random thoughts from sir paul’s ‘up and coming’ tour stop in slc….

it was hot, we paid $20 for parking in rio tinto stadium’s tiny parking lot [big mistake, more on that later], got out of the truck and paul mccartney was doing his sound check [right then]  ~bonus! stood in the hot sun and listened…. it was hot, but that was cool.

walked to nearby jordon commons to have dinner, decided on the mayan [big mistake, more on that now]… eating at the mayan is like eating in a cave, it’s dark, it’s dreary, the atmosphere sux, there is a live ‘show’ of half to three quarters naked young men and women diving off the plastic rock cliffs into a plastic rock pond. [not complaining here you should have seen the six pack on this kid] [i'm sure he was at least 18 so don't call the authorities].  so while it is too dark to see what you are eating you also have to worry about getting splashed by water from the plastic rock pond.  on a positive note, the food was very good, i would eat it again, i just wouldn’t  eat it again in the mayan… AND larry h. miller must have spent a lot of money on coolers because the beer was coooold, really cold, like frosty cold, thanks larry.  it was hot and the beer was cooold.

it’s utah and of course the concert started late, tickets said 7:30 and the concert started at about 8:05 ~ i don’t know if they lied on the tickets to make sure everyone got there on time or what, but since we had nosebleed seats [but pretty good ones] we were in the sun for most of the time prior to the concert starting.  we bought some bottled water from a woman outside “jim’s diner” a little dive a little north of 9400 on state street… [i would like to go check this place out sometime... looked very interesting].  that water saved our lives since they had water in the venue, but the lines were very long and the only thing they were selling inside the stadium was budweiser for $9 a glass [it was a very large glass, didn't i  buy any cuz nothing says refreshment like a piss warm, flat budweiser]… water in front of  jim’s $1, that was cool.

paul mccartney was absolutely amazing… he played for 3 hours and 15 minutes, never left the stage [actually i don't think he ever even had a drink of water]…. he played his stuff, the beatles stuff, a little jimi hendrix, wings stuff, new stuff, told stories, talked to the crowd, asked ‘do you wonder why we are using so many guitars?’  “….we’re just showing off.”   he looks like he is still enjoying himself,  if the crowd was really into a song [singing along] he would just keep playing and we would just keep on singing….  he did three encores!  he slowed everything down [twice] and then came back and played ‘helter skelter’.   he told why he wrote ‘blackbird’ [civil rights in arkansas in the '60s]. he talked about writing ‘my love does it good’ for linda, he talked about writing a song for john about a conversation they would never have and that we should always take the time to tell someone ‘i love you’…

my favorite song of the night was ‘let it be’.  ‘give peace a chance’ maybe a close second.  most fun ~ ‘ O bla de O bla dah’…  he was amazing, amazing!! best concert of my young life and i’m not that young and  i’ve been to a lot of concerts!  best $46 investment i’ve ever made.  that was cool!

when we left the concert there were still folks selling $1 bottles of water in front of jim’s [don't tell them,  but at that point i would have paid them 5!]

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