“But the biggest fireworks at Outside Lands’ opening ceremony – literally and figuratively – came with the day’s anchor act, the Beatles’ Paul McCartney. Some fans found the performance cathartic. Some cried. Others had wide smiles from start to finish. Nearly everyone understood the weight of Sir Paul tearing soulfully through Beatles and Wings numbers with the conviction of the person who wrote those songs – “Blackbird,” “Paperback Writer,” “Hey Jude,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Let It Be,” and so on and so forth – which, individually and collectively, helped shape our very idea of rock & roll.
“This is so cool,” McCartney told the audience. “I just have to take a minute to take it all in myself, okay?” He was talking about the act of performing music in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, but the Beatles have their own history with San Francisco, having performed their last full concert – ever – at the city’s Candlestick Park back in 1966.
McCartney has lost none of the charm that he had back then, entertaining the crowd with stories about Jimi Hendrix, dedicating songs to the loves of his life, and even bringing on stage two fans who held signs asking him to autograph their bodies so that they could get it tattooed. He obliged.” –Rolling Stone
