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The demons of rock have lied to us. For years they have sneaked up like snakes in the grass and hissed out their perjurous remarks and we believed them. At least I did. And Jim Carroll from the Irish Times did. He tells us in his overview of a feast of great Dublin gigs in May, “why on earth anyone would pay good money to sit through a set from a Ron-Dixon-from-Brookside lookalike who gave the world "The Frog Chorus" and "Pipes of Peace" is a quibble for another day.” Well to start with Jim it would be a whole lot better than wasting your life watching Channel 4 soap operas but it also sounds something like the madness of not checking your wage or your mortgage payments or your tax bill because the maths teacher you had in school dressed like a nerd and you never looked at figures again as a result! ( not sure that scenario works but hey!) The bad taste in people never negates the good things they do. It is quite amazing that when Mr Carroll thinks of Paul McCartney he thinks of two very dull songs, well one dull and one targeted at children; no crime that I don’t think.

You see Paul McCartney doesn’t come near to playing such poor quality songs. Instead he plays the ones that poor old Jim has missed with all his soap opera viewing ­ "Can’t Buy Me Love," "All My Loving," "She’s Leaving Home," "Back In The USSR," "We Can Work It Out," "Eleanor Rigby," "Lady Madonna," "Hey Jude," "Let It Be," "Yesterday," "I Saw her Standing There," "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band," etc, etc. He wrote them in an old band of his-- The Beatles. Very influential actually. Changed the world to be exact. So while the demons of rock deceived poor Jim into thinking we were watching some nice soft very insipid ballads, Paul McCartney was rocking our asses with what turned out to be the history of rock n roll. 

To confess I was a Jim Carroll. I had been confused by the demons of rock n roll too. I was nearly embarrassed to tell people I was going to the concert. I only came because a friend had said we need to see a Beatle before we die or more likely before that last two of them die. It was quickly past the t-shirt stall which I never go past but a McCartney t-shirt would have boys like Jim Carroll thinking "Frog Chorus" and "Pipes of Peace" instead of 'Hey Jude" and "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"!

But then his silhouette appeared on the screen with his unmistakable Hofner bass and I was transfixed with the excitement of seeing the man (or one of the men) who soundtracked 27 years of my life. Screen rose, "Hello Goodbye" kicked in and I was shaking at the impact these songs that mean so much are doing to me by hearing them live. 

When you tell the demons to get behind thee, the truth is that McCartney rocked. His new young band are the best musicians he has played with since that first wee band he was in that Jim Carroll had sadly never heard of. They strutted and threw shapes like the best of stadium bands, Rusty Anderson being astounding on electric guitar and Abe Laboriel Jumior simply filling the stage with his size, personality, energy and thumping drums. Songs like "Jet," "Let Me Roll It," "Birthday," "Live and Let Die" were the obvious ones that let go but apart from the acoustic set both solo and with the band on acoustic instruments it was a real rock show! Macca might be sixty but he rarely lagged behind. A show of two and three quarter hours was like a machine gun firing out classic after classic, spinning my head with when I had first heard it or what it meant at one time or other or simply reminded me or caught me unawares for the first time how good these songs are.

"Maybe I’m Amazed" was simply amazing. One of McCartney’s trademark ballads and the first big song he wrote after leaving Lennon out of his songwriting credits, it really soared tonight. This is a well disguised rocker and Anderson lifted it beyond where I’d seen or heard it before. It was interesting that it was my highlight as most of the songs are from his Beatles days. Indeed there were only four from his post 1976 output and two of those were obligatory to push his most recent studio album Driving Rain. This is where you realize and have sympathy with how Carroll was duped. The last twenty years didn’t live up to the first twenty.

The film projection was great too with all kinds of images that went along with the songs. "Blackbird" through up female heroines from the civil rights movement and beyond, there was a wonderful tribute to George Harrison when McCartney sang "Something" on the ukulele and all kinds of colorful whirls and images. 

So we headed to the merchandise before leaving but I left the t-shirts!!! As I walked to the car I felt I had had a real night of nights. My only regret is that the album of the tour was out before I saw the show and thus there were no surprises; the set was too familiar. The next day I got annoyed that he didn’t announce his wife’s pregnancy to us first. But hey it could be worse, two days later you could be writing in the Irish Times and think that we had been listening to the "Frog Chorus" and "Pipes of peace" and missed a major part of  the May Feast of Dublin gigs. Don’t listen to the demons Jim, don’t listen! And stop watching Eastenders!