Paul McCartney - 04 Summer Tour Review / Bericht
02.06.2004, Zürich, Lezigrund Stadion, Switzerland
 
Thanks for the review to Peter Krauer from Switzerland / Danke für den Bericht an Peter Krauer aus der Schweiz 
There was a soundcheck just before 3:30pm. Besides the crew there was a group of 36 people who had the fanasylum ticket package. They were seated to the side of the stage. There were no seats on the field in front of the stage.

Paul said to the fanasylum group, "People on Zurich holiday packages hello! And I acknowledge the Brian Ray Fan Club." There were two fans (congrats to Fiona and Caroline from the "Brian's Cherries Fan Club") who had a sign that said "Brian Ray" with cherries on it.

Macca wore all black--black long-sleeved T-shirt and black trousers. During the soundcheck Paul went from one instrument to another never going back to the same instrument twice.

Soundcheck setlist: "Coming Up," "Matchbox," "Summertime," "C Moon," then he sang "Happy Birthday" to somebody in the crew and then sang "She's a jolly good fellow" to the same person, "Celebration," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "San Francisco Bay Blues" (Rusty, Brian and Paul danced around kicking their legs square dance style), "I'll Follow the Sun," "Blackbird," a new song with the words "just wrong" and another new song with the words "hold onto your precious love," a massage improv jam that went on for along time with Paul saying, "time for my massage baby!"),"Lady Madonna," was the last song.

Paul said goodbye to the fanasylum crowd and then said, "Will the TWO members of the BRIAN RAY FAN CLUB please stand up? OK Brian, throw them a kiss!" And Brian did. Then the band bowed and waved goodbye.

Ten minutes before the show started it began to rain and lasted throughout the concert soaking 30,000 people including the preshow performers.However the show started on time at 8pm. Due to tight security many fans could not get inside the concert until it was well underway. The international crowd included fans from as far as Columbia, Argentina, Japan, the US (Chicago) and Europe.

Paul wore the red nehru jacket, jeans and a red and white T-shirt. The front of the shirt was red and the back was white.

The setlist was the same as previous shows except there was no "Yellow Submarine" singalong. Because of the cold rain, the crowd was not as enthusiastic and Paul wanted to move the show along. Even his acoustic guitar got wet during the show.

Paul spoke more English than German and apologized for not knowing Swiss-German. "I know a little German, but I don't know Swiss-German." He read from some cards he had with the pronunciations on them and thanked his Swiss teacher and asked the crowd if he speaking Swiss OK.

He said before "She's A Woman" that the Zurich audience was amongst the first to hear the song because it's the first time he's done it in a long time.

Note on the 'reprises of "I'll Follow the Sun;" Paul repeats the last line of the song three times and explains he does it because the song is so short.

During "I've Just Seen A Face" Brian kept crouching lower and lower on the "falling, yes I am falling" lyrics which was very amusing.

Paul's massage improv before "Lady Madonna" has now evolved into a song where he changes the lyrics to fit the city he's in.

Paul addressed the audience as, "People in the rain!" And made several references to the rain and sun. "I'll Follow the Sun" "Pouring Rain" (Penny Lane), etc.

Rusty took out his camera and told the crowd to get closer together so he could take a photo. Brian spoke in German and said "Is everyone on the right having a good time?...the left....the back... the front." Wix said he felt almost like he was back home because it rains all the time in London, but the only difference here is they speak differently.

Abe asked the crowd if they were ready to rock and, more inportantly, were they ready for the fire just before "Live and let Die." Paul then commented on how well Abe spoke Swiss-German because he'd said it all in English!!! Abe said he'd been practicing. Rusty did his famous fall during the song.

For the encore Paul came out with the Swiss flag and the red no more land mines T-shirt. Wix had his tiny British flag.

The crowd went wild during Paul's redention of "Helter Skelter" which musically surpassed the Beatles version. Macca's voice easily survived the throaty vocals and the band's expert backup harmonies did not disappoint. On the video screens a roller coaster was shown in sync with the ups and downs in the music and the lyrics.

Paul thank the crew, his band and the audience at the end. Confetti shot out of the stage and because of the rain it stuck to people!