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a12 people & arts
Saturday 18 June 2022

McCartney marks 80th birthday with

Springsteen, 60,000 pals

brought out a fistful of bal-
loons during the encore to
lead them in another verse.
That other Jersey guy,
Springsteen, joined Mc-
Cartney for the duet on
"Glory Days" and a version
of "I Wanna Be Your Man."
He later popped up to join
the guitar duel from "Ab-
bey Road."
For most artists, the appear-
ance of such local royalty
would be a hard-to-top
moment. Most artists can't
immediately whip out "Let
it Be" and "Hey Jude" to fol-
Paul McCartney performs during his "Got Back" tour Thursday, low it.
June 16, 2022, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. To mark the birthday, Ste-
Associated Press reogum magazine asked
80 artists to pick their fa-
By DAVID BAUDER at the Starlight Theatre vorite McCartney song,
AP Entertainment Writer in Kansas City on his 80th and the choices were re-
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) birthday Monday. markable in their breadth
— Hard to think of a better "He has a youthful exuber- — from the pre-Beatles
way for Paul McCartney ance that is ageless," said 1958 cut "In Spite of All the
to celebrate his 80th birth- Bob Spitz, a Beatles biog- Danger" (which McCartney
day than by singing "Glory rapher. "There's still some of performed at MetLife) to
Days" onstage with Bruce that 21-year-old boy that his 2016 collaboration with
Springsteen or being ser- shines through in all of his Rihanna and Kanye West
enaded by some 60,000 performances." "FourFiveSeconds" (which
well-wishers. It would be a cliché — and he didn't).
That's right, the "cute Bea- wrong — to suggest time David Crosby and Dan Au-
tle" turns 80 on Saturday. It's hasn't taken a toll. The fra- erbach of the Black Keys
one of those cultural mile- gility in his voice was evi- both chose "Eleanor Rigby."
stones that bring a sharp dent while singing "Black- Master showman Wayne
intake of breath — has it bird" on Thursday night at Coyne of the Flaming Lips
been THAT long? — along MetLife Stadium, the final picked "Magical Mystery
with an appreciation of night of a brief U.S. tour. He Tour." Steve Earle selected
what he still has to offer. struggled for the high notes "Every Night," while Def
For it has been more than in "Here Today," his love let- Leppard's Joe Elliott went
a half-century now since ter to John Lennon, who against type with the gen-
the Beatles broke up, a re- was robbed of a long life tle "Little Lamb Dragonfly."
alization that hits you like by an assassin's bullet. Mac DeMarco picked the
that 1970s-era joke about The skill of a sympathetic "Ram" epic, "The Back Seat
young people saying, "Paul band, along with the imag- of My Car."
McCartney was in a band ination and voices in the Many remarked upon the
before Wings?" audience, patches over unfairness of having to pick
Like several other members the rough spots. just one.
of the "hope I die before I "Yeah, yeah, right, I've got Stereogum's feature il-
get old" generation, includ- a birthday coming up," lustrated the varied entry
ing Bob Dylan, the Rolling McCartney said, scanning points musicians of differ-
Stones and former Beatles signs in the audience that ent generations have into
mate Ringo Starr, McCart- reminded him. "I'm not try- a living, breathing catalog.
ney keeps working, keeps ing to ignore it, but..." For example, it revealed
sharing his music from the The crowd offered a spon- that a largely overlooked
stage. Another 1960s icon, taneous "Happy Birthday" album like 1980's "McCart-
Brian Wilson of the Beach serenade, even before ney II" had a far greater
Boys, is scheduled to play Jersey guy Jon Bon Jovi impact on developing art-
ists than its reception at the
time would have foreshad-
owed.
On Friday, McCartney's
team announced that it
was packaging "McCart-
ney II" with his other DIY al-
bums, "McCartney" of 1970
and 2020's "McCartney III,"
into a boxed set that will go
on sale in August.q