Sir Paul on Saturday Night Live

[Ric N. Backer]

Anyone catch Sir Paul on Saturday Night Live this past weekend?

I was sort of hoping he'd pull the Ric out of retirement for the party faithful.

That was some amp line-up they had along the horizon.

I wonder how many were really plugged in.

[fluffy]

yeah, I caught that one, but as close as I saw to any Rickenbacker was that Dussenberg Double cat in "Band On The Run" ... sort of familiar for shape that one.. eh??? or isit just me????

[bartyclue]

I watched my PVR of it again. I believe most of them amps were used except for maybe the ashdown. I also noticed several guitar changes happened off screen particularly in "Band on the Run". I think he used the vox for the whole performance and maybe the ashdown was there as a backup??

[teb]

Terrible mix (at least for the TV feed). I was hoping they would fix it after the first tune and before the second tune, but they never adjusted it.

[Len]

Paul sounded great. But I agree, the mix was not good.

[rickboy88]

I've heard much better mixes in the past. Vocals seemed very low.

[rickaddict]

I saw it last night. Set my DVR to record it. I agree, the vocals were not very loud in the mix...but that might have been done on-purpose to hide the sad but inevitable changes to to his voice and put more emphasis on the instruments.

For those who missed it, here's a YouTube of BOTR from SNL 12/11/10:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dt3RccVhqM

And here's Jet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCtlfDeW0tU

Now is it just me, or does the Rick clearly sound better than the Hofner on these live shows from the 70's?

BOTR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3wA4ZxG ... 38&index=5

Jet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFjTN11C ... re=related

[Ric N. Backer]

Thanks for posting the video link!!

[deaconblues]

What are those hand motions on 'Jet'?? Paul's become such a caricature of himself, IMO. Those '70s performances are much better, and not just because of the Ric.

[johnnysain]

I feel sad for him. Never thought I feel that for a billionaire. I hope he hasn't given up on his painting aspirations.

[MaplegloMatt]

I agree that his SNL performance didn't seem up to par for him but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's getting too old or becoming a "caricature" of himself. The reviews from the following Monday at the Apollo were very good. Maybe he had an off night on SNL. Also, the material (BOTR, Jet) are really old warhorses that have been in almost every set he's ever done. He should have picked other tracks from the album.

Could it be that he's been a little too ambitious this year by playing so many dates and it's catching up with him?

Anyway, I've seen him about a dozen times since '76 with Wings and the show I saw in '09 at Fenway Park in Boston was the best yet. And this wasn't only my opinion. Several people I know who were there were amazed at the strength and range of his voice. The set list was very good and for me the only real clunkers were "Mama Only Knows", "Band On The Run", and maybe "Jet" but the crowd loved the last two and that's why he has to play 'em. Don't get me wrong, I love the Band On The Run album but for some reason it just doesn't seem to work in a live setting anymore (at least while he's playing the Hofner!)

I hope he takes it easy next year and concentrates on new material. I think the "Electric Arguments" album is some of his best stuff in years...he's still got it!

[rickboy88]

Yeah, I noticed that his singing wasn't up to par. As noted, it could have been a bad night or too much singing recently. He's also as old as my mother is and I'm 48 now. They had all of the vocals down so his low level wouldn't stand out too much - although we caught it!

[Clint]

Well, his voice may be going but his fingers seem as nimble as ever. If I can sing as good as that, and play half as well as Paul McCartney when I'm closing in on 70 years old, I will be quite happy.

[teb]

I'd be happy enough to still have his hair color...... I suppose I could do it the same way he does, but there is something that bugs me about that whole concept. On the Hofner tone issue, I love my Hofners and they can make some really great sounds. I bought my first V63 mostly because it was a cool thing to own, but found it very useful for recording, so I also bought a fretless one. There are times though, with a Hofner and flats when you get the gain or EQ or something set wrong, or play a bit too hard, and they really have a nasty, rubber-bandy tone. That's what I was hearing on the SNL tunes. It wasn't the case last year on the Letterman roof-top gig, so I have to believe that it was an isolated instance. I'd love to see him pull out the Rick from time to time, but when you start getting old, the nearly weightless nature of a Hofner is pretty hard to ignore, especially if you're going to be bouncing around like he still does.

[simer4001]

Terrible mix (at least for the TV feed). I was hoping they would fix it after the first tune and before the second tune, but they never adjusted it.

I think the mix was purposely bad. Not to get anyone upset, but I thought Paul was not in good voice at all. I