So it finally was made official that the Anthology albums will be available to download through iTunes. on Ju ne 14. It’s possible to have each separate album, a boxset containing the three albums and an Anthology Highlights album.
Quoting TheBeatles.com:
A special 'Anthology' video introduction and a 50-minute
“Meet The Beatles” radio show are available for free streaming at
www.iTunes.com/TheBeatles starting today.
You can visit the official Beatles webpage for more information.
On the first rehearsal of the band they played an Improvisation, Ebony and Ivory, Tequila and an instrumental version of Penny Lane.
On May 27’s soundcheck Paul played Ebony and Ivory, (I Want To) Come Home, Tequila, I’m Looking Through You, Blackbird, Dance Tonight and I Saw Her Standing There.
On May 28’s soundcheck they played Honey Don’t, Coming Up, Only Mama Knows, C Moon, Lady Madonna, Dance Tonight, Leaning on a Lampost and Yesterday.
The second concert was broadcasted live on cocacola.tv for free and in public spaces such as the Zócalo and Chapultepec.
The recording of the second concert (audio and video) can be found on the bootleg “Hola Ciudad de México! Hola Chilangos!!! 2010”
During the rehearsals for both Mexican concerts (held in Sussex on May 19), Paul and his band played Every Night, In Dublin’s Fair City, an improvisation, I’ve Just Seen A Face, Midnight Special, Calico Skies and Rabbits Improvisation.
The rehearsals for Mexico’s concerts were broadcasted live on the official website and later uploaded to Youtube.
I have a copy of the bootleg I mention, but can’t really upload it. If you’re interested, send me an email to TheMexiBeatle@gmail.com and I’ll gladly share it.
A whole year has passed since Paul McCartney’s “Up and Coming” tour visited Mexico City with two dates. It was a rainy afternoon at the Foro Sol stadium on Thursday May 27, when suddenly, as the intro music started, the rain magically disappeared. Some minutes later, this was finally it.
Paul McCartney appeared in front of an audience of 60,000 fans, and during almost 3 hours he played:
Venus And Mars/Rockshow
Jet
All My Loving
Letting Go Got To Get You Into My Life
Highway
Let Me Roll It / Foxy Lady
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Let 'Em In
My Love
Shine a Light (In Mexico) I'm Looking Through You Two Of Us
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vandebilt
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Sing the Changes
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I've Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life / Give Peace A Chance
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore:
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Get Back
Encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End
And that wasn’t all! Just one day later, on May 28, 2010, he thrilled us with this setlist:
Venus And Mars/Rockshow
Jet
All My Loving
Letting Go Drive My Car
Highway
Let Me Roll It / Foxy Lady
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Let 'Em In
My Love
Shine a Light (In Mexico) I’ve Just Seen A Face And I Love Her
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vandebilt
Eleanor Rigby
Something
Sing the Changes
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I've Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life / Give Peace A Chance
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore:
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Get Back
Encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End
As it can be noticed, there are just 3 different songs from each setlist, which is obviously more than enough of a reason to go to both dates! Personally, the best moments were the “Venus and Mars/Rockshow – Jet” transition; the big blow of continuing with “All My Loving” before even greeting the audience; the romanticism of “The Long and Winding Road” and “My Love”; the magic of the tribute to the audience on “Shine a Light (In Mexico)”; the emotive tributes to John and George on “Here Today”, “Something” and “Give Peace a Chance”; and the energy of “Dance Tonight” and “Sing the Changes.” I definitely can say that the best 3 hours of my life, until now, happened last year when Paul McCartney visited Mexico.
So, there is someone (or maybe even a whole team) that works behind the twitter account on behalf of The Beatles (though @thebeatles is a verified account.) Anyway, I got a message thanking me for the interest on The Beatles.
Probably they have sent it to many of their followers, but the thing is, considering the topic of this blog, this message has great value. It’s quite inspiring to know that the official Beatles brand supports and encourages this kind of projects.
So there are a lot of curious relationships between Mexico and The Beatles, but after all, what’s more intimate than an artist actually interacting with his fans?
Sir Paul McCartney thought of Mexico as an exotic but close place. Evidence of this, is this specific line on “The Back Seat of My Car” from the album “Ram”:
”We can make it to Mexico City,
sittin' in the backseat of my car”
The song speaks of young love and the chance of being free for a while and doing something a bit “crazy.” So Mexico City stands out as an interesting possibility. Yes, this is just a song lyric, but McCartney’s interest in Mexico would later be proven bigger.
In 1993, for the first time ever, a member of The Beatles played a live concert in Mexico and this was Paul McCartney. You may like the country for the food or the tourism, but this was a Beatle paying tribute to his Mexican fans. To be more precise, Paul played twice (November 25 & 27) at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.
Nine years after those historic concerts and having in between that time The Beatles’ Anthology project and Linda’s and George’s passing, Paul McCartney returned to Mexico with a specific tour called “Driving Mexico.” This time, he played three nights: November 2, 3 and 5 of 2002 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. Tributes to Linda, John, George and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo happened throughout those three nights.
Eight years later, the man himself returned during the “Up and Coming” tour. This time he played 27 and 28 of May of 2010 at the Foro Sol stadium…
...and above everything else, he played an E N O R M O U S tribute to Mexico:
The song is called "Shine a Light in Mexico" and has only been played twice: at both 2010 Mexico City concerts. It emerged as a response from Paul to Mexican fans that thrilled him previously with a light “beat” during “Let ‘Em In.”
Finally, it is rumored that Paul McCartney is scheduled to play at Ciudad Juárez and Guadalajara later on this year and at Chichén Itzá at some point in 2012. While there is still no confirmation of any of these concerts, we can only hope they do happen and fondly remember the seven concerts that have already happened on this land.
It was in 1974 when George Harrison met Olivia Trinidad Arias in Los Angeles, California. Later, in 1978 they got married, same year in which their only son, Dhani, was born. The catch here is that Olivia was born in Mexico City.
It is said that if The Beatles, as a brand, was to be used in any kind of endeavor after the breakup, authorization was needed from the four parties. After George and John departed, their votes passed on to their widows (Olivia and Yoko respectively.) For instance, to develop recent projects such as the “Love” show and “The Beatles Rock Band”; Paul, Ringo, Yoko and Olivia had to approve them. This will be the case for any new projects, and it actually means that there’s a Mexican who somehow decides the fate of The Beatles nowadays.
Putting all business aside, there is a more important link between George Harrison and Mexico: Dhani Harrison. According to law, a Mexican is considered:
Anyone born in Mexico (no matter the origin of their parents)
Anyone who is born outside of the borders, but at least one of their parents is Mexican.
Anyone who legally adopts nationality.
Having in mind point #2 and knowing that Olivia was born in Mexico, this means that according to Mexican legislation, Dhani Harrison is considered Mexican. So there actually is one person in the world who has Beatle and Mexican blood in his body!
"Olivia said that with Dhani up on stage, it looks like George stayed young and we all got old" – Paul McCartney (Concert for George, 2002)
“My son looks more like George Harrison than I do” – George Harrison.
Like The Beatles, Ringo did have a “special” Mexican discography, but his relationship with the country goes way beyond that.
In 1976, Ringo Starr recorded and released his fifth solo album: “Ringo’s Rotogravure.” In that same year, Ringo went on holiday to Acapulco, Mexico and stayed at the Hotel Las Brisas. It is said that he was so impressed about Mexican traditional music (specifically mariachi music) that he included a song called “Las Brisas” in “Ringo’s Rotogravure.” About this song, he said the following:
"We used a mariachi band on [Las Brisas] because we were in Mexico when we wrote the song. We recruited one from a Mexican restaurant here in LA."
Critics speak of the song in terms of “charming, interesting and flavor giving” “it’s an interesting, catchy song with a very unique sound.” Here it is:
Despite this nice tribute to Mexican music, the closest relationship between Ringo and Mexico is the 1981 film “Caveman” (starring Ringo, financed by George Harrison and directed by Carl Gottlieb.) This cult film was shot at different locations in the Mexican states of Zacatecas and Durango, and the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City.
But rather than just shooting the film in Mexico, the most important thing about it was meeting co-star and current wife Barbara Bach (well known for being a former Bond Girl) on the set. In other words, Ringo Starr met his wife in Mexico.
This space was born due to the interest of a Mexican Beatle fan to tell the world about the Beatles in general, and specifically, if possible, about their relationship with Mexico. Taking this into consideration, a logical point to start is with the most obvious relationship between The Beatles and Mexico.
There are many tributes, some stores, a lot of merchandise and several radio programs devoted to the Fab Four throughout the country; but what about The Beatles themselves? What is their personal relationship with this country of more than a 100 million inhabitants? Let’s check it out.
The Beatles
Beatlemania first hit Mexico, as it did in the US, in 1964. It was a year later, specifically in August 1965; when John, Paul, George & Ringo were due to play at the Auditorio Nacional or the Ciudad de los Deportes stadium in Mexico City. This was obviously news that thrilled youngsters; but Ernesto Uruchurtu, who was major of Mexico City at the time, considered that The Beatles were a bad example for young Mexicans and that our society was not ready to host these kind of events. If this judgement was correct, we’ll never know, but what we do know is that Mexico had the chance to host The Beatle during their summer of ’65 US Tour.
Anyway, the first real influence from Mexico to The Beatles was the song “Bésame Mucho” by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez (although they played the song as Coasters arranged it). The Boys used to play this song in their early stage act, and even got to record it during their initial session at the Abbey Road studios. This version is available in The Beatles Anthology 1:
Later on, the legendary Mexican comedian Tin Tan did a humorous rendition of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (which can be listened at here.) Since the Boys loved this kind of funny tributes, they later asked Tin Tan to approve use of his image for the cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. He rejected because he though of himself as unworthy of representing Mexico, so he rather chose to send a Tree of Life, a piece of typical Mexican handcraft.
