---
title: Paul McCartney’s Secret Gig at the Highline Ballroom
description: "I’m back from the Paul McCartney concert!  Time for the recap: Let me go back a few weeks to explain this.  About a month ago I found out that Paul McCartney would be doing some type of live performance in NYC to promote his new album Memory Almost Full.  Any large-scale world tour would be […]"
---

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![Sean Henri](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Sean%20Henri.jpeg?width=40&height=40&name=Sean%20Henri.jpeg)

Sean Henri

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June 14, 2007

10:11 PDT

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# Paul McCartney’s Secret Gig at the Highline Ballroom

![Sean](https://www.seanhenri.com/hubfs/Sean%20Henri.jpeg)

By [Sean](https://www.seanhenri.com/author/sean)

![Paul McCartney at the Highline Ballroom](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture194_2.jpg?width=575&height=388&name=picture194_2.jpg "Paul McCartney at the Highline Ballroom.")

I’m back from the Paul McCartney concert!  Time for the recap:

Let me go back a few weeks to explain this.  About a month ago I  
 found out that Paul McCartney would be doing some type of live  
 performance in NYC to promote his new album [*Memory Almost Full*](http://paulmccartney.com).  Any  
 large-scale world tour would be postponed to next year due to "personal  
 issues" (his divorce from Heather Mills).  So being a huge Beatles/Paul  
 McCartney fan, I did some intense research until I found out the  
 details of what would be going down.

I found out that the show was going to be a small-scale "secret"  
 show about two weeks ago and that I’d have to win tickets through a  
 radio station contest in order to go.  Only a few hundred contest  
 winners and invited guests would be given tickets.  So after looking  
 through the websites of nearly every FM radio station from the  
 country’s major cities, I finally found a contest where you could enter  
 a raffle to win tickets by correctly answering 20 questions about  
 Paul.  I didn’t win.  But my friend Steph did, and she offered to take  
 me.  Amazingly, my friend Bret won as well and offered to take my  
 brother Justin.  So now we had 3 people from [CT’s smallest town](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_%28CT%29) attending a concert that thousands of people from around the world were trying to go to, and I was one of them.

More below the cut.

![Paul](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture149.jpg?width=575&height=414&name=picture149.jpg "Paul")

Earlier this week a radio station [sold a pair of tickets](http://www.futurewales.com/Secret-Paul-McCartney-Concert,i140126611556,c3252.html)  
 to this show for $9,100 on ebay.  Just shows you how rare of an  
 opportunity this show would be.  I’d have to go back half a century to  
 the days of [The Cavern Club](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavern_club) to find another chance like this.

After picking up our wrist bands from the Gansevoort Hotel we walked a few blocks north to the [Highline Ballroom](http://www.highlineballroom.com/)  
 to wait in line.  The line stretched the length of nearly the entire  
 block, and was a mix of both young and old fans.  People were carrying  
 albums and other memorabilia hoping they’d get a chance to have it  
 signed.  Towards the back of the line there was a young boy dressed up  
 like Paul from the Sgt. Pepper’s cover.

![Paul](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture168.jpg?width=575&height=860&name=picture168.jpg "Paul")

I was a bit worried that they’d take away my camera when I got to  
 the door, but as it turned out, the security guards didn’t seem to mind  
 at all.  I probably could have carried in a camcorder if I wanted to.

Seeing the actual size of the place was shocking.  I knew it would  
 be small, but it was amazing to see how close we were actually gonna  
 be.  This place was half the size of my high school auditorium. 

There was an area off to the side up in the balcony that was roped  
 off for celebrities.  I spotted [Whoopi Goldberg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg) and [Elijah Wood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_wood).  I  
 guess [Kate Moss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Moss), [Adian Quinn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidan_Quinn), [James McCartney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_mccartney), and [Steve Buscemi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_buscemi) were all there as well.

![Whoopi](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture143-1.jpg?width=575&height=955&name=picture143-1.jpg "Whoopi")

Paul came out, said a few words to the crowd and then started the  
 show with "Drive My Car".  The rest of the show consisted of lots of  
 Beatles songs including "Hey Jude", "The Long and Winding Road",  
 "Blackbird" and "I’ll Follow the Sun" as well as some of his solo stuff  
 including "C Moon" and "Calico Skies".

Paul’s keyboardist Wix Wickens was missing from the stage and they  
 had somebody else filling in for the show.  Paul said that Wix was in  
 London rehearsing for a performance for "Her Majesty, The Queen"

About halfway through the show he explained that he enjoyed playing  
 in New York because it’s played a very significant role in his life. He  
 said it was special to him that it was where he played the Ed Sullivan  
 Show in the 60’s, the place where Linda grew up, and the place that  
 John loved so much.  Before he played the  
 song "Here Today", he noted that while he originally wrote the song for  
 John, this time he wanted to dedicate it to his "fallen heroes" John,  
 George, and [Linda](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Mccartney) (his first wife).  For me, this was the highlight of  
 the night.  The crowd became completely silent while he performed the  
 song and you could see how much the words meant to him as he sang it.  
 His voice was flawless.

![Steph & Paul](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture197-1.jpg?width=575&height=388&name=picture197-1.jpg "Steph & Paul")

Another interesting part of the show was when Paul asked everyone in  
 the crowd to nod their heads to the beat of the song "Nod Your Head"  
 for a music video he was putting together.  He said that the crowd at  
 his last gig in London seemed to have some difficulty with keeping a  
 beat, so he trained us a bit and hoped that we’d do a little better.

He played several other songs of his new album including "House of  
 Wax", "That Was Me" and "Dance Tonight".  These songs were great played  
 live!  They fit in perfectly with the rest of the set.  "House of Wax"  
 was my favorite out of the bunch.  That songs been growing steadily on  
 me over the past month.  It could be a big hit for him at future  
 shows.  There was a funny moment when during one new song Rusty, Paul’s  
 guitarist, accidentally started playing the chorus again one time too  
 many and screwed Paul up.  They played it off well though, just quickly  
 laughing and then moving on.

He was joking around a lot in between sets, engaging in "meaningless  
 conversation" as he put it, and often reflecting back to his days as a  
 Beatle.  Before playing "I’ll Follow the Sun" he mentioned how he  
 remembers writing the song at his home back in Liverpool, looking out  
 the window and wondering if he’d ever become a star.  There were  
 several back and forth exchanges of "your the man" and "no, you the  
 man" between Paul and few different people in the audience.  At one  
 point the crowd broke out with an impromptu singing of "Happy Birthday"  
 that seemed to catch Paul a bit off guard but also please him.

![Paul](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture277.jpg?width=575&height=441&name=picture277.jpg "Paul")

He finished the show with "Hey Jude" and had the crowd sing along  
 for him, splitting up the singing between just the men and then just  
 the women.   He came back out for an encore of  "Let It Be", "Lady  
 Madonna" and  "I Saw Her Standing There".

This show was absolutely amazing.  It was without a doubt  
 the best concert I’ve ever seen, and I’m still having trouble believing  
 I was lucky enough to actually be there.  I’ve really had an amazing year with  
 this kinda stuff. 

![Paul](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture271.jpg?width=575&height=858&name=picture271.jpg "Paul")

Following the show, I was walking back to the parking garage to pick  
 up my car when I noticed that Paul’s photographer, [Bill Bernstein](http://www.billbernstein.com), was  
 standing right in front of me.  Steph took the initiative to go up and  
 talk to him.  We all ended up having a nice chat about the show, Paul’s  
 first wife Linda, how we won the contest for the tickets, and about his job as Paul’s  
 photographer.  He was a really nice guy and it was great to get a  
 chance to talk to him. 

I’ll put these pics and a few more in an album tomorrow in the *Pictures* section.  Sorry for the delay.  If you would like prints of any of these pictures please send me an email at [seanp284@gmail.com](mailto:seanp284@gmail.com).

Here’s the set list as I remember it: (not necessarily in the correct order)

Drive My Car  
Only Mama Knows  
Dance Tonight  
C Moon  
The Long And Winding Road  
I’ll Follow The Sun  
Calico Skies  
That Was Me  
Blackbird  
Here Today  
Back In The USSR  
Nod Your Head  
[Baby Face](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.duchessathome.com%2Fmusic%2Fbabyface.html&ei=ec5wRvHUEISQgASD2KW7CA&usg=AFQjCNGl-lkGOv_-BIu9TpovJFWYQqCDBg&sig2=3wFVkYTf3hp2lSXIs9XYgQ)  
House Of Wax  
I’ve Got A Feeling  
Matchbox  
Get Back  
Hey Jude 

*Encore:*  
Let It Be  
Lady Madonna  
I Saw Her Standing There

[Here’s video](http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3278474) of the show from Good Morning America.

And here’s a [great interview](http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/NEWYORK-NY/WAXQ-FM/kerr_mccartney1.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=NEWYORK-NY&NG_FORMAT=classicrock&SITE_ID=1674&STATION_ID=WAXQ-FM&PCAST_AUTHOR=Q104.3_New_York&PCAST_CAT=Music&PCAST_TITLE=Q104.3_Interviews) with Paul about the show I was at.

There is a video at [PaulMcCartney.com](http://www.paulmccartney.com) that features my friend Steph at the end of the show.  I can be spotted in the background with my brother Justin and my friend Bret.

**New York Times**: "[McCartney, Almost Within Touching Distance](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/arts/music/15paul.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin)"

**People Magazine**: "[Paul McCartney Plays Intimate Show in NYC](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20042513,00.html)" (My brother and I gave the reporter the bulk of the song names.)

Here’s some video of the show from PM.com.  Look closely and you might spot me:

![Paul](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture210.jpg?width=575&height=400&name=picture210.jpg "Paul")

![Paul](https://www.seanhenri.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/picture185.jpg?width=575&height=910&name=picture185.jpg "Paul")

"Hey Jude"

"Let It Be"

 Thanks to [Seth Kallen](http://www.sethkallen.com/) for the "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be" videos!

"Get Back"

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## Discussion

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