Start of the European leg of the tour, Paris Bercy, March 25th 2003
Front of the Rusty Anderson plectrum Entrance tickets were still widely sold in the streets around the concerthall Rusty threw a few of those into the public before he gave one to a security guy which gave it to me

    Before the concert

My girlfriend and I were very lucky to be invited by our good friends in Paris, Patrice & Barbara. Their flat is situated a few minutes from the concerthall Bercy. We arrived there just before 10 am. Already 15 people were waiting at the entrance. Unfortunately the barriers were only set up a few hours later so the order of arrival changed somewhat. After an uneventful day of waiting the doors opened at 6:30 pm. The security check was very brief, I don't think they discovered many photocameras. I was standing frontline, directly in front of Rusty Anderson. When Sting arrived, everyone in the hall looked at him and applauded. He looked a bit embarassed. The concert started at 9:10 pm (more than half an hour late) because many people were still in traffic jams. Even before the pre-show, the audience shouted for Paul. Seeing the pre-show for the first time, one tries to find a meaning behind the show. I haven't found any :-)

Paul, looking into the direction of Heather Mills
    Paul McCartney singing 'I SAW HER STANDING THERE' while playing his not-so-standard Hofner Bass


    Bonsoir Paris !!!

And then the famous white screen with the silhoutte of Paul and his hofner. After 2 songs Paul announced that his would speak some French, at least 'un petit pois' (as he pronounced it this litterally means "a little pea", of course he meant "un petit peu", a little bit). During the whole concert, Paul has a monitor at his feet to read the text of the lyrics and the French text between the songs. The french public was boiling at times, specially during "Michelle" which was sung very loud by everyone. After "Here today" the public sang "Give peace a chance". Paul acknowledged the singing but made no serious atempt to continue the singing. During the second and last encore, Heather Mills came frontstage, just 3 feet away from me. I said hello to her and she smiled briefly. It was clear that she had a very good time; she sang the whole song with Paul (who pointed at her when he spotted her) proving she knows the lyrics very well.

These are all clickable images Is that a plectrum between his teeth?
    Guitarist Rusty Anderson, very nice guy

    The setlist

1) Hello goodbye
2) Jet
3) All my loving
4) Getting better
5) Coming up
6) Let me roll it
7) Lonely road
8) Driving Rain
9) Your loving flame
10) Blackbird
11) Every night
12) We can work it out
13) Carry that weight
14) The fool on the hill
15) Here today
16) Something
17) Eleanor Rigby
18) Here, there and everywhere
19) Calico skies
20) Michelle
21) Band on the run
22) Back in the USSR
23) Maybe I'm amazed
24) Let 'm in
25) My love
26) She's leaving home
27) Can't buy me love
28) Birthday
29) Live and let die
30) Let it be
31) Hey Jude
32) The long and winding road
33) Lady Madonna
34) I saw her standing there
35) Yesterday
36) Sgt Peppers / The end


Click on these images to enlarge them
    After the concert (still in the arena), just being happy with good friends !





This first concert of the 'Back in the world tour' was well worth all the effort and I hope to see you all on one of the coming events,

tijl.vanbrabant@chello.be
P.S. Please e-mail me whenever you like!

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