Paul McCartney, ‘LA Forum 1989 First Night’ (Nanker Records – Nanker Dog 004)
Disk 1 – Figure of Eight / Jet / Rough Ride / Got To Get You Into My Life / Band On The Run / Ebony And Ivory / We Got Married / Maybe I’m Amazed / The Long And Winding Road / The Fool On The Hill / Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heats Club Band / Good Day Sunshine / Can’t Buy Me Love / Put It There – Hello, Goodbye / Things We Said Today / Eleanor Rigby (72:26)
Disk 2 – This One / My Brave Face / Back In The USSR / I Saw Her Standing There / Twenty Flight Rock / Coming Up / Let It Be / Ain’t It A Shame / Live And Let Die / The Hustle – Hey Jude / Yesterday / Get Back / Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End (61:17)
Live at Great Western Forum, Inglewood, CA, USA. November, 23rd 1989.
The opening of Mike Millard’s archives has been both a blessing and a boon – knowing that the reclusive taper was very guarded with the people that he traded with and to whom he would do business lest he end up bootlegged was, of course, of his concern. Dearly departed, the JEMS group are doing the best they can to keep the flame alive in dishing out Mike’s tapes to the internet so that everyone might think of mike when they’re listening to his fantastically and so well arranged recordings. If course, Mike has taped Paul McCartney before while the ex-fab toured with Wings however, after the cancelation of the Japanese leg of Wings’ tour in early 1980 and the loss of John, Paul had declined to get back on the road again concentrating on his recorded output and filmic career (*ahem*).
Helped back on to their road by his family and supporting band, Macca dropped in a set list packed with Beatle bangers, Wings winners and a soupçon of solo material of the age. There are many very good, lots of average and a smattering of splendid recordings from this tour – Mike’s, despite his renown, falls night in the former category. It’s not soundboard, obviously, it’s a very good show for the time. Macca’s not one for too much improv – if at all and generally, if you’ve got one or two shows from this tour, you’ve all you need. The desire to pick up handfuls of these shows is diminished by the fact that they’re straight forward but personally, I’d rather these over the shows played from, say, 2007 and beyond.
Here are the notes from the original upload;
“Given Beatle Paul is about to hit the road again at the ripe old age of 79, it seemed a good time to revisit the last of Mike Millard’s McCartney recordings. This Forum show was opening night of Macca’s first US tour since Wings Over America in 1976. Needless to say anticipation was extremely high to see a Beatle doing Beatles songs.
Paul played five nights at the Forum all told, and we’ve previously released Millard’s capture from the last Inglewood concert on November 29 (Vol. 43 of the Lost and Found series). Of course Mike the Mike also famously recorded McCartney on the aforementioned Wings Over America tour on June 23, 1976 (Vol. 61).
As Jim R wrote in the notes for Vol. 43, “Seeing a Beatle is on another level compared to most acts. There is a constant feeling that you are witnessing history in the making. Hearing songs from your teens. Need I say more?”
I saw this tour in Seattle a year later and had much the same feeling, albeit in the severely sound-quality challenged Kingdome (may she rest in peace) where I just so happened to be seated next to Nancy Wilson of Heart. For opening night Mike sat on the main floor in the 12th row, ideal for recording.
Macca had already toured Europe earlier in the year and was in fine form for opening night in SoCal, so much so that the performance of “Sgt. Pepper” from the show was included on the live album Tripping The Live Fantastic.
As has been the case on all modern McCartney tours, the setlist is generous, packed with great Beatles songs and solo material. The explosions in “Live And Let Die” popped Mike’s meters, but other than that he makes an excellent recording of an excellent performance.”
Though Moonchild also released the same show, au-naturel, it’s to be assumed that Nanker did nothing to ‘Improve’ it either (I turned up the bass on my stereo for personal preference but depending on that, other ears might want to leave an even-keel.) The artwork to this set is simple – colour photos throughout, very nice silkscreen disks in full colour too.
Though there has been a reluctance by the silver-disk labels to press every Mike Millard show, I’m glad they made an exception in this case. If I had an issue it’s with the tracking of ’The End’ – The track starts at the coda (‘And In The End ..’) as opposed to the universally recognised, drum break immediately after the descending chord at the end of ‘Carry That Weight’ – But again, that’s negligible if you’re playing the full thing through.
If you need more Macca from this era, it’s a very nice set to have, if you’re a Millard fan you might consider it, if you already have a few 1989 shows already, you might want to think twice.
