Paul McCartney to play New York benefit in April

Update (4/11/09)

Another account of the show from Susan Cohen:

I work right by Radio City Music Hall and decided to have my friend meet me at my office around 4:00 PM. She had a regular ticket while I had opted for the $1250 package which included the after concert party at the 4 Seasons restaurant. My friend got to my office around 3:30 so we decided to scope out Radio City and the stage doors and line up where we thought Paul might enter.
We waited on 50th Street for a few minutes and I thought it was strange that we were the only ones there. I didn't see friends that I thought might also be on line. We decided to check with the box office and they told us to line up on the other side of the building on 51st Street. We went over there and there were several film trucks outside where I guess they were doing a live feed. There was a barricade by the trucks on one side of this side door and a few people gathered there so my friend and I duly got behind them. On the other side of the door was another barricade and more people and across the street more barricades were set up and people were lining up behind them.
My friend and I waited for about an hour until around 5PM until we were rudely told to move as we could not stand here any more. We were told to either go across the street or behind the other barricade. We were pretty mad at this point as we were allowed to stand there for an hour before anyone said anything. So we opted to go behind the barricades by the other side of the door and got a prime spot facing the street with no one in front of us. The day before, when I saw Paul leave Radio City after the press conference, I had jotted down the license plate # of his SUV. Later that night I walked by the Carlyle hotel and saw his car so I knew that was Paul's car. I told everyone around me to be on the lookout for the make and model and license plate of the car. We waited and waited for about another 2 hours - doors opened at 6:30 and the concert started at 7:30. At about 7, I told my friend we really needed to get a move on but we were still convinced Paul hadn't arrived yet so we waited. We did see Nancy arrive separately as well as Olivia, Rusty, we think maybe Giles Martin and Geoff Baker!
At 7:15 I saw a GMC SUV coming down the street and when I saw the license plate I started yelling to everyone that that was Paul's car. Sure enough, Paul got out not on the left hand side so as to run into the building but on the right hand side so the crowd across the street got to see him. I barely saw his head but my friend got a good look. Then it was time to take our seats.
I was in the orchestra in the 2nd row all the way to the right so I had a good view and was close to the stage but at an angle. Since I was not familiar with the music of Moby or Eddie Vedder it was hard for me to pay attention to what was going on. One of the suprise guests in the first part of the concert was Jerry Seinfeld who did about at 15 minute brilliant comedy routine. Jerry did his routine from my side of the stage so I had a pretty good view of him.
There was about a 10 minute break and some more of David Lynch and Laura Dern talking about TM. The Howard Stern came out and talked about how his mom was depressed and got into meditation and it saved her life. Howard did not introduce Ringo as everyone expected. Ringo came out to wild applause and did 3 songs - It Don't Come Easy, Boys (on the drums) and then back out at the mic for Yellow Submarine with Sheryl Crow and Eddie Vedder joining in.
Of course by now the audience's appetite was whetted for Paul to come out but first there was a brief speech by a doctor who is the president of the David Lynch foundation. Then finally Paul was announced. The place went absolutely crazy - I don't think anyone sat down after that. You probably know the set list by now.

Ringo Starr with Ben Harper - It Don't Come Easy
Ringo Starr - Boys
Ringo Starr with Sheryl Crow and Eddie Vedder - Yellow Submarine
Paul McCartney - Drive My Car / Jet / Got to Get You Into My Life /
Let It Be / Lady Madonna / Blackbird / Here Today / Band on the Run /
Can't Buy Me Love
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr - With a Little Help From My Friends
ENCORE: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and all performers - Cosmically
Conscious / I Saw Her Standing There
It was just an amazing 40 minutes. Paul looked amazing - had on this wonderful black suit with a white shirt and suspenders underneath He was wearing his Beatle boots rather than his more comfortable trainers. He went to the piano for 2 songs - Let it Be and Lady Madonna then did an acoustic set of Blackbird and Here Today.People were brought to tears by that and you could tell Paul had choked up while singing the song.
After a wonderful set of some of his concert standards, Paul did Can't Buy Me Love with footage of A Hard Day's Night unfolding behind him. Then he stepped to the mike and said he was going to introduce someone whose name everyone should know and introduced Ringo but as Billy Shears. The place erupted.
The long anticipated and much hoped for reunion was taking place. Paul and Ringo did a wonderful version of A Little Help From My Friends and the vision of them on the big screens sharing a mike was priceless. Then Ringo went to the extra drum kit while other performers came back on stage for Cosmically Conscious. The band walked off stage and Paul and Ringo sort of took a detour and walked around all the equipment by themselves. From my vantage point I could see them and Paul had his arm around Ringo and was talking in his ear. It was such a beautiful sight.
The band plus all the performers came back out again with Ringo on drums for an ass kicking version of I Saw Her Standing There. The audience was on it's collective feet, dancing and singing and having a great time. Then it was all over and I think just about everyone walked out of there high as a cloud and totally blissed out.
My friends and I walked to the Four Seasons restaurant for the after party rather than take the shuttle bus. The restaurant has 2 large rooms and we opted to go to the room on the left. Wonderful veggie hors d'ouerves were being passed out and there was an open bar. Set up a small staircase behind glass was another room which turned out to be the VIP room and only those with special access were allowed in. I heard that Sheryl Crow and Donovan turned up.
At some point I went to the ladies room and saw Mike Love walk in as well as passing by Isabella Rossellini. My friends and I stayed until 1:30 hoping against hope that Paul and Ringo would show up but no luck. It was an incredible evening and I will cherish the memories forever

Update (4/4/09)

Friday's press conference was a mixture of good and weird, sort of like David Lynch's "Twin Peaks." The good was Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. When they were introduced, there was an audible cheer from the crowd of reporters.

Reading from the transcripts of the comments, you'll see they played it pretty low key. Donovan, it seems, has loosened up (I won't say "mellow yellowed") in the past few years, though he needs to get a speech writer. His remarks were stiffer than an old politician. (Our coverage on Examiner.com included a slideshow of pictures.) If anyone came off badly, though, it was Mike Love of the Beach Boys, who wore a hat advertising his band to the press conference. I'm surprised he didn't singing, "She's real fine, my 409" to start his speech. He started off his speech comparing the Beach Boys to the Beatles and saying how the Beach Boys were always behind them. "Well, we came after the Beatles. We’re used to that. Particularly on the charts." That's something Brian Wilson would argue and that Paul McCartney himself has contradicted in discussing "Sgt. Pepper" and "Pet Sounds." Mike, this event wasn't all about you.

Love did, however, get the attention of many collectors by singing, "Happy birthday, Michael Love," a song from the much bootlegged tape of the Beatles in India.

It's interesting to see the reporting on this event. You knew some newspaper somewhere would use the "r" word (reunion). And sure enough, the UK Sun did.

You can watch the full video at the David Lynch Foundation website.

Update (4/3/09)

Times Online quoted Paul McCartney Thursday with some comments about transcendental meditation that could be a preview of what he'll say in the news conference set for Friday noon ET. “I believe that in the future meditation could be as commonplace in schools and society as eco-awareness is now," the paper quoted him. "It interests me that an ancient cure may be the solution to a modern problem." He and Ringo are scheduled to participate in a press conference at noon ET about TM and the benefit concert Saturday. Though we've seen one story that says otherwise, that press conference was not scheduled to be broadcast to the public according to what we were told.

More on the concert in our latest Examiner.com column.

Update (4/1/09)

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will participate in a internet press conference at noon ET on Friday discussing Saturday's benefit concert and endorsing transcendental meditation for kids. Also participating will be David Lynch, for whom the foundation putting on the show is named, and actor Russell Simmons. Donovan, Paul Horn, Bettye LaVette, and Mike Love will also attend.

Howard Stern again discussed the concert on his show Tuesday. We told you yesterday it would be filmed. Stern was going to introduce Ringo, as we told you recently, but does not want to be part of the film, so he will just give a one-minute speech about how meditation improved his life. He's been hinting around that some surprises might be in the works at the show. It's already known that other celebrities will appear. But beyond that? We'll see Saturday. (Thanks to HwyCDRRev.)

The company webcasting the special backstage footage from Saturday's concert, BitGravity, made it clear in a press release Tuesday that the concert-day webcast will not include the concert itself due to complications over music publishing rights. The webcast will feature live interviews with David Lynch, concert performers and surprise guests, plus video reports on the work of the David Lynch Foundation transcendental meditation school projects.

Update (3/31/09)

We've heard the David Lynch concert is being filmed.

Update (3/26/09)

Howard Stern announced on his radio show Wednesday that he'll be introducing Ringo Starr at the David Lynch "Change From Within" benefit concert April 4 starring Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Radio City Music Hall. In discussing what his introduction would be, he said he was introduced to meditation by his mother. "I'm gonna go up there and say, 'Listen, I've been meditating since I'm 18 years old. I'm now 55. And meditation was a big thing in my family. It changed our lives, particularly my mother's. My mother was a depressed woman." he said on the air. ... "I like (meditation). I've been doing it ever since. ... And I love them for saving my mother. And I even got to interview the Maharishi twice. Then I'll say the Maharishi was a great man. And I thank him every day for this," he continued. Stern also gave high praise to the Beatles. "I believe the Beatles had such an impact on our world that they were truly profound individuals. That's why I get excited when Paul McCartney's here. And John Lennon I felt equally the same way. ... They influenced so many people and touched so many people's lives through their creativity." After a comment was made that with Paul and Ringo in the same building, they've got to be doing something together, Stern alluded to that, but didn't give details. "Well, I've been given certain information about this concert because I'm a part of it. Where I understand big things will be happening." He also make a joking remark that recalls Paul's recent appearance on Stern's show. "I'm gonna steal something from Paul. I'm gonna steal the real guitar that he's playing. I'll be backstage and I'll just grab something." Stern fans know that McCartney gave him an autographed bass guitar for his birthday.

Concert webcast: DLF.TV, David Lynch's new online channel which started on Wednesday, will webcast the "Change Begins Within" concert April 4. The webcast will include exclusive backstage footage. The webcast will start at 6:30 p.m. EDT on DLF.TV and will use BitGravity's BG LiveTM highly-scalable flash-based video stream service.

Concert ticket contest: The Lynch Foundation is giving away two tickets to the show in a contest. Read about it in a column we posted on Examiner.com Wednesday.

Update (3/21/09)

Paul Horn, now 79, made one of the most beautiful albums we've ever heard with "Inside," which was recorded inside the Taj Mahal. The Victoria Times Colonist has a profile of the flutist, a longtime advocate of transcendental meditation and one of the performers at the David Lynch Foundation benefit with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Radio City Music Hall.

Update (3/12/09)

The New York Daily News reported on the situation with the Lynch Foundation tickets under the headline "Prices for Beatles reunion show tickets leave fans A-Paul-ed." There were some interesting comments underneath the article, too.

Update (3/11/09)

More on the Lynch Foundation ticket situation: The following (in italics) was sent out Tuesday morning by Chris Busch, program director of the Lynch Foundation, in response to inquiries over sale of tickets to their April 4 benefit show headlined by Paul McCartney:

"To those of you who contacted the David Lynch Foundation following the ticket sale:
"We have received quite a few emails from disappointed fans. We wanted to give you the courtesy of a follow-up note about the pre-sale Sunday and public sale Monday, and to apologize for any frustration and disappointment we have caused you.
"Most of the emails dealt with:

Flawed pre-sale on Sunday
No code for the pre-sale received
No tickets available from the start of the public sale on Monday

"With ticket prices starting at $79.50 and $99.50 we really tried our best to make the ticket opportunities affordable and accessible to fans.
"The foundation held 75% of the seats priced between $79.50 and $325.50 for the pre-sale Sunday. The pre-sale was offered to people who registered on our public website over the last few months.
"25% of these seats, or about 1,200, were held for the public sale Monday morning. There were some $504.50 seats available for both pre-sale and public sale but the majority were held by our event planner for premium tickets and packages.
"Regarding the pre-sale there are a couple of points to mention. Although it was not intentional, we bear responsibility for the fact that the pre-sale wasn't held on a level playing field. We gave first notice of the pre-sale promotion code to about 3,000 people beginning right at 11:00am on Sunday. The notice went out at the same time to everyone but we overlooked that emails don't arrive to everyone at the same time, so not everyone had an equal opportunity to purchase. Tickets were still available as of 11:10 or 11:15, but for those who received the email later than that, they were frustrated and disappointed, and we apologize.
"A number of people were told by Ticketmaster that the pre-sale Sunday morning started at 9am Eastern. This is true. We offered a limited, private 2-hour pre-sale window to a select list of friends of the foundation - people known to us. The great majority of pre-sale tickets were still available at 11am Eastern.
"A few dozen people told us they never received their code at all. We did have emails bounce back to us as undeliverable.
"Many said they reached Ticketmaster for the Monday morning public sale at exactly 11:00 am, or a few minutes after, only to be told the concert was sold out. They could not believe this was possible. Ticketmaster suggested the demand was so great that internet ordering could easily claim 1,200 tickets in a matter of moments. We did hear from individuals who beat the scalpers and got a ticket on the Monday morning sale. But many didn't. We were alarmed seeing that tickets were listed on the scalping sites days before they went on sale. To our knowledge these tickets were only being held by Ticketmaster for the pre-sale and public sale.
"It is disappointing to us that we can not accommodate all the fans who want to attend. And very disappointing for us to see how many tickets are being sold on the ticket reselling sites from people who only care about making a buck. It's not kind to the foundation and it's not kind to fans. If we do have any tickets in the $79.50 to $329.50 range come into our possession we will inform you, and you can be assured they will be sold at face value.
"David Lynch is such an authentic and good-hearted man. Please don't let this reflect on him or his foundation's work. Thank you for your understanding and I apologize again for your disappointment.'"

By the way, we've contacted Ticketmaster with questions about the sale. A spokesman said they'd get back to us.

Paul McCartney fans aren't the only ones angry at Ticketmaster. Leonard Cohen fans are accusing TicketMaster of pushing fans to resellers after tickets to Cohen's concert sold out "within seconds," reports the New York Daily News. (Thanks to Barbara Pazmino.)

Update (3/10/09)

The sale of the remaining David Lynch benefit tickets went quickly when 11 a.m. ET rolled around and the rest were put on public sale on Ticketmaster. As we mentioned else in our live update, more than one report we received said they were gone within minutes after going on sale. Only hope now is resellers, where they'll be expensive.

As to the question of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performing together, the Los Angeles Times quoted a spokesperson for Ringo saying, "They'll perform their own sets."

Update (3/9/09)

Congratulations to anyone who got tickets for the David Lynch Foundation benefit show "Change Begins Within" April 4 at Radio City Music Hall during the presale Sunday, but that presale found the demand for tickets far exceeded the supply and there were many frustrated people who didn't get them. (See our four live updates 1, 2, 3 and 4 with the David Lynch Foundation response.) Tickets for the remaining general admission tickets go on sale at Ticketmaster at 11 a.m. ET. Monday.

Update II (3/8/09)

We have exclusive comments from the David Lynch Foundation regarding the Sunday presale of benefit concert tickets at our Examiner site.

Update (3/8/09)

For anyone wondering, the general admission ticketing for the David Lynch benefit is not affected by the number of special packages sold. And, in fact, we're told those packages are about sold out. In these economic times, that's pretty amazing. Here's the link for Ticketmaster's David Lynch Foundation concert page to purchase tickets.

Update (3/5/09)

We knew as soon as the announcement about the David Lynch foundation TM benefit featuring Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr got out someone would use the word "reunion" to describe it. The first we saw was the BBC, who really should know better. Of course, there will be no suggestion from Paul or Ringo that this is a reunion. We told you our inquiry of the possibility of a song by the two at the concert brought a "no comment." Will they perform together? They could have at the Concert For George, but didn't and were only on stage together at the end of the show with everyone else. What will happen this time? We'll keep our expectations low and say we'll be surprised if they do.

Update (3/4/09)

General admission tickets for the concert will go on sale at 11 a.m. ET Monday at Ticketmaster.com. We have a full story in an Examiner column we posted Tuesday afternoon.

Update (2/17/09)

Monday on the Examiner page, we posted the news that the David Lynch Foundation page now has a banner announcing Ringo's participation in the concert. The link has some additional information about seating and ticket offerings.

Update (2/15/09)

We broke the news Saturday that Paul will share top billing with Ringo at the Lynch benefit. Just a refresher: Ringo and Paul playing on the same show is nothing new. They played the Concert for George together and Ringo made an appearance to sing along with "Hey Jude" at the Hollywood Bowl Earth Day benefit in 1993. The first comments we heard were a fear about the ticket prices. We hope the general public will get some.

Update (2/6/09)

Mike Love of the Beach Boys has been added to the David Lynch Foundation benefit concert that Paul McCartney is headlining April 4 at Radio City Music Hall. Those who left their email at the Lynch website to get information about the show have been told advance sale of premium seats and premiere packages, which include pre- and post-concert festivities, will be offered before general admission seats.

Update (1/25/09)

Any mystery surrounding the Paul McCartney Radio City Hall benefit show for the David Lynch Foundation is over. The page announcing the show, which was up a few days ago then abruptly taken down, is now back up and new names -- Donovan, Moby, Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder and Paul Horn -- have been added to the show. Ticket ordering information is on the page. The foundation says it wanted to make sure foundation members were taken care of before opening the tickets to a wider audience.

Here's an email we received from a rep from the David Lynch Foundation regarding what happened with the page:

"Our intention was to give an opportunity for advance notice to the family of Transcendental Meditators who are well acquainted with the work of David's Foundation to help students and schools. Once we realized that the announcement had spread beyond that audience, we just wanted to make sure that we took care of them first before opening the page back up."

Update (1/22/09) And as we wrote on Examiner.com, the David Lynch Foundation McCartney concert item (April 4, Radio City Music Hall, supposedly) is no longer on the web. This just in: A source tells us the Radio City information was posted prematurely and will be back up within a couple of days. Additional guests (friends of either Paul McCartney or David Lynch) could also be added to the show.

(1/21/2009) Paul McCartney will perform in a special benefit concert April 4 at Radio City Music Hall for the David Lynch Foundation, according to an announcement on the foundation's website. The site says the concert will help support the foundation's program to teach children transcendental mediation. What's strange here is that this hasn't been mentioned anywhere else that we know of.

This news item copyright Abbeyrd's Beatles Page
Return to Beatle News Briefs
Check out our DVD Review Page , Virtual Shopping Mall , Abbeyrd Beatles' Page Collectors' Marketplace and Beatle Books-CDs: Some Recommendations for our choices of great audio and video and great Beatle gift items.

Amazon.com Widgets