Paul McCartney Closes Candlestick Park With Marathon Show

Paul McCartney played a marathon, 40-song show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco last night before a capacity crowd of 50,000 that served as the final public event at the 54-year-old venue. The evening held extra meaning as The Beatles played the final public concert of their illustrious career at The ‘Stick on August 29, 1966. Candlestick Park served as home of the San Francisco Giants between 1960 and 1999 and the San Francisco 49ers between 1971 and 2013.

[© MJ Kim / MPL Communications]

While McCartney and his band were in fine form, the concert was marred by epic traffic jams getting both into and out of the stadium. In fact, a number of ticketholders missed the concert due to the traffic according to KCBS. Many of those leaving the concert sat in hours worth of traffic before they were able to leave the venue’s understaffed parking lots.

Macca mentioned that his performance was Candlestick’s last a number of times throughout the three-hour concert. He may not be Phish, but McCartney did have a pair of setlist variations in store for the historic event. Paul dusted off a cover of Jesse Fuller’s “San Francisco Bay Blues” for the first time since last summer’s Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco and just the fourth time since 1991. The former Beatles/Wings member dedicated “San Francisco Bay Blues” to his old friend Shelley Lazar, who manages VIP ticketing and credentials for a number of acts including McCartney.

The evening came to a climax 37 songs into the show, when Macca busted out a cover of Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally,” which he noted was the last song The Beatles performed at Candlestick in 1966. Previously unreleased photos from Jim Marshall of the final Beatles concert were displayed on large screens during McCartney’s performance of “Long Tall Sally.” While “Long Tall Sally” was a staple of Beatles concerts and of Macca soundchecks, last night’s performance was only the third by McCartney during one of his concerts. The last one took place in July of 2013 featuring Dave Grohl on drums, Krist Novoselic on bass and Pat Smear on guitar.

Watch fan-shot video of “Long Tall Sally”:

Here’s the setlist from last night’s show: