Thanks to our Friends at the Bill Edwards Foundation and the Mahaffey Theater, the great music of Paul McCartney is coming to the Palladium this Sunday. To get you in the mood, here’s a blog about the show written by Bill DeYoung, who interviewed Yuri Pool, who leads the band.
Here’s a link to the entire blog:
By Bill DeYoung
Paul McCartney’s place in history was assured 50 years ago, when the Beatles more or less ruled the world. Today’s audiences know him as a tireless veteran, well into his 70s and still rigorously touring. Still making people happy.
Holland-born Yuri Pool turns the spotlight on Sir Paul’s so-called middle period, the immediately post-Beatles 1970s. When he built a band around himself, called it Wings, and all but ruled the record charts for a second decade.
Pool, a multi-instrumentalist (bass, guitar, keyboards) and singer, once “played” McCartney in a British tribute band called Cavern Beatles. “And at one point, I realized that nobody at the time was doing anything with McCartney’s post-Beatles work,” he explains. “And I thought well, if nobody’s going to do it, I think I’ll be that guy.”
Which led to The McCartney Years, a tribute band that looks (very much on purpose) like Wings in its most famous incarnation, the 1976 lineup that broke box office records with the Wings Over America tour. The triple-disc WOA live album topped the charts all over the world that Christmas.
Yuri Pool has re-created a moment in time, in order to sing and play timeless music.
We’re talking “Band on the Run,” “Listen to What the Man Said,” “Let ‘Em In,” “Junior’s Farm,” “With a Little Luck,” “My Love,” “Live and Let Die,” et cetera. So yeah, you know the songs.
It’s a balancing act, but Pool insists his band is not just some cheesy carbon copy. “We don’t specifically focus on Wings – because when Paul was touring in the 1970s, he wasn’t just playing his new (at the time) albums, he was also infusing a lot of Beatles in his concerts,” he says. “And that’s really what we’re doing, so the audiences who come and see us will get a great mixture of Paul’s music spanning those two decades, the ‘60s and ‘70s.”
Fans who come to the Palladium March 6 will recognize “Paul,” “Linda,” “Denny,” “Jimmy” and “Joe” from WOA and from Rock Show, the classic film made of that record-breaking arena tour.
As for the set list, it changes every night. “The luxury of putting together a Paul McCartney show is that we have probably six hours of hits to choose from,” Pool explains. “But that’s also a difficulty – which songs do you play on what night?”
Although he’s got the expressions and mannerisms down cold – not to mention the wardrobe and hairstyle – Pool knows that he’s not exactly a dead ringer, visually, for Sir Paul. And that creates a most welcome challenge.
“First and foremost, the music is very complex,” he points out. “I think one of the reasons why not a lot of people are doing it is that it’s easier to pull four guys together and play early Beatles. That’s why there’s so many of those bands doing that.
“The technical aspect of the music is a challenge. Every musician in my band is trained, and is a trained vocalist. Obviously, the challenge is to get it right. We’re all fans of McCartney’s music. I mean, I’ve been a fan since I was a baby almost!
“I’m doing this because I love the music. There’s no other reason why I got into this, other than the music.”
The McCartney Years
Sunday, March 6 at 7 p.m.
Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Avenue N., St. Petersburg
For tickets and more info follow this link.
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