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Saturday, March 23, 2019

Buenos Aires

Concert • By Paul McCartney • Part of the South American leg of the Freshen Up Tour

Last updated on May 28, 2019


Details

  • Country: Argentina
  • City: Buenos Aires
  • Location: Polo Ground
  • Attendance: 61,940 / 61,940
  • Revenue: $5,404,680

Location

  • Location: Polo Ground

Timeline

Band members

Line-up Discover Backing band 2019-Present

From paulmccartney.com, November 29, 2018:

I love Argentina. We’ve got so many incredible memories from playing there.  It’s always such fun so we know we’ve got another memorable experience coming our way. We’re coming back with a new tour with some stuff we’ve never done in Argentina before. So be sure to come along.We want to see you there for a great night of rock n’ roll and partying!

Paul McCartney

From Los Andes, March 24, 2019 (auto-translated from Spanish):

The former Beatle took the stage at 21, but those who arrived early could enjoy the shows of his opening acts: the Argentine singer Victoria Bernardi (at 19) and the American DJ Chris Holmes (at 20).

As it happened with other Argentine musicians in the three previous occasions in which Paul McCartney played in Argentina (as Nito Mestre, Kuelgue, Las Rositas and Andrés Ciro Martínez), this time the chosen one as lead singer was the singer Victoria Bernardi, who Only 20 years old was given the luxury to step on the same stage as the former Beatle.

Victoria’s professional career began in 2015, when she reached the final of the reality show “Elegidos” (Telefe). Then she was still in high school but she was already saying: “My dream is to live on music. My goal is to be a recognized singer . ” Since then she has been advancing in the music scene step by step: she has added presences in festivals such as Lollapalooza and Cosquín Rock and in 2018 hepresented his first album, called “Sólo sé”.

From SwissInfo, March 24, 2019 (auto-translated from Spanish):

[…] “We’re going to have a good time, there’s a party in Buenos Aires,” McCartney said at one point during the night and added to the ovation of “oh, oh, oh” from the audience, which he later called “capo” and “grosso.” , joking with his Spanish.

Dressed in white shirt, jeans and black jacket, the 76-year-old musician impeccably interpreted one topic after another without any sign of fatigue, conversing with a contemporary audience but also teenagers, parents and children. […]

The highest moment of the night was when he played the song “Live and Let Die”, lighting the stage with orange smoke that rose to the sky turned into fireworks.

McCartney had the audience sing with the last song of the night “Hey Jude”, first men, then women, at the end all together to finally leave the stage. But the audience kept on singing, so the musician came back and asked: “Do you want more?”

For the farewell, McCartney took the stage waving the Argentine flag and displaying his magic again by choosing an effective track of songs that began with “Birthday” and “Sargent Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band” and ended with “Helter Skelter”, “Golden Slumbers” “and” The End “.

From infobae.com – Su nuevo disco fue lanzado en septiembre y rápidamente trepó al número uno en los charts estadounidenses (Christian Bochichio)
From Facebook – For Posterity…🙂 PaulMcCartney with fans at #backstage at #Campo Argentino de Polo, Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷 on March 23, 2019 FreshenUp #freshenuptour #TheBeatles
From paulmccartney.com : “Had a blast in Argentina!” – Paul

From For Whom The Bell Tells, May 28, 2019:

Argentina is of course renowned for soccer. As a Brit, I know what it feels like to regularly suffer at their hands, literally on one famous occasion, thanks to a certain Mr Maradona. But tonight, thankfully, the “Hand of God” will be holding a plectrum and a Hofner bass guitar. 

Soccer’s not the only hugely popular sport in this beautiful country, of course. Polo is also an incredibly big deal, having arrived with the British settlers in the 1800s, and Argentina is now an international force to be reckoned with. Today Paul will be playing in the picturesque setting of the Buenos Aires Polo Ground. Nicknamed the Cathedral of Polo, it really is spectacular. Cricket fans will know what I mean when I say it reminds me a little of Lord’s Cricket Ground in north London. Just like Lord’s, it’s located in a residential area, overlooked by houses and blocks of flats. It really is the perfect venue. 

It’s also the perfect weather for Paul’s first live date in Argentina since 2016 – very warm but not unpleasantly hot. Paul arrives at the Polo Ground at 3.30pm and it’s straight into soundcheck for an hour, leaving him with plenty of downtime before the show. 

And what a show it is. Walking on stage at 9.11pm, Paul dusts off his Spanish once again, telling the 60,000 delighted fans, “Good vibes, Buenos Aires. I’m happy to be back!” He barely pauses for breath throughout the set, which is another perfect blend of old and new, plus a joyous chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ for drummer Abe Laboriel in between ‘Dance Tonight’ and ‘Love Me Do’. Then, after almost three hours and 39 songs, Paul once again finds himself on the way to a plane that’s waiting to bring him to Brazil. 

As many of you will know, on this tour we ran a competition with local media partners to give ten fans the once-in-a-lifetime chance to attend soundcheck and meet Paul after the show. To win, fans had to upload Paul-related content onto one of their social media platforms. There’s was a fantastic response and produced some truly worthy winners. 

In Argentina, Javier Lublski was chosen, thanks to an imaginative You Tube video in which he interviewed himself about his life as a dedicated Paul aficionado, and performed a neat cover of ‘Confidante’ from Egypt Station. Good work, Javier! 

After getting to meet Paul at the Buenos Aires show, Javier kindly sent us an email, which I’d love to share.

“Saturday was the best day of my life and it is all kind of a blur now,” he wrote. “I was brave enough to sing to Paul and he sang back! We duetted on a whole verse of ‘Fuh You’ together!

“Life has showed me time and time again that impossible is nothing. If you would have told me 30 years ago when I was an 11 year old kid that I would meet the guy in my cassette tapes and posters on my bedroom wall and I would sing with him, I would have told you to stop bulls****ing! 

“I know perfectly well that I am just a drop in an ocean of fans so I don’t take for granted the fact that Paul was so nice to me.”

We’re glad you had a great time, Javier!


Polo Ground

This was the 1st and only concert played at Polo Ground.

Setlist for the soundcheck

  1. Instrumental Jam

Setlist for the concert

  1. Medley

  2. Happy Birthday to You

    Written by Patty Hill, Mildred J. Hill

    Dedicated to the drummer Abe Laboriel Jr.

  3. Blackbird

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

  4. Let It Be

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

  5. Hey Jude

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

  6. Encore

    1. Birthday

      Written by Lennon - McCartney

    2. The End

      Written by Lennon - McCartney

See song statistics for “Freshen Up Tour”

Paul McCartney writing

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