Paul McCartney Blames Bruce Springsteen For Progression To Marathon Concerts

Paul McCartney appeared on a recent episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast to talk about his new photo book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, showing Beatlemania from a Beatle’s perspective. During the conversation, McCartney jokingly blamed Bruce Springsteen for the marathon length of today’s rock concerts.

Springsteen is famous for his live performances, which can last up to four hours. The idea that this is normal is what had Sir Paul poking fun at his friend Bruce Springsteen. To McCartney, it’s a relative thing. Early Beatles shows hovered around 30 minutes as concerts at the time followed the showcase model.

“You were on package bills,” McCartney recalled. “These days, pretty much there’s a main act and there might be a warm up act. But then, it was a lot of people on the bill because nobody did long [sets]. Now people will do three, four hours. I blame Bruce Springsteen. I’ve told him so. I said, ‘It’s your fault, man!’”

O’Brien was quick to throw his longtime Late Show With Conan O’Brien drummer Max Weinberg’s Boss under the bus. “He ruined it for everyone,” Conan joked.

Listen to the complete episode below:

Macca, however, is being modest in the Conan discussion. The Beatles honed their stage performance between 1960 and 1962 when they played marathon shows in Hamburg, Germany. Here’s John Lennon speaking about the band’s time in Hamburg:

“We had to play for hours and hours on end. Every song lasted twenty minutes and had twenty solos in it. That’s what improved the playing. There was nobody to copy from. We played what we liked best and the Germans liked it as long as it was loud.”

[Hat Tip – Ultimate Classic Rock]