“Tonight we’re not going to do any age jokes,” Mick Jagger said as he walked onto the Desert Trip stage alongside his Rolling Stones bandmates. “But welcome to the Palm Spring retirement home for genteel English musicians.”

The legendary rockers were bringing a showstopping end to the first night of the Desert Trip festival, which has taken place this week in California, organised by the same team behind Coachella. Bob Dylan played before the Stones, and over the next two nights Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Who and Roger Waters would all also perform.

Dubbed “Oldchella”, it is almost definitely the last chance to see some of the most significant and defining artists of the last five decades, the Desert Trip offered a remedy to the rough year for deaths in the arts that 2016 has inflicted, which has undoubtedly led to serious thinking about musical mortality.

After the year had already started off on a bad foot with Motorhead’s Lemmy passing away at the end of 2015, in early January, David Bowie’s death caused the world to grind to a standstill. Since then, news of cultural and much loved icons passing away have kept on coming. Prince, Glenn Frey, Alan Rickman, and Phife Dawg just some of the more notable names that have reminded us of how temporary life can be.

Icons who we have all grown up watching and listening to, can’t and won’t last forever. So with that in mind it is easy to understand why an event such as Desert Trip, featuring a stable of 60’s music legends all in one place, appealed to so many. It offered a chance to see the undisputed greats of the last five decades across one extravagant event, the likes of which will probably never be seen again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtGQfzDbEGY

It’s fair to say that the founder and producer of the Coachella and Desert Trip festivals, Paul Tollett, has had a fair old year. Already responsible for reuniting the classic Guns N’ Roses line-up at this year’s Coachella festival, Tollet wasn’t done with just yet.

The idea first came to him in May last year, but it wasn’t until he had watched each respective act live again that it really started to gain momentum in his mind. What if he could put together the greatest rock and roll line-up ever assembled and combine it with a festival experience like no other?

Joining The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, the Who and Roger Waters together to do this became closer to reality when Tollet actually gained a permit for two weekends at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.

Convinced that these six pioneering and legendary acts had the capabilities and followings in order to attract an audience demographic unlike anything witnessed before, the job then became about locking down the artists. With a rumoured talent and production budget of around $100M- the financial aspects of it were already extraordinary.

“I was in slow talks with each of the six,” Tollet explained to Billboard. “Once the specific concept was confirmed, I sent a financial offer out with a short window to accept.”

He billed it as one of the greatest shows of all time and after some initial trepidation from the artists involved all six of his targets signed on.

“A couple of them asked, ‘What are you going to do if we don’t do it?’ [I said] ‘If we don’t get these six, we’re not going to do the show.’”

Over the years, Coachella has become the prominent festival on the American music calendar. A success story that has made eye-wateringly high amounts of money in all of its recent showings. Just take last year for example, when it raked in over $84M in profit. Or in 2014, when it made $78M.

Latching onto the festival’s mass appeal and popularity, promoter Goldenvoice noticed a glaring gap in the market though which wasn’t being attended to. While festivals nowadays are catering to the youth of the day, there were none that were being constructed around the tastes of older generations, like the baby boomers. Yet this was essentially an untapped market full of disposable incomes, who were willing to spend a bit more money if what was on offer was deemed as worth it. Add to that the context in which so many musical greats have passed away, the timing couldn’t have been better.

The three day event spanning across the weekend promised to fix this, with a festival which offered not only great music but also the chance of recapturing youth. The Desert Trip was rooted firmly in nostalgia, but it needed to offer more than just that if it was to be classed as a success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQEu65sZEP0

When news broke of its happening in early May, the fan response was unequivocal. Tickets for the first weekend sold out in just three hours. While amongst the mad scramble, it was decided by Goldenvoice that they would do a second weekend which they had initially remained silent about when tickets first went on sale.

“We were on the fence about a second weekend right up until the day we announced and saw the reaction,” Tollet said. “It generated four times the traffic of a typical Coachella announcement.”

The sense of being there at a significant cultural moment in music history weighed heavily as a drawcard for people who dashed to buy tickets.

“The audience is going to feel real special about being able to see all of this at once. It’s a celebration,” Neil Young declared.

Meanwhile, Gary Bongiovanni of Pollster magazine described it as a game-changing approach to festival creating.

“The event is expanding the boundaries of what a concert can be. This is a new concept and is aimed at a much different audience,” he said.

Alongside the two concerts performed each evening, there was also a wealth of other activities to do within the festival grounds. It appealed purposely to a mass selection of people looking for something more than just camping in mud and listening to music all day.

Clearly catering to an older and more comfort-driven audience, a “culinary experience” was offered with 40 of the country’s best chefs descending into Indio, California to serve up cooking classes as well as food. Luxurious RV camping packages were available as opposed to the old trusty tent. While there were free shuttle rides to the grocery stores nearby, before an afternoon of pampering at the “Beauty Bar” or a browse around arts and crafts stalls beckoned. More than just a music show, Desert Trip was packaged as a sort of all-inclusive weekend vacation. However, despite having so much variables to offer, the festival would have failed without the strength of its line-up.

“All the bands you’re seeing here have been playing music for 50 years or more,” Jagger told the crowd during last Friday’s set. “We think it’s pretty amazing you still want to see us, so thank you.”

The fact that all six acts are still highly regarded after such a long time in the industry is testament to not only their enduring appeal but also their talent. It comes as no real surprise that so many people still want to watch Jagger theatrically bounce around the stage like he’s still in his 20’s. Or Bob Dylan while he refuses to let his face be put up on the big screens as he strums through Like A Rolling Stone, one of the many songs which have just earned him a Nobel Prize in Literature.

At a time where many are mourning the loss of Bowie, Prince and others, this festival catered to an audience who not only wanted to take a journey back in time, but a chance to see artists who, quite seriously, may not all be around for decades to come. It acts as a reminder of the fragility of human existence but while also being a joyful celebration of the past and present.

Image: Billboard

“Dear Princely Person,” begins what might be one of the most expensive letters of all time.

A handwritten letter from Paul McCartney to Prince has sold at an auction for $14,822 USD, or $19,511 AUD.

In it, McCartney is asking Prince for a donation to build the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, which came to fruition in 1996. Although the letter does not have a date on it, it is assumed to have been sent in the mid 1980s. As NME points out, the letter refers to the Toxteth riots of 1981 has being “a few years ago.” As to whether Prince actually made the donation, we don’t know. RR Auctions, who sold the letter, noted that “the majority of [Prince’s] contributions were gifted anonymously.”

Here’s the handwritten version; you can read the whole letter below.

prince-paul-mccartney-letter

Dear Princely person,

Hi there! I know how hard it is to always be getting letters that ask for some favour or another, so it was not easy for me to accept the job of Lead Patron for a Performing Arts School to be located in my home town, Liverpool. But, you guessed it! I did agree to do it, so now I’m writing to “friends and all good people” to try and interest them in the scheme. The story started just after the inner-city riots in Liverpool a few years ago. A friend suggested that “what the city needs is a “Fame” School.”

I liked the idea as a possible positive focus for local and overseas kids, but it was only later when I went back to my own old school that was in ruins, that I thought by locating a Performing Arts Centre there we could save the 1825 building in the process. So….. (phew!) We’re now well on our way, as the enclosed info shows, but there’s still a lot to be done. Now the hard part. A donation from you would be a great boost to the project, and I know your involvement in some way, would be a thrill for everyone concerned. Hope you didn’t mind me writing this, it’s so long since I’ve written letters I feel like I’m back at school myself.

Anyway, one of these days you’ll have to come and teach a class some moves!! Who knows, it may turn out to be something special for thousands of future kids. Thanks for looking at this.

Cheers, & love
Paul (McCartney)”

Image: Rolling Stone/Ultimate Classic Rock/Mirror

The fight between musicians and services that provide music for free has been a long one. Last year, Taylor Swift penned an open letter to Apple Music, asking them to reconsider the three month period during which artists go unpaid while their music is being streamed. As a result, Apple Music changed their minds.

She now joins 180 artists including Paul McCartney, Vince Staples, Carole King, Kings Of Leon and more, along with 19 companies, in signing a petition that is set out to change the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The petition alleges that the Act gives YouTube too much power when copyrighted music is posted on their website and “has allowed major tech companies to grow and generate huge profits by creating ease of use for consumers to carry almost every recorded song in history in their pocket via a smartphone, while songwriters’ and artists’ earnings continue to diminish.”

They sign the petition to ensure that they are given power when it comes to the protection of their work by encouraging the creation of a “sensible reform that balances the interests of creators with the interests of the companies who exploit music for their financial enrichment.”

Trent Rezor recently had spoken out about YouTube and their ability to allow people to listen to music free of charge. He received this response from the platform:

“The overwhelming majority of labels and publishers have licensing agreements in place with YouTube to leave fan videos up on the platform and earn revenue from them. Today the revenue from fan uploaded content accounts for roughly 50 percent of the music industry’s YouTube revenue. Any assertion that this content is largely unlicensed is false. To date, we have paid out over $3 billion to the music industry–and that number is growing year on year.”

Last week, we wrote an investigative feature asking whether the music industry is abandoning the platform that gives them exposure and a place to upcoming artists share their voices with the world. This petition sheds more of a light on the other side of the debate, which is just as important.

Will anything change? We shall find out.

Image: Pitchfork

In the wake of any tragedy, people come together. It’s a beautiful thing to witness and is proof that people still care about each other. Following the abhorrent shooting in Orlando earlier this week, where a homophobic shitstain of a human being walked into a gay club and opened fire, killing 49, there has been no shortage of support from all walks of humanity.

A particularly vocal community has been the music industry, where multitudes of artists have spoken out with words of love and hope. Recently we saw Adele dedicate her show in Antwerp to the victims, and Beyoncé dedicate her performance of Halo to all those affected by the shooting. Now, two other legendary voices have been added to the outcry of support; those of  Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney.

Sir Elton said during a performance in London a couple of nights ago that “when a horror like this massacre in Orlando comes along, great agony crashes across the world like a tsunami. And great grief. We feel shocked, angry and feel devastated inside for the victims and the loved ones who are mourning them.”

He also noted the reactions of countries around the world, with many iconic monuments being lit up as a rainbow. “The rainbow around the world tells me we can and we will win against these people.”

Meanwhile, Paul McCartney draped himself in a rainbow flag onstage during his One On One tour. He also showed his support on Twitter:

The importance of such influential people as Sir Elton and Sir Paul speaking out about this tragedy cannot be overstated. That they have the ability to use their platform as entertainers to reach as many people as they are able to with their messages of love and unity is a wonderful thing.

Read our personal response to the tragedy.

Image: Theo Wargo, Getty Images / Twitter

Kanye West‘s standalone single All Day was a highlight of his in-between-album output, not to mention one of two tracks featuring legendary Beatle Paul McCartney, alongside the wonderful acoustic single FourFiveSeconds, also featuring Rihanna. But if talk show magnate Oprah Winfrey had got her way, the collaboration would’ve never seen the light of day.

A new interview with McCartney has revealed that Winfrey took issue with Kanye’s language choices – specifically, the N word. “I get this track back, a thing called ‘All Day': he’s taken my melody and he’s made it seriously urban, which is funny because the lyrics use the N-word — a lot!” he told Mastertapes, a BBC Radio 4 program. “People like Oprah, who’s a little conservative about that stuff, said, ‘You shouldn’t do it, even black people shouldn’t use that word. I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s Kanye! And he’s talking about an urban generation that uses that word in a completely different way. It’s the context. So I was actually pleased with it.”

The Grammy-nominated single may not have ended up on any album, but it’s gone on to be one of his most beloved tracks in recent years. The very fact that West, one of the most influential, and certainly the most talked-about rapper of our time, collaborated with one of the most important rock musicians of all time, was a remarkable feat in itself, a moment all-too-overlooked in the symbolic gap-bridging between rock and hip-hop.

 

 

Rather than criticising Oprah (even though I find it ridiculous that she chose to insert her own opinion into a completely unrelated, not to mention important moment in musical history), I commend Paul McCartney for understanding and pointing out that it is, indeed, the context that is important when looking at when words can be used, and when they have an offensive meaning, or are just a part of the appropriate lexicon. Especially in art, and especially in hip-hop.

Watch the live version of All Day performed at the 2015 BRIT Awards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ABk7TmjnVk

Ex-Beatles member and all round musical legend Paul McCartney made a young fan’s dreams come true at his concert on Tuesday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Spotting the young Leila Lacase’s sign in the crowd which cleverly implied she wanted her teddy bear signed, she was invited onstage. What seemed to be a quick, ‘hello, I’ll sign this for you’, ended up turning into a full jam session once the young fan unveiled what she really wanted. “What would you like me to do, sign your teddy bear?” McCartney asked.
“I want to play the bass with you”, she revealed, getting a huge reaction from the crowd.

She was handed a huge bass guitar which almost hung right down to the floor, Paul exclaims, “I didn’t see this coming!” He doesn’t make it easy for the ten year old, kicking into the fast paced 1969 single Get Back, from the Beatles’ final album Let It Be. This is no matter though, as the young Lacase seems to keep up, even singing along here and there with the legend himself.

“What did you think of that?” he asks the crowd, to which once again he receives a roaring applause and chant for Leila. It’s unsure whether she did get her teddy signed, but come on, she played with Paul McCartney, surely that’s good enough.

Watch the fan-shot, out of the blue collaboration below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn_jP-w0bco

Image: Twitter / Paul McCartney

Two undisputed legends Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney joined forces to perform the festive hit Santa Claus is Comin to Town on Saturday Night Live at the weekend.

The surprise appearance of Beatles legend Paul McCartney was a welcome holiday treat as he sauntered on stage alongside hosts for the night, and SNL veterans, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. The rest of the sketch show’s cast joined in on the song as well, complete with Christmas hats, and looked as surprised at McCartney’s appearance as the man himself did. It is actually yet to be established if he was just lost and stumbled onto the stage mistakenly, or if it was pre-planned.

Springsteen led the fun-filled track with his usual rousing energy and voice. He pushed his guitar up into the air halfway through the song to salute the New York crowd, while McCartney joyfully lurked in the background joining in on baking vocals with guitarist Steven Van Zandt.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band had earlier performed two tracks from their just released The Ties That Bind: The River Collection box set. The ever busy Springsteen has recently revealed that his upcoming 2016 tour will celebrate his classic 1980 album The River. The re-released album was put out just in time for Christmas and will no doubt prove to be the perfect stocking filler for Springsteen fans.

Meanwhile, where would we be without the legend that is Paul McCartney? There certainly wouldn’t be a Yesterday. This year he worked with speech interrupter, shoe designer, and self-proclaimed biggest rock star in the world extraordinaire Kanye West on a new tune, where he spoke of his admiration for Kanye while comparing him to his old friend John Lennon. McCartney’s appearance comes as a further present, after it was recently suggested that the Beatles entire discography will make its long awaited appearance on streaming sites.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYLSc2nt1Ag]

Read our special Flashback Friday editions on the The Beatles here and Bruce Springsteen here.

 

 

 

 

While we’re still reeling from the mud-fest that was Splendour in the Grass, Lollapalooza festival (which may be coming to Australia soon, considering their parent company C3 now owns Big Day Out) kicked off this weekend in the States, and was headlined by musical heroes old and new: Paul McCartney and The Weeknd. The Kanye-collaborating ex-Beatle’s set was, by all accounts, one of the best and longest headline sets in the Chicago festival’s history – spanning more than two hours, and featuring a huge range of hits from his many legendary decades within the music world.

Among the Beatles and solo hits, one of the main highlights of McCartney’s set was the far more recent FourFiveSeconds. While neither Kanye nor Rihanna were on board to join him, he did bless his audience with one hell of a cameo from Alabama Shakes front-woman and lead guitarist Brittany Howard. Howard joined McCartney on stage for a stunning rendition of the Beatles’ stripped down classic, Get Back. 

Watch FourFiveSeconds and We Can Work It Out here:

Watch Get Back here:

If you haven’t yet listened to Alabama Shakes’ most recent album Sound & Colour, we highly recommend you do so ASAP. (Read our review here to find out why we think it’s one of the best albums of 2015 so far.)

 

 

When Kanye West sampled Paul McCartney whistling on his recent single All Day, he probably didn’t realise that McCartney’s been whistling that tune for some time. Interview footage has just surfaced of the former Beatle whistling the exact same tune 15 years ago. What’s more, is that a song featuring the melody has also surfaced – from 1970!

The hard-hitting track is brash and aggressive, more akin to material off Yeezus than the softer new singles we’ve heard, such as FourFiveSeconds, a gorgeous ballad which also features Paul McCartney, as well as Rihanna (in one of, if not her best vocal performance ever.) Anyway, while All Day is overall a fairly aggressive number, is features a lovely little whistling ditty from McCartney.

Interestingly, it turns out that McCartney has been whistling the same tune for more than 40 years. He might not even realise it himself – sometimes we just whistle stuff. Right?

Check out this video from 15 years ago, featuring him being interviewed on a talk show called ‘Parkinson,’ during which he attempts to play a melody on his guitar using only two fingers. Recognise that tune?

But it doesn’t stop there. When The Wind Blows is a Paul McCartney track from 1970. While the single was never officially released, that very same melody appears once again.

Though one would have thought a very unlikely comparison, Beatles’ frontman Paul McCartney has compared working with Kanye West on their collaborative single Only One, to working with John Lennon.

In an interview with UK’s The Sun, McCartney recalled that “When I wrote with John, he would sit down with a guitar. I would sit down. We’d ping-pong till we had a song, [Working with Kanye] was like that.”

McCartney also said that Only One, one of West’s more emotional and relatable tracks, had been heavily inspired by the Beatles’ own Let It Be. He told Kanye that he’d written the song after dreaming about his late mother. “In the dream she said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s all going to be fine, just let it be.’ And I woke up.. and wrote the song.” After he’d told Kanye and sat at the piano next to him, West said “I’m going to write a song with my mum.”

Though he can be a bit crazy, Kanye can’t really be that bad if Paul McCartney has such a high opinion of him. Let’s hope Paul keeps up the good influence.