Chrysalis

Rosie's in the news!!
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McCartney moves fans, just like yesterday
EX-BEATLE SAYS `HELLO' TO YOUNG, OLD AT PERFORMANCE IN OAKLAND
By Brad Kava
Mercury News


Joanne Hoyoung Lee - Mercury News

Paul McCartney in Oakland.


Paul McCartney kicked off his U.S. concert tour at the Oakland Arena on Monday night not to the screams of Beatlemania but to nostalgic tears and cheers.

The 59-year-old rocker drew all ages to the sold-out show, including a surprising number of young people who were born long after the Beatles broke up in 1970.

McCartney, who plays San Jose on Wednesday, opened the show with the Beatles' ``Hello, Goodbye'' and touched on his entire career -- songs from the Beatles, Wings and his solo career -- during a show that lasted more than two hours.

Many fans cried during several songs, including ``All My Loving,'' which was introduced with black-and-white images projected on giant screens of the Beatles arriving in America for their first tour in 1964.

Mellow crowd

Oakland police expected a total of about 65,000 for both events.

Scalpers were asking only face value for concert tickets, from $52 to $262. Promoters released several hundred seats for the show in all price ranges Monday afternoon. Some baseball and music fans discovered they could do both events to their delight -- and frustration.

Eileen McCrystle, a San Francisco firefighter who bought a McCartney doll at age 13 at Woolworth's, and Paul Vengie, a flower salesman from Humboldt County, strolled over before batting practice and bought two $150 seats to see McCartney.

``We hate it because we want to see all the game,'' Vengie said. ``We want to go to both.''

Rosalee McGie, 17, a senior at Alhambra High in Martinez, fell in love with the Fab Four after she bought 1995's ``Anthology.''

Her mother, Janet, a 52-year-old clerk for Contra Costa County, said she wasn't a Beatles fan when she was young. Her daughter took her to see Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band last summer at the Concord Pavilion.(I was there!!)

This is the fifth time that Chris David, 54, of Sacramento, has seen McCartney. She paid $292 for tickets for herself and her husband, but she paid just $3.50 to see the Beatles in 1964 at the Cow Palace. ``It was a religious experience,'' she said. She returned in 1965, saw the band's final show at Candlestick Park in 1966 and caught McCartney's last visit to the Bay Area -- at UC-Berkeley's Memorial Stadium in 1990.

Concerts a smash

McCartney has been omnipresent since September, headlining benefit shows for the World Trade Center victims, appearing on Howard Stern's radio show and at the Super Bowl and playing his Academy Award nominated song, ``Vanilla Sky,'' at last month's Oscar ceremony.

The knighted Sir Paul and Starr are the only two remaining Beatles. John Lennon was killed by a deranged fan in 1980, and George Harrison died in November.

McCartney's 19-city tour includes stops in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Toronto.

Paul McCartney

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Tickets: Sold out at $50-$250; (408) 998-8497, (415) 421-8497

posted by ryryguy @ 1:22 PM