves a spot right in front of the stage.  Of course St. Louis annoyance, Beatle Bob had to push his way in front of us.   There was a variety of ages at the show.  I saw everyone from teenage to people in their 60’s or 70’s there.    I think it was fairly safe to say that the majority of the folks there were fans of James’ Dad.   I wondered how James McCartney feels about his fan base coming from those who are fans of his father.   

There were two opening acts.  The first was a husband and wife team called The Grahams.  They were a sort of folksy-country duo.   The girl in the group was amazing on the guitar.   Some of the songs they sang almost seemed Skiffle – like.    While this isn’t the type of music I enjoy all of the time, they were enjoyable for the short time they were onstage.   The second guy I cannot recall his name.   He did a bunch of loop stuff and I don’t know, he just didn’t impress me very much.

Finally James McCartney came out.  I would say that he was dressed a bit “sloppy.”   His white shirt was wrinkled, his brown pants had a hole in them and they were sliding down a bit so that you could see his grey underwear.    One of the first things that stood out to me about James was that he was much cuter in person than he looked in the photos that I had seen.    The second thing was what a great guitar player James is.   He really is an awesome musician.    He sang a good mix of songs from his new album, “me” and the 2 EP’s.  James was the only person on the stage (with the exception of the guitar guy).  There wasn’t a backing band at all.   It was just James the whole time.    He sang many of the songs that I like including Angel (My favorite!), Glisten, Old Man, New York Times and Thinking about Rock n Roll.     He sang a song at the piano called Bluebell that was for his mom.   When he said that, there was applause for Linda.  

 

This was James' "roadie" guy.  He looks REALLY familiar.  Does anyone know who he is?

James is a very talented musician, but he is lacking in stage performance.    I understand that he is shy and a might be a bit uncomfortable being himself in front of a crowd.     But when you go to a concert, you sort of expect things from the artist.    After every song he would say “thank you.  My next song is going to be _________.”  And then he would go and tell a tiny bit about when he wrote the song.  One of the songs he said he wrote at home at St. John’s Wood.   (I thought that was awesome since I had a mental image of him at the house on Cavendish).    Never once did he say anything like “It is great to be in St. Louis! “ or something along those lines.   He was very serious except for when he was commenting on a cobweb that was hanging above the stage.  

He looked out in the audience and he smiled at me a few times.    He smiled more when he was performing than I have ever seen in photos of him.   My feelings are that he is comfortable singing in front of people, but doesn’t enjoy speaking.    His concert was outstanding.   My mom and I were talking and she feels like he would be a good musician on his own even if he wasn’t a McCartney and I have to agree.   He has a lot of talent in songwriting and playing.

James looking right at me!  (I had a hard time with the lighting and the photos)

After the show he came out to sign autographs.    I was surprised by how quickly he came out after the last song.   I have been to shows where you had to wait 30-40 minutes after the last song before the singer came out to sign things.   But James came right on out and people started to line up to have him sign for them.   There really were a whole lot of people who stuck around for this.

I had debated on what to ask James to sign.   I don’t know if you all remember but I had posted a photo I bought off ebay of Paul holding James when he was about 2 or 3 and Paul is wearing a long scarf.   I have the photo in a 8 x10 and I thought it would be neat to have that photo signed.    I wasn’t sure if that would be embarrassing to James.    So when it was my turn, I said in my friendliest voice, “Hi James.   Would you please sign this?”   He said back to me very nicely, “We aren’t signing those type of things tonight.”   And then I said, “Oh.  Well I bought your Cd before the show.  Would you sign that?”  And he said, “yeah.”   So I got the new Cd out of my purse and I hadn’t opened it yet.   So I said, “I haven’t opened it. “  And silly me starts to hand the Cd to James for him to open it for me!   I don’t know what I was thinking.    His bodyguard, who was standing there offered to open it for me and he also asked to see my photo and commented on how nice it was.    While that was happening I asked James if I could get a photo taken with him.   And he just sort of stared and me and didn’t answer.   So I just took a photo of him and then he signed my Cd and I was done .    

Honestly, I was highly disappointed at the time.  I was really wanting my photo signed and not a Cd because I wanted to listen to the Cd.    I wanted to frame the photo and hang it in my Beatles library room.   I wanted a photo with James to share on this blog and to have as my facebook profile picture.   I wanted to tell James how much I admire his mother and how sorry I was that he lost her so early.   And instead that only thing I talked to him about was my photo he wouldn’t sign and how my Cd wasn’t open.     

Photo I took when James wouldn't get a photo taken with me.

My mom was behind me in line.   I had given her the booklet that came with his first Cd to have signed as a prize for a contest for this blog.   So I turned around and said, “Did you get the booklet signed.”  And she said, “No.  I thought he said he wouldn’t sign things you brought it.”   And I explained that he wouldn’t sign old things, but he would sign that booklet because it is a current thing that he is selling at his table.    She said, “The line is really short.  I will get back in line and have him sign this for your blog then.”   

So my mom got in line and I went to talk to the people who were at the Memphis Paul show.   I told them about now he wouldn’t sign my photo and didn’t answer me when I asked for a photo with him.    One of the guys there said that he wouldn’t sign his guitar and told him no when he asked for a photo.   No one at that show got a posed photo taken with James.  I do not understand it because I have seen photos from this tour of other people posing with him.   For whatever reason he decided not to do this in St. Louis.

I then see my mom waving her arms around and saying “Sara Sara!!!!” like a wild woman.  I go over to her in line and she says, “Look at what someone just handed me!”   It was the set list from the show!   She said someone just came up and said, “here” and gave it to her.   She almost didn’t take it because she assumed it was a flyer for another concert at that venue.    But she was glad that she did take it.   She then gets the idea of having James sign the set list.   So I stand at the end of the table and snap a photo of James signing the set list for my mom.   I don’t even think my mom and James exchanged words at all.   He also signed the Cd booklet. 

James signs the set list for my mom

I was a mix of emotions and was ready to leave.    I know others were going to hang around and try to get a photo with him as he left, but he had already said no.     On our way out of the door, my mom stopped and asked the doorman about traffic in downtown St. Louis because of the baseball game.   She noticed the James McCartney tour poster and asked him if they were going to keep that.  He said, “No.  Do you want it?”   So he took the poster (the same one that was being sold for $5.00) and handed it to her.   My mom is amazing!

My awesome mom ended up giving me the autographed set list and the poster.   She liked James McCartney, but you know he isn’t Ringo.   Haha!   

As I said, at the time I was disappointed and felt let down.   But now a few days have passed and I thought about it some more.   First of all, James didn’t have to come out and sign anything for anyone.   Not everyone does that and it isn’t a “rule” by any means.    Second, he was very nice about not signing my photo.   He could have snapped at me or been rude, but he almost sounded apologetic about it.    And third, he didn’t stop me or anyone else from taking his photo with flash.  He could have been mean about that.     

I am someone who struggles with anxiety and I wonder if James has had that struggle as well.   The truth is that while I love this blog, if I see you in person I won’t mention anything about it unless you ask me.      I always bring my business cards to “Beatle” events and I never hand them out because I am too uncomfortable about it.   Maybe James is sort of that way as well.    

It is hard not to compare him to his Dad.   I don’t want to compare him to Paul, but really it is hard not to.   When James was playing the piano, there were times when he looked JUST like his Dad in profile.   He is doing the same thing his Dad does:  perform.     But they are two different individuals.    

In conclusion, I do recommend seeing James McCartney in concert.   His performance is great.   Do not bring something from the olden days for him to sign.   Do not expect to get a photo taken with him.   Expect to hear very little “banter” between songs.    Expect to be a little spooked by how much he looks like his Dad.   And most of all have an open mind and have fun.   It is well worth the $15 price of admission!  

Obviously all photos were taken by either me or my mom and they are copyright Sara Schmidt 2013.