From several sources comes this compiled review of Paul on Day One of Coachella:Hip comes and hip goes, but McCartney proved once again, a great pop song lasts forever. Energized by the desert air and memory of his late wife, a playful and passionate Paul McCartney riffed on "Foxy Lady," led an after-midnight "Hey Jude" singalong and dedicated songs to his former bandmates at the Coachella music festival that kicked off Friday.
McCartney took off his black jacket five songs in and didn't put it back on for the next 29, strutting the stage in boots, black pants, a white shirt and suspenders that he tugged at wryly.
"It's going to be a good weekend, dear," he told the crowd of thousands gathered for the three-day festival, which erupted in cheers with the first chords of Beatles tunes like "Eleanor Rigby." It was McCartney's first appearance at a U.S. festival as a solo artist.
The Beatle performed for nearly three hours, delighting fans with a career-spanning set, and one that went well past the midnight curfew for music on the main stage imposed by the city of Indio. In the set, including two encores, McCartney dedicated "Long and Winding Road" and "My Love Does It Good" to his late wife Linda, who died at the couple's ranch at Tucson, Ariz., 11 years earlier to the day.
"It's an emotional day for me. That's good, that's OK," he said, pounding his chest. "Lot of heart, lot of emotion."
Before a moving performance of "Blackbird," he noted that it had been written in response to the 60s civil rights movement. "Now you've got President Obama. Yeah, you know we've come a long way."
Switching from serious to cheerily self-aware, he led call-and-response chants only to wave them off quickly as "messing around," and dismissed signs held by front-row fans — including one that asked for his guitar pick.
"No! It's mine!" McCartney said. "Anyway, if I make a mistake, I can blame the signs."
McCartney launched brightly into "Something" with only his voice and a ukulele he said was given to him by George Harrison, before his band mates and the crowd joined in.
There were mistakes. McCartney was proficient but sometimes out-of-sync with the four-man band backing him. But he clearly enjoyed himself, plowing through songs from his "Fireman" album, "Band on the Run" from the Wings, and Fab Four favorites like "Back in the USSR," "Paperback Writer" and, for the finale, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
The first day of the festival also featured Morrissey, Leonard Cohen, the Hold Steady, Franz Ferdinand and the Ting Tings.
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