CLUB SANDWICH 68

THE BOY DONE GREAT

As the NWT reaches its conclusion Geoff Baker reflects upon its impact on him...and the rest of civilisation

PHOTOGRAPHS: BRIGITTE HEINRICH, JURGEN OLCYK, KEVIN MAZUR, JOE HUGHES, CINDY LIGHT & KEVIN WESTENBERG

            This is being written in the last days of the New World Tour, so I shall say what I think.
            It is important to remember. This matters. By the time you read this The Tour will be over and Paul'll be resting for a year. With time, memories fade. I don't want yours to because the events of the past four years have shown that if EVER there was a man who was born to live on the live rock and roll stage then it is Paul McCartney.
            I'm sorry if you disagree, but frankly I'm not interested in your opinion. I've watched him live over many a night for four and a bit years now. I KNOW what I'm talking about because I've watched how playing live affects him. He loves it. He is utterly in his element. Utterly. And he should do it all the time. Really. He's very good at it, I'd say, and remember I'm being frank here, the tour is almost over so I don't have to worry much longer about being politic and saying the right thing - I'd say he's the best live act in the world.
            Why? I'm not really interested in justifying my points but, just so you know, he's the best live act in the world because you leave the shows feeling wild, wired and happy. And that, as I've understood it ever since the art form was conveniently created in the year that - I was born (1956), is what rock and roll is meant to do. Make you feel good.
            Do you know what I saw in Florence? I watched Paul try to leave the stage after 'Hey Jude'. He couldn't. He couldn't get off because all of Florence was up on its feet yelling the chorus of 'Jude' over and over again. They would not shut up. Bye, bye he said. Sod you, Macca, we're singing on. See you next time, he said. No way, we're still singing matey. Grazie Firenze. You're not getting out of this one, Macca. And he couldn't. He had to start 'Hey Jude' again. He had to kick the band back into the song and whack off a load more bars before they'd let him leave.
            I've been around. I'm no choirboy and I'm actually not stupid. But that to me is Messianic. And it's not one-off. I saw it on the first leg of the tour, in 1990, when he did Liverpool. Same thing again. He's just stopped singing 'Give Peace A