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 (4/7/09)

Update (4/6/09)

(4/5/2009) Here's Randy Dry's report on the show (thank you, Randy!):

At the end of tonight's concert at Radio City Music Hall, Paul performed 3 songs with Ringo:

• With A Little Help From My Friends
• Cosmically Conscious (!!)
• I Saw Her Standing There

---

Here's a rundown of the complete show. Enjoy!

-Randy

+++++

The entire concert was videotaped and started at 7:35pm.

• Angelo Badalamenti (piano)
• David Lynch speaks
• Bettye Lavette and Moby
• Moby (solo)
• Bettye Lavette and Moby (again)
• Video about TM in schools
• David Lynch and Laura Dern (banter)
• Sheryl Crow
• Sheryl Crow with Ben Harper on slide guitar - My Sweet Lord (dedicated to George)
• Russell Simmons (video)
• Jerry Seinfeld (10 mins of very funny standup)
• Eddie Vedder solo
• Eddie Vedder with Ben Harper
• Ben Harper and his band, the Relentless7
• Eddie Vedder and Ben Harper - Under Pressure
• Intermission
• Mike Love speaks about going to Rishikesh in '68
• Donovan
• - Hurdy Gurdy Man (with Ben Harper and Jim James)
• - Wear Your Love Like Heaven (with Ben Harper and Jim James)
• - Season of the Witch (with Sheryl Crow, Moby, Ben Harper and Jim James)
• Donovan talks about George and Rishikesh
• Donovan and Paul Horn
• Paul Horn solo flute piece - dedicated to George and John
• Howard Stern (talks about how Maharishi and TM saved his mother's life, says he's been meditating for over 30 years)

Ringo's 3-song set was performed with Ben Harper and his band, the Relentless 7:

• - It Don't Come Easy (with Ben Harper on slide guitar and Eddie Vedder on backing vocals). Ringo is out in front of the band, singing. Wearing black jacket over a black and silver designer t-shirt and black pants.
• - Ringo dedicates this song to George "who would have been here tonight"...tells story of how he wrote the song with George, and how George added the lines about Krishna.
• - Then Ringo says "We're all meditatin' here tonight. I'm meditatin' right now. I'm gonna do some more meditatin' on me drums." and takes his place behind his drum kit.
• - Boys (again with Ben Harper and Eddie Vedder). Ringo introduces this song by saying "I've been doing this song longer than Howard Stern's been meditatin'." He flubs the lyrics a few times...every verse starts with "My girl says when I kiss her lips..."
• - Ringo comes back up front for his third and final number: Yellow Submarine (with Sheryl Crow and Eddie Vedder on backing vocals). Entire crowd is on their feet, singing along. Big image of Yellow Submarine (from DVD cover art) on screen behind him.

Much as I love Ringo, his set was pretty sloppy. His voice was rough and off-key in several places (even for Ringo), and he flubbed the lyrics in each of his songs. But he appeared to be having a ball, and so was the audience.

Then David Lynch and Laura Dern vamp for 15 minutes as the roadies busily set up the stage for Paul and his band. Finally, at 10:30pm, Lynch introduces a short video of Beatles footage from '64 (screaming fans, waving to fans) followed by footage of the Beatles in India with Maharishi (all the clips we've seen before). Then Lynch introduces Paul.

Paul and his band (Wix, Rusty, Brian, Abe) deliver a sparkling 45-minute set. Seems like a tune-up for the upcoming Coachella and Vegas shows, complete with the familiar video footage played on the big screen behind them during each song. Paul and his band sound terrific, and the excellent acoustics at Radio City make it even better. Paul looks dapper in black suit with white shirt, playing Hofner bass.

At one point during the set, Paul playfully admonishes a fan in the front row for holding up a sign asking for his guitar pick. "Point taken, you're gonna get the guitar pick, now put the sign away please." (He did end up giving the fan his pick.) Later, he remarks how great it is to be playing a historic venue like Radio City. "I came to the Christmas Show here last year. Very good, highly recommended," he quipped.

Here's Paul set:

• Drive My Car
• Jet
• Got To Get You Into My Life
• (moves to piano)
• Let It Be
• Lady Madonna
• (band leaves, Paul alone out front with acoustic)
• Blackbird (Paul introduces song with the familiar story of how/why he wrote it, and how far America has come now that Obama is president..."That's change, man.")
• Here Today (dedicated to John..."I love New York, and so did John.")
• (band returns, Paul back on Hofner)
• Band On The Run
• Can't Buy Me Love (crowd leaps to their feet)

Then Paul introduces "Billy Shears" and Ringo trots out to sing "With A Little Help From My Friends" with Paul and his band. Ringo's voice is still a bit rough, but what a treat to see Ringo and Paul up front sharing a mic, singing this song together. Paul harmonizes beautifully throughout: "Do you neeeed anybody?"

To my knowledge, Paul and Ringo have never performed this song live together before.

Ringo joins Paul and his band for a group bow, then Paul and Ringo walk off stage, arm in arm, along with the rest of the band. They come back in a few minutes, along with every performer of the night. Ringo positions himself on his drum kit next to Moby (on percussion) and Abe (on his drum kit).

Then comes the night's biggest surprise. Paul tells everyone that "I wrote this next song in Rishikesh when we were visiting Maharishi," and that Maharishi always used to say "it's such a joy" and "time to get cosmically conscious". And with that, Paul leads the entire all-star ensemble into "Cosmically Conscious" and invites the crowd to sing along. The first time this song has ever been performed live, and with Ringo on drums no less!

Then comes the final number of the night: "I Saw Her Standing There." Again, what a treat to see Ringo up there on the drums behind Paul and the rest of the band.

I believe this concert marks the first time Paul and Ringo performed together on the same stage in NY since 1966. Also think this is the first time Paul played Radio City, although Ringo has played there before with his All Starr Band.

All in all, a fabulous concert. Can't wait for the DVD!

+++++

Merch sold at the concert included two late '60s-style posters (one red, one blue) with image of Paul (standing, smiling, right arm raised in the air, giving thumbs-up sign) priced at $100 each. Paul's name (as headliner) listed in large letters across the top; all other performers listed at the bottom: Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow, Donovan, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Moby, Paul Horn, Bettye Lavette, Jim James. Also printed on poster: Change Begin Within - A Benefit Concert For The David Lynch Foundation, April 4, 2009, Radio City Music Hall. A third poster (smaller, with image of Paul superimposed over a black and white photo of Paul and Ringo from '68) was priced at $60. Note: Signed posters are available online at DLF.TV - proceeds support the David Lynch Foundation.

Also available: 3 t-shirts featuring the same image of Paul and concert info...two different styles priced at $35 (one dark blue, one white) and a pink ladies tee for $40.

Ringo's art was also being sold at a separate table in the lobby, with proceeds going to the David Lynch Foundation.

A free, 20-page, full-color 8 1/2" x 11" program was given to all ticketholders as they took their seats, with photos and testimonials from Paul, Ringo and others. (Reminded me a bit of the free "Friends of the Earth" programs given out during the 1989-90 tour.)