Macca on Letterman tonight

[longhouse]

Good performance. Didn't seem lip-synced to me. The camera angles were dreadful, but that wasn't Paul's fault.
He looked great and the band sounded good.

'Get Back' and a new one (which was fun) were played on the roof above the marquis of the Sullivan Theatre. Macca played the old Hofner.

[sloop_john_b]

Both eyes on his teleprompter for the second song.

[wj350]

Hey, they didn't have enough room on the platform for the guy to kneel down with the lyrics sheets in front of them ala "Let It Be"!

[JakeK]

I don't think Paul can play the 4001S anymore...HS makes it too heavy. He likes the small, hollow bodied basses. Never seen or played a Hofner, ever, but I bet they're cool. I didn't get to see the show last night, I fell asleep before Letterman ever started.

[Soulsaman]

I was lucky to be working a few blocks away and when I read online that he was gonna play outdoors, I told my boss I had to step out for an "important" errand..

I thought Paul sounded great and it was all live. It was like a mini concert with about about 7 or 8 songs.
I think he started with Get Back and ended with Helter Skelter. I was hoping he was gonna do one of the songs he performed on Ed Sullivan back in '64.
Still, great show.

-Al

[bottom4]

I saw the show I thought Letterman's interview was lame IMO

Here's the footage of the songs performed that was not included during the show last night:
http://www.cbs.com/late_show/video/mccartney.php

[woodyng]

i was just trying to send the same link!

[teb]

Jake, Hofners are pretty cool. When you first pick one up, it feels like a toy - like you're going to break it. Once you get used to it though, the fact that compared to most basses, it feels weightless grows on you very quickly (especially if you're old). The short scale is very fast and you start to wonder why most basses have a long scale in the first place. The same is true when you play an old Mosrite, Hagstrom, Guild or Gibson EB with a short scale, only they have pretty similar weights to any solid body bass. For vintage-style, flat-wound bass playing, the Hofners have a tone that fits nicely into the mix with a minimum of tweaking, and solo they have a combination of a rather woody tone and fairly short sustain that sounds really nice on some tunes. There are certainly bass sounds and styles that they don't do well at all, but they're awfully good at what they're good at (if you know what I mean). I have both fretted and a fretless V-63s and get a lot of use out of them, partially because the sound fits what I'm usually looking for and partially because of their light weight. I could certainly do without those damned inlayed fret lines on the fretless (hate those things - we don't need no stinkin' lines) but other than that, I really like them.

[kiramdear]

Yeah, what Todd said! Another supporter for short scale and especially Hofner basses here. I wouldn't mind having a Rick 3000 in the fold either.

[shamustwin]

I had a '67. Wonderful! Something about them makes you want to play all up and down the neck.
I now have a new Club, close, but not quite. Though I do like it.

[teb]

I'd love to find a 3000 (Jetglow if possible) stick a fretless fingerboard on it (no lines please - or at least fill them with something that doesn't show much) and then put one of my 350-style solid bodies on it. That would be really a neat bass. Then again, I've always wanted to see what a 4001 or 4003 in Monte or Autumn Glow would look like with a Hofner-style mother-of-toilet-seat pickguard on it, so maybe I'm nuts.

[wj350]

I know what you mean, I thought the interview was a little slow, but overall I guess it was ok--of course, I don't think anyone could do an interview that would satisfy all of us Beatle geeks 100% ("Can you believe he didn't ask what tuning he used on his Casino for the "Ticket To Ride" solo?")

I guess Dave figured the details are all already well-known by those that care, so going a little superficially for (likely) very large numbers who aren't that familiar seemed like a good idea. He did better than I would have--I'd have probably sounded like Chris Farley!!

[gregga41]

Great to see. Is he planning to get down to Oz ever again??

[woodyng]

just watched the whole concert video-utterly fab! paul sounded great,really seemed to be enjoying himself,and the hofner sounded excellent as well. (band on the run sounded tonally very similar to how i remember it sounding with the rick) i wonder if he still has flatwounds on his hofner....let me roll it is still one of my favorites of his solo stuff......

[JakeK]

Jake, Hofners are pretty cool. When you first pick one up, it feels like a toy - like you're going to break it. Once you get used to it though, the fact that compared to most basses, it feels weightless grows on you very quickly (especially if you're old). The short scale is very fast and you start to wonder why most basses have a long scale in the first place. The same is true when you play an old Mosrite, Hagstrom, Guild or Gibson EB with a short scale, only they have pretty similar weights to any solid body bass. For vintage-style, flat-wound bass playing, the Hofners have a tone that fits nicely into the mix with a minimum of tweaking, and solo they have a combination of a rather woody tone and fairly short sustain that sounds really nice on some tunes. There are certainly bass sounds and styles that they don't do well at all, but they're awfully good at what they're good at (if you know what I mean). I have both fretted and a fretless V-63s and get a lot of use out of them, partially because the sound fits what I'm usually looking for and partially because of their light weight. I could certainly do without those damned inlayed fret lines on the fretless (hate those things - we don't need no stinkin' lines) but other than that, I really like them.

I wasn't saying they aren't cool. They are probably one of the most iconic basses ever. Yours are beautiful, Ted.

If I bought one, could I learn bass on it? After all, that's how Paul learned bass... Could they play well through guitar amps?