The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee Post • July 19, 2013 Paul McCartney rocks record crowd at Miller Park By BRIAN HUBER Conley News Service MILWAUKEE – For Waukesha natives Stevie Heyer-Martin and her husband, Dick, now of Merrill, seeing Paul McCartney up close and personal was an event 50 years in the making. The grandson of Waukesha's D.J. Martin and daughter of Charles Heyer were in the 12th row, center stage, to see Sir Paul, with the help of their children, who pitched in for the tickets. "We got nice kids," Dick Martin said. The longtime Beatles fans – and who wasn't among the record crowd on hand at Miller Park? – have seen other favorite artists over the years, from ZZ Top to B.B King to Celine Dion. "We're trying to catch them all, the legends of our times," he said. "What's really amazing is his body of work that he's written for everyone listening through the decades," she said, adding a two-thumbs-up review of the concert. The lines formed early before McCartney's sold-out show, with Scott Barnett of Muskego, Jenny Szweda of New Berlin, Rob Rohloff of Waukesha and Julie Kozlik of Waterford first in line at the right field gate, just after 5 p.m. with coolers in hand, as their friend Tom "Tuffy" Tutkowski parked the car. "It's not every day you get to see a living legend," Rohloff said. "I had tickets for seeing him at Wrigley two years ago and I couldn't make it, so I wouldn't want to miss this one." Next to them were Mendy Iacone and her daughter, Madison, 12, of Atlanta. They flew in Tuesday morning for the concert and planned to spend Wednesday sightseeing in Milwaukee. Madison said she is a "huge" McCartney fan, and she bought a violin bass guitar like McCartney's recently She said the beat and . melody of McCartney's music was a lot better than other music. A lot of people her age that she knows are fans, too, she said. "This is the closest place he was," Mendy Iacone said. "It could be the last time we get to see him." McCartney didn't disappoint the 43,000plus fans inside sweltering Miller Park, although the show started about 45 minutes late. The 71-year-old Liverpudlian was fit and trim, with nary a gray hair and only a few lines on his face. He and his backup band of two guitarists, a keyboardist and drummer tore through a set of about three dozen songs in just over 2.5 hours. McCartney's voice was nearly perfect in tone, sounding exactly like the pipes so many remember on their favorite songs, even on the high notes. From the first strains of "Eight Days A Week" to open the show, people danced in their seats and sang OPINION Readers Forum Previously we asked: , What was your reaction to the Archdiocese releasing the priest documents? You answered: "Power breeds corruption.The Catholic Church and Christianity has been targeted by the news media in the U.S. for years. Only bad news is "news." They had no choice but to release documents.Whether they are complete or accurate, no one knows.The government has set a perfect example of disclosure. Most of the information was "old news." There's plenty of other corruption to report on depending on the philosophy of the news media." – Noah Borkenhagen Franklin Photo by Erol Reyal/Special to The Post Paul McCartney performs at Miller Park Tuesday night. along, with the bluish hue of cellphone screens forming a veritable virtual sea throughout the stadium. McCartney showcased his famously sunny humor, saying "I'm glad I wore me overcoat" while taking off his jacket after the first few numbers. After playing "Blackbird," which he said he wrote to support people struggling for civil rights in the '60s, he asked the crowd how many of them tried to learn it on guitar. "Well, you all got it wrong," he joked. "That's amazing to me, I mean, c'mon." McCartney's energy level never waned through the show, from dancing small jigs behind his piano after songs to jumping while playing "Mrs. Vandebilt" to repeatedly lifting his guitars over his head with one hand to salute the crowd. McCartney paid tribute to some of his musical friends, playing a crunching version of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady and ," saying how Hendrix borrowed from "Sgt. Pepper" in a performance two days after the album was released. In the same show, his guitar was out of tune, and Hendrix looked for Eric Clapton to help him tune it. "Eric was like, 'Tune it yourself,'" McCartney said. McCartney talked about his friend John Lennon, saying he wrote "Here Today" as a way to tell Lennon the things he never could before Lennon's untimely death in 1980. And McCartney relayed how George Harrison was a fan of the ukulele, and how they played "Something" together. He pulled out the ukulele, launching into an airy version of the tune by himself before the band joined in. "Thank you to George for writing that one," he said. McCartney played several songs from his Wings era: "Band on the Run," the loping riffs of "Let Me Roll It," and a rollicking version of "Live and Let Die," with fireworks and flames shooting all around the stage and McCartney feigning deafness afterward. He also unveiled a few other songs for the first time on this tour: "It's Just Another Day and "Lovely Rita, Meter ," Maid" among them. "Lady Madonna" was another highlight, with images of strong women through history from Queen Elizabeth to Eleanor , Roosevelt to Mother Theresa flashing across the video screen. McCartney also talked about playing in Red Square while introducing "Back in the USSR," saying, "It was pretty cool." "The defense minister came up to me and says, 'Paul, the first record I ever got was 'Love Me Do,'" McCartney said. "This other big guy comes up to me and says, 'We learned English language from the Beatles records.' He says 'Hello, Goodbye.' It's true." After the show, attorney Richard Martin of Brookfield said "there aren't enough superlatives" to describe the concert. "It couldn't be better," he said. "One of the real treats was hearing really obscure songs from 'Sgt. Pepper.' ... I can't believe someone that is so much older than me looks that much younger than me." Contact Brian Huber bhuber@conleynet.com "There was too much pressure from the public for what they did, plus the fact that (then-Archbishop) Timothy Dolan transfered funds to protect the church and he didn't care about innocent people." – Don Tuttle Milwaukee "It was about time. If trust and respect are to be re-established and the victims are to be healed, there must be absolute disclosure, payment of restitution and a sincere commitment to new policies." – Sandy Sue Szanderek Milwaukee Question of the week Does the new state abortion law put an undue burden on the right to an abortion and is it unconstitutional toward doctors who perform them? Call 744-6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer to the Question of the Week along with your full name with spelling, phone number and city. No address is required. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dbutler@conleynet.com.

• Cover