The seemingly endless lines to enter Portland’s Moda Center stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see. Soapbox preachers standing under the shadow of the Moda Center’s fire and water fountain were armed with a megaphone and a GoPro camera, promising eternal damnation and venereal disease for the crowd trapped in line. Despite the 30 minutes of waiting required just to enter the arena, the undeniable buzz of excitement in the air was palpable.
Paul McCartney was in town for the second stop on his new “One on One” tour. It was McCartney’s first Portland date since 2005.
There is nothing original left to say about Paul McCartney or the Beatles, and for good reason. The Beatles are commonly referred to as the greatest band of all time, and McCartney could very well be the best performer this planet has ever known.
At a youthful 73 years old, McCartney delivered a 36-song set that lasted nearly three hours. The songs ranged from the first Beatles song ever recorded (“In Spite Of All The Danger”) to his most recent (the Rihanna and Kanye West superstar collaboration of “FourFiveSeconds”), as well as highlights from The Beatles, Wings and McCartney’s solo career.  
McCartney and his band surprisingly began the concert with “A Hard Day’s Night,” which was played for the first time in 51 years at the first tour stop in Fresno, CA on Wednesday night. Throughout the night the band continued to incorporate lesser-played material mixed in with the staples of McCartney’s repertoire.
This was the night’s most interesting moment: the band gathered in the front of the stage with a dividing screen showing an image of a rundown cabin. Here they played “In Spite Of All The Danger,” a stripped-down version of “You Won’t See Me,” “Love Me Do” and “And I Love Her.” The screen allowed a more intimate feel that suited the skiffle inspired tune “Love Me Do,” which was dedicated to the memory of longtime Beatles producer George Martin who recently passed away.
McCartney began “You Won’t See Me” with a quick story of how he writes songs. He said one way to write is to come up with a single riff and build around it. As he played the main guitar line, the rest of the band slowly added to the sound. By the end of the song, it closely resembled the recorded version.
The two standard ways to react to a McCartney concert are to either sing and dance to every song and word, or to sit paralyzed with enjoyment in your seat. As the number of classics pile up, it’s easy to be stunned at the depth and variety of his catalog.
For example, after the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band psychedelic circus song “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite,” McCartney played a beautiful ukelele rendition of George Harrison’s “Something.” Then the band orchestrated an arena wide sing-along of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” in which McCartney willed the crowd to sing its best. “You’re going to sing beautifully,” he said. “You’re going to sing magnificently.” After a few more words of encouragement he said, “That’s enough of that.”
McCartney is a master showman and would strike a pose or dance after most songs while playfully chatting with the audience. After removing his suit jacket early on, he joked, “That will be the only wardrobe change of the night” in response to the screams he received. It’s an earned cockiness that you can’t help but enjoy.
Any time it seems like the show has reached a peak, McCartney finds the next gear. “Live And Let Die” is was fueled by enough pyrotechnics to give Mötley Crüe an adrenaline rush, but then “Hey Jude” transports the crowd to an entirely different emotional place.
During the encore, two fans were brought onstage with a sign that said “Marry us, Sir Paul.” McCartney asked the couple if they were engaged yet and he looked a little confused when they said no, rhetorically asking for the advice of the couple’s mothers, whom were also in attendance.  

“We were hoping you could help us, Sir Paul,” the man said. With that, McCartney hinted that it would be a very good time for the man to propose. In front of about 20,000 people and with his soon-to-be fiancee standing with an arm around McCartney, he did. McCartney performed a non-legally binding marriage onstage before playing “Hi Hi Hi” to celebrate.
Seeing a Paul McCartney concert is a truly unforgettable experience. It’s a high that transcends simple music and reminds us why the world once collectively went crazy for four Liverpudlians with a knack for catchy songs.
Setlist:

1. A Hard Day’s Night
2. Save Us
3. Can’t Buy Me Love
4. Letting Go
5. Temporary Secretary
6. Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
7. I’ve Got A Feeling
8. My Valentine
9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
10. Here, There, and Everywhere
11. Maybe I’m Amazed
12. We Can Work It Out
13. In Spite Of All The Danger
14. You Won’t See Me
15. Love Me Do (Dedicated to George Martin)
16. And I Love Her
17. Blackbird
18. Here Today
19. Queenie Eye
20. New
21. The Fool On The Hill
22. Lady Madonna
23. FourFiveSeconds
24. Eleanor Rigby
25. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
26. Something
27. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
28. Band On The Run
29. Back In The USSR
30. Let It Be
31. Live And Let Die
32. Hey Jude
33. Yesterday
34. Hi Hi Hi
35. Birthday
36. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End

Gallery • 1 Photos

Paul McCartney. (Creative Commons).