Photo Credit: Daniel Boczarski
Sir Paul McCartney made his Lollapalooza debut last night, helping kick off the iconic three day event in Chicago with a massive two hour, 15 minute set that saw the legendary artist delve into his catalogue of Wings and Beatles songs that had the tens of thousands of fans singing along from start to finish. He even had Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes singing along, when she joined the Beatle for a rendition of “Get Back” on both vocals and guitar, taking on a verse for herself with a gusto that we’re sure would have contradicted the “pinch me, is this actually happening?” feeling anyone would experience in that situation.
Even McCartney couldn’t help but enjoy the view of the completely full venue: “This is so cool. I’ve got to take a moment to drink it in for myself!”, he said. McCartney’s extensive crowd pleasing set looked a little something like this:
Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles)
Save Us
Got to Get You into My Life (The Beatles)
Let Me Roll It (Wings) (With “Foxy Lady”)
Paperback Writer (The Beatles)
My Valentine
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings)
Maybe I’m Amazed
I’ve Just Seen a Face (The Beatles)
FourFiveSeconds (Kanye West – Snippett leading into next track)
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles)
And I Love Her (The Beatles)
Blackbird (The Beatles)
Here Today
Queenie Eye
Lady Madonna (The Beatles)
Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles)
Something (The Beatles)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles)
Band on the Run (Wings)
Back in the U.S.S.R. (The Beatles)
Let It Be (The Beatles)
Live and Let Die (Wings)
Hey Jude (The Beatles)
Encore:
Hi, Hi, Hi (Wings)
Can’t Buy Me Love (The Beatles)
Get Back (with Brittany Howard) (The Beatles)
Helter Skelter (The Beatles)
Golden Slumbers (The Beatles)
Carry That Weight (The Beatles)
The End (The Beatles)
Earlier in the day, Brittany’s Shakes and Austin blues artist Gary Clark Jr set the stage well for McCartney. Hot Chip had everyone dancing, while St Paul and the Broken Bones covered the likes of Otis Redding and were the band everyone was talking about through the day. Father John Misty seemed to struggle through his set, apologising before leaving the stage.
MisterWives and MS MR (not to be confused) alongside Glass Animals, emerging London outfit Coasts, kiwis Broods, The War on Drugs and Alt-J were among the day’s other highlights. Serving as alternatives to McCartney to close out the night were The Weeknd, Flying Lotus and Kaskade, whose minimal sound bleed onto the McCartney stage led the Knighted artist to promise that the extra beats were “planned” and they were just trying to “mix it up”, before promising to blow “that shit” out of the park with the next song. Given the fireworks display alongside “Live and Let Die”, Kaskade would have had his fair share to compete with as well.
On the Australian end of the spectrum, Sydney quartet Spookyland opened the festival in the same area that McCartney would later play. With quite a few fans singing along up front, and a great response from those unfamiliar, this looks like the start of a much longer relationship with this part of the world. Recently recording new music in Omaha, Nebraska, and announcing a singing deal with Inertia, the year ahead is looking bright for the band. Later in the day, Canberra EDM duo Peking Duk impressed a massive crowd on Perry’s stage, and delivered this message on our Instagram channel not long after they walked off stage.
We post more from our brief chat on our Instagram channel in the days ahead. What So Not played the same stage later that day, proving that the rise in popularity of Australian EDM is continuing.
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The three day festival continues until Sunday with Metallica, Florence and the Machine, Angus and Julia Stone and many more. For more information, and to find out how to live stream the event today and tomorrow, head to http://www.lollapalooza.com/. And stay tuned to the AU for more exclusive backstage content plus full interviews, reviews and photo galleries!
