The Up and Coming Tour Takes Paul And His Band To Their 200th Performance
Salt Lake City – Tuesday 13th July 2010
Paul and his band started their ‘Up and Coming’ Tour in March of this year in Phoenix, USA. The tour quickly established itself as THE live experience of 2010. Playing massive sell-out stadium shows across the US, Mexico, Ireland and the UK, the show has been picking up amazing reviews from music fans and critics alike. The tour has broken sales records, taken in a show at the White House in front of President Barack Obama and his family and been this summer’s hottest ticket with audience members including a superstar line-up; Chris Martin, Jack Nicholson, Kanye West, Neil Young, Dave Grohl, The Jonas Brothers, Kings Of Leon, John Paul Jones, Willie Nelson, Samuel L Jackson, David Walliams, Stephen Merchant and many more. The tour also found time for a performance at The Old Vic theatre’s fundraiser at Battersea Power Station, which included a stage invasion from ultra fan Kevin Spacey! A big chunk of the funds raised went to the McCartney family’s Meat Free Monday campaign.
This tour takes the band to a new benchmark. Paul McCartney’s concert in Salt Lake City today, Tuesday 13th July will mark this band’s 200th show together.
Paul McCartney, Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens (keyboards), Brian Ray (guitar/bass guitar), Rusty Anderson (guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums) have been touring together since 2002’s ‘Back In The World’ Tour. Over the last 8 years the band has travelled the world and played some groundbreaking and headline-making shows together. Stand-out moments have included 2003’s performance to over 500,000 people outside the Coliseum in Rome and Paul’s first show in Red Square, Moscow. In 2004 the band gave the Glastonbury Festival its most legendary moment to date when Paul and the band showed festival-goers how it’s really done. 2005 saw Paul and the band making history again as he performed live to the International Space Station waking up the NASA astronauts. In 2008 Paul and the band did a series of special one-off concerts, headlining the Liverpool Sound concert at Anfield; the largest ever outdoor music event in Kiev, Ukraine, with over 500,000 people lining the streets to watch the show, a show in Quebec city’s national park, The Plains Of Abraham, to 300,000 people to celebrate Quebec’s 400th anniversary. September took them to Tel Aviv for Paul’s first ever concert in Israel where the Beatles were banned from performing at the height of Beatlemania in the 60s. In 2009 Paul and the band toured the US throughout the summer and Europe in the winter. The tour commenced with the inaugural run of shows at New York’s Citi Field Stadium, which was the site of the former Shea Stadium where The Beatles made history in 1965 playing a concert that set the precedent for the modern day stadium rock show. Critics hailed the Citi Field performances (watched by over 100,000 people) as the concert experience of a lifetime. 2009 ended with an epic sell-out show at London’s O2 Arena.
Speaking about the band Paul said: ‘The great thing is that we have grown into a band. It’s funny because I always felt we were a bunch of guys playing together and were very lucky because we made a good noise that we found ourselves excited to be in the middle of. Last year I just suddenly said to myself, “Wait a minute, you have been playing with these guys for, like, nine years now.” Whether you like it or not that makes you a band and that is the great thing. That is what happened to us, we have become a band almost without noticing.’
As for how many live shows Paul himself has played, records indicate it’s well in excess of 3,000. In a lifetime of performing, Paul has played an impressive range of venues and locations. From pub gigs to huge outdoor parks and stadiums – from unannounced stripped-back university shows with Wings to performing at Buckingham Palace, Moscow’s Red Square and the White House. Paul’s live shows have reached a new legendary status in recent years, garnering unprecedented reviews from fans and critics alike wherever he goes. He’s pushed boundaries, performed to millions and made global news with countless monumental shows.
For further information:
Paul McCartney Press Office
UK – Stuart Bell – stuart.bell@dawbell.com
+ 44 207 484 5012
US – Steve Martin – steve@nastlylittleman.com
+ 1 917 257 6362
About The Band:
Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens – Keyboards
Wix has worked with Paul McCartney since 1989 and played in the band of the 1989-90, 1993 and world tours since 2002. Wix has played on more than 60 top 40 records, including six No.1s. Wix also produced Tasmin Archer’s No1. Hit ‘Sleeping Satellite’. Wix has also worked with: The Pretenders, Céline Dion, Joni Mitchell, Bon Jovi, The The, Bob Dylan, George Michael, Ry Cooder, Status Quo, Prefab Sprout, Dave Stewart, Mike and the Mechanics, The Chieftains, Alicia’s Attic, Seal, Texas, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Don Henley, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt.
Brian Ray – Guitar/Bass Guitar
Brian wrote Smokey Robinson’s hit ‘One Heartbeat’ and has also written and played for Rita Coolidge and Leonard Cohen’s son Adam. With Abe Laboriel Jr., he also toured extensively in France with Johnny Hallyday and Mylène Farmer and has also played with Shakira.
Brian joined Paul McCartney at the Super Bowl performance in 2002 and has toured with Paul ever since.
Rusty Anderson – Guitar
For the past 20 years Rusty has been one of LA’s principal session guitarists, working with producers including David Kahne, Patrick Leonard, Rick Nowles and Matt Serletic. Rusty first joined Paul McCartney on the ‘Driving Rain’ album in 2001 and has been in his band ever since.
Rusty has also worked with: Elton John, New Radicals, Santana, Sinead O’Connor, Ronan Keating, Enrique Iglesias, Little Richard, Neil Diamond, Avril Lavigne, Courtney Love, Stewart Copeland, Willie Nelson and Jewel.
Abe Laboriel Jr. – Drums
Abe joined Paul McCartney on the 2001 album ‘Driving Rain’ and has performed with Paul and the band live since 2002. Abe has worked with Steve Vai, Seal, k.d. lang, Sting, Hanson, Fishbone, Scritti Politti, Melissa Etheridge and Chris Isaak.