It is Wednesday. The concert was yesterday. But I am still reliving it and am on a high from the whole experience. What an amazing, wonderful night!
Since we live about 90 miles from New York City, we left early – mid-afternoon – in order to find our way to CitiField, the new home of the Mets. Don drove and I navigated using our directions from Mapquest. (They were complicated and we finally realized we could really use a GPS.) We also had Brian’s detailed instructions on where to pick up tickets, what lot to drive to and where to meet him backstage. Brian is Brian Ray, Don’s friend from Los Angeles, who has been playing bass and lead guitar with Paul McCartney for seven years now.
Let me just say this: we discovered we were VIPs. We drove to the Lot Brian specified – there were police everywhere directing traffic – and when we tried to turn into the lot, a policeman waved us away. Don told him we were friends of Brian, gave our name, the officer checked a list, and he then gave us a big smile, turned to his colleague and said, “Open the gates. Let them in.” We drove into a fenced-in lot right by the entrance to CitiField, got to pick our parking space and walked to the ticket window. Our next clue that this was a special, special evening was at the window. Don gave his name, showed his ID and we were given tickets and 2 lanyards with GUEST on them. We could barely contain our excitement! We were told to go to the Bullpen Entrance because our seats were on the field. Oh boy. We were afraid to get too excited, but as we wended our way to the field seating, we discovered we were in the 6th row. The 6th row. On the aisle. And, as it turns out, Brian was smack dab in front of us on the stage.
We had been told by Brian to meet him backstage where guests would ‘hang’ at 6:45. After much searching for exactly where this was, we were ushered into a private room where guests of the band were sipping wine and munching on nuts, chips and chocolate. Celebrity sighting: John Stamos – who nodded to me and smiled. Very cute. We chatted with several people also wearing lanyards and I finally got to meet Brian, who is the coolest, nicest guy – and an amazing guitar player. He was so generous to us – words cannot express how thankful I am. He pretty much has the dream job of any guitar player…and he knows it and is grateful.
We worked our way back to our seats after I bought some pizza slices and drinks and Don bought t-shirts and a baseball cap for me.
Okay. Let me just say it. I have been to many, many concerts in my life. This was the best one. Ever. Paul McCartney is in better voice than ever, the band is incredible, they played 2 1/2 hours – straight. No intermission. 2 encores. We were so close to Paul that I noticed when he saw me. He really communicates with the audience and there was a moment when I knew he saw me. And no, I’m not imagining it. Yikes!!! Paul McCartney! And Brian looked our way a lot, nodded to Don several times, mouthed Don’s name and nodded at me when I mouthed “Thank you” to him. Citifield was sold out – and masses of people of all ages rocked, laughed and danced to the music. Don and I cheered, danced – I screamed a few times. (Yes, I was 12 again!) They did a version of “Back in the U.S.S.R” that brought the house down – also “Live and Let Die” with fire and fireworks. We were so close to the stage that we could feel the heat from the fire special effects.
I could go on and on. We were so blessed to be given this amazing night by our generous friend. I kept reminding myself that I was seeing a BEATLE: Paul, who I dreamed of marrying when I was a young girl.
I wish I had photos, but we were told we could not bring in cameras. My cell phone camera didn’t deal well with the lights. Of course, every time I looked around someone was shooting photos with a camera and I kept wondering how they were able to get one inside. Oh well. These photos of Paul and the band are from our souvenir program.
We didn’t get home until 2 am. Couldn’t sleep until 3 am. It was worth it.
