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By Melinda Newman
Special to MSN Music
Every year, two nights before the Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy hosts
its annual MusiCares Person of the Year dinner. Past honorees have included Elton John, James Taylor, Barbra Streisand, Neil Young and Brian Wilson, but none of the celebrations could
hold a candle to this year's fete saluting Paul McCartney.
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The yearly event, which raises money for musicians in need, features other
artists performing tunes made famous by the honoree. And for the former Beatle,
erstwhile Wing and still energetic pop-rock veteran, the announced lineup
augured a remarkable pantheon of major artists including Tony Bennett, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Diana Krall, Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Katy Perry, James Taylor and Neil Young and Crazy
Horse.
Word leaked out in the days preceding the evening that McCartney not only
intended to play, but perform more than any past recipient. Held at the Los
Angeles Convention Center, attendance swelled far beyond last year's 2,500, as
the evening became the hottest ticket in town.
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Queen Elizabeth
McCartney got the evening off to a rip-roaring start
with a vibrant "Magical Mystery Tour" straight into a sparking "Junior's Farm."
His current band, with whom he's played longer than with the Beatles or Wings,
is a colossus of talent made up of musicians who equal him, as incredulous as
that sounds, at every turn.
It took a brave band to follow, but The Foo Fighters proved more than capable
as Dave Grohl and company rattled the Convention Center walls with their
high-octane version of "Jet." Drummer Taylor Hawkins resembled The Muppets'
"Animal" as he bashed away.
Also: Hear new music by McCartney
Other highlights included a reunited Neil Young and Crazy Horse, who
delivered a ferocious, feral "I Saw Her Standing There" that for all its
distorted, grunge guitar grease never lost a lick of the song's melodic pop
sensibility (it's worth noting that when a gracious McCartney thanked all the
artists at the end, Young was the only one he mentioned by name). Taking
the completely opposite tact, Alison Krauss & Union Station turned "No More
Lonely Nights" into a harmony-filled, lovely song of yearning.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer/guitar slinger Duane Eddy, one of McCartney's influences
(McCartney also produced songs on Eddy's 1987 self-titled album), provided a
twangy, sharp take on "And I Love Her."
Both Tony Bennett and Sergio Mendes turned in renditions of songs they
recorded long ago: Bennett's jazzy version of "Here, There & Everywhere"
gave the song a lilting tone missing in the original, while Mendes recreated his
easy listening version of "The Fool on the Hill," that he and his outfit, Brasil
'66, took to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.
Related: Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood to duet at
Grammys
British comedian Eddie Izzard hosted the evening and had the audience in
stitches with his ongoing apocryphal bio of McCartney that had all events in his
life, including his birth, Beatles formation, and seminal "Ed Sullivan
Show" appearance, taking place in 1962. Other nuggets cited Jacques Cousteau
and Katherine Hepburn as McCartney's parents and that Muhammad Ali was the
Beatles' original flautist, until he left to form Jethro Tull.
Even when a performance didn't shine, it was still evident that the artist
felt such a connection with the material that any missteps were forgivable. Katy
Perry, with the world's largest cloth flower hat perilously perched on the side
of her head as a hat, teased the audience with the opening chords of "Live &
Let Die," before launching into an emotional, heartfelt "Hey Jude." She's to be
commended for even tackling a song so iconic, especially right in front of
McCartney, but she could never quite get her voice around the tune and struggled
with the low end.
Similarly, Alicia Keys' soulful "Blackbird" didn't take flight until the very
end. Coldplay's cover of "We Can Work It Out," felt ragtag, but Chris Martin's
irrepressible grin throughout showed he and his bandmates were having the time
of their lives.
As seemed only right, McCartney's performances bookended the evening. He
returned to play material from each of his three distinct musical careers.
Following Diana Krall's lovely reading of "For No One," McCartney joined her
on stage to perform a pair of songs from his new standards album, "Kisses On The
Bottom," produced by Krall and Tommy LiPuma: the elegant, graceful
original "My Valentine" -- which he noted he penned for his new wife, Nancy
Shevell -- and Fats Waller's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write
Myself a Letter."
While the songs were perfectly pleasant, even McCartney knew that wasn't what
the audience wanted to hear. He hopped up to the stage's second level, ripped
off his jacket, joking, "I can strip for the next one," plunked himself down at
the grand piano and tore into Wings' "1985," pounding the life out of the
piano on the rollicking, barreling tune.
McCartney ended the evening with the "Abbey Road" album closer, "Golden
Slumbers/ Carry That Weight/The End" medley, that was breathtaking not only in
its grandeur as McCartney moved effortless from the string-filled, majestic
"Golden Slumbers" to the heavy "Carry That Weight" and heavier still "The End"
(bounding down from the piano and grabbing a guitar for the jubilantly intense
"Love You" refrain), but for the obvious, undeniable joy that the 69-year old
still gets out of performing live.
It felt as if Abe Laboriel Jr's shotgun-blast drumming and Rusty Anderson and
Brian Ray's thundering guitar work were going to send the entire enterprise into
space, just before McCartney gently brought the room back down with the
now-classic closing line, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the
love you make." It was the perfect benediction to send everyone back out in
to the night.
SONG LIST
Paul McCartney: "Magical Mystery Tour,"
"Junior's Farm"
The Foo Fighters, "Jet"
Alicia Keys, "Blackbird"
Alison
Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, "No More Lonely
Nights"
Tony Bennett, "Here, There & Everywhere"
Duane Eddy, "And I
Love Her"
Norah Jones, "Oh! Darling"
Katy Perry, "Hey Jude"
Neil Young
and Crazy Horse, "I Saw Her Standing There"
Sergio Mendes, "The Fool On The
Hill"
Coldplay, "We Can Work It Out"
James Taylor, "Yesterday"
Diana
Krall, "For No One"
Paul McCartney, "My Valentine," "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down
And Write Myself A Letter," "1985," "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The
End"
Melinda Newman is the former West Coast bureau chief for Billboard
magazine. She has covered music and entertainment for the Los Angeles Times, The
Washington Post, The Associated Press, MSN, AOL Music, Hitfix.com, Variety,
People Country and other outlets. Recent interviews include Taylor Swift, Susan
Sarandon, Pink, Jeff Bridges, Brad Paisley, Foo Fighters, Katy Perry and Carly
Simon.
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