Monday, April 6, 2009

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr - A Little Help from My Friends (live at Radio City)



I'm very grateful I've had the chance to go to spectacular venues like Radio City Music Hall, so when I see a video like this, I can really imagine what it was like to be in that very big and very beautiful room participating in this communal spectacle of half-a-Beatles-reunion. Quality is poor but this is a must-see anyhow. Paul (66) and Ringo (68) share a mic and everybody knows all the words.

There's a better quality video of just Paul doing Drive My Car over here. And Ringo reaches WAY back into the catalog for Boys, here. The whole gang (including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Sheryl Crow, Donovan, and Mike Love of the Beach Boys) does I Saw Her Standing There, here. This was a benefit for transcendental meditation organized by movie director David Lynch.

The thunderous applause that follows is of course a thank you not only for this performance but for almost 50 years of art and entertainment from these guys. It's basically a thank you for rock and roll as we know it.

I have a feeling Sir Paul is going to actually kill headlining at Coachella in eleven days. And with Morrissey (49), Franz Ferdinand (Alex Kapranos, 37), and Leonard Cohen (74) playing right before him, night one is quite excellent, if a bit on the older side for the festival. I wonder what the kiddies will think of all these geriatrics...

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