Birmingham

From The Macca Report:

Paul was in great voice and seemed fully recovered from his cold, except his talking voice was still a bit hoarse. He kept the same setlist that started in Manchester. 

He wore the purple Nehru jacket, red long-sleeved T-shirt and very baggy Diesel jeans. Paul addressed the crowd, “People of Birmingham, we have come to rock you tonight!” The audience was enthusiastic and the main floor stood up most of night, but it was only at the end of the show where a few people rushed the stage. 

Security was particulary nasty about cameras and was threatening to toss people out for taking ‘one’ photo.

Paul goofed up the chords to “Blackbird” and said “WHOOPS” and brought the song to a halt which the audience loved. After the song he joked, “Now you know this is LIVE!”

After talking about the National Trust signs and “Shakespeare country,” he concluded that Shakespeare, who was from the West Midlands, must have had a “Brummie” accent so he recited some of the Bard’s work (“Hamlet”) with a very passable Birmingham accent.

Paul said, “It’s getting HOT in here” and removed his jacket to female wolf-whistles as the band played “The Stripper.”

Paul mentioned Liverpool landmarks (Liverpool Institute) during his introduction to “Michelle” which got screams from the Liverpool crowd making Paul laugh. He did the same thing as the night before and yelled out, “black tea kettle!” “polka-dot knickers!” Paul seemed amused by the audience’s reponse. He said that the person who wrote the arrangement for the song was in the audience and thanked George Martin.

For the intro to “Something” Paul said that the person who shot the rare early photos of George shown on the screen was in the audience tonight and said, “Mike McCartney!” and pointed to him in the audience. The audience cheered.

Paul was a bit choked up at the end of “Here Today” and at the beginning of “My Love’.” “Band on The Run” and “I’ve Just Seen A Face” were best received numbers also “Let ‘Em In” went down well.

Paul dedicated “Birthday” to everyone in the audience who had a birthday and to “Emma” whose birthday is next week.

Rusty took more photos of the audience and Heather was seen on the right side of photo pit wearing an all black outfit. She danced during “I Saw Her Standing There.” 

In the audience were Mike McCartney, George Martin and Wix’s mom and dad. Wix told the crowd that his Mum was a Brummie (Birmingham born) and that his brother lived in the city. Wix mentioned that he was brought up in Birmingham and his brother and family were in the audience. He said that when the band played Manchester they stayed in Liverpool and visited LIPA and talked to a class. One of the questions asked was, “Do you still feel nervous when you play live?” to which Wix answered, “YES!”

Fans threw items for Paul to autograph at the end of the show but Paul only signed a program. A lot of people were leaving at the encores to beat the parking lot crowds.

Text messages:

“And they thought that student loans were for buying books.” “Wear the black Polo neck tonight Paul.” “Lost my glasses can’t see too well need a front row seat.” “Everton beat WBA (West Bromwich Albion) so any chance of some front row tickets?” “Paul’s still got a sore throat so I’ll be singing tonight – Mick.””I can remember listening to you when I was in me Mum’s tummy 38 years ago.””You were always my second favourite Beatle!”

At the end of the concert his new version of “Band on the Run” that was recorded for the BBC Radio 2 commercial was aired in full over the PA.

National Indoor Arena

This was the 2nd concert played at National Indoor Arena.

A total of 2 concerts have been played there • 2003 • Apr 13 • Apr 14

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