Let it Be

I got to see a real live Beatle last night.

Paul McCartney played the ballpark, and was completely, terrifically, amazing and Lily and I got to be there for it.

We were excited to bump into our pal Kim and her family.  

Kim took this photo of Lily and I as we waited for Sir Paul. We had very good seats, which was great for me, but didn't much matter for Lily.

This was her expression when Sir Paul bounced on stage.

 And this is why... this was the view from Lily's eye level.  

I forgot that when you are ten, every seat in the stadium is restricted view.

 

 But no matter.

Seconds later a beautiful thing happened.

Jumbotron booted up and there was Paul himself.

Giant Paul, 8 stories Tall Greatbig Paul.

Thank you Jumbotron, we love you.

Giant Jumbotron Paul sang to Lily and I (ok, and 41,500 others) for three hours straight. 

Not only did he sing, but he danced, and told really cool anecdotes. Who else could reminisce about John, and George and then drift into funny stories about Jimi (Hendrix) and Eric (Clapton)? 

Lily has been a Beatle-maniac since she was six. She knew almost all of his songs and was moved to rock out. Since she is ten, and not 13 or so, so she was not embarrassed in the least to dance with her frumpy ole' mom. 

She had a great time...she threw her hands up and did the peace-out sway as Paul adorably asked us to "Give Peace a Chance." Then she had the fabulous idea to booty- bump all of the way through "Ob-La-Da, Life, Goes On." 

Yep, my girl is one fun chica.  

There were some mellow moments too...

When Jumbotron Paul shifted over to his piano and played the first few bars of Let it Be, I lost it... its a beautiful song and Paul McCartney's giant Jumbotron head was singing... to me.

So I got emotional, so what.  

But then, a lovely thing happened, my cute girl scootched over to me and and let me hold her for the length of the song.  

And as the breeze blew back those 68 year old Jumbotron bangs I soaked it all in and was able to fully embrace the summertime moment of Paul McCartney singing "Let it Be,"to my girl and I under the stars.

Then I kind of ruined the moment (just a little bit) by imploring to Lily that she remember all of this, so I could get credit for being a good mom later on when I'll need it. Only she couldn't hear me very well due to the 41,500 whooping it up fans- so Miss Lily will associate the last few lines of Paul's "Let it Be" with me screaming at her to "...remember this, always remember this song and this night- ok, got it, can you hear me? got it!?" 

And then "Let it Be" was over and the next thing I know Sir Paul has launched into "Live and Let Die" and there are EXPLOSIONS and FIREWORKS and Paul is in the middle of it all screaming into the mic and working his historic and groovy Beatle boots like a teenager.

Lily couldn't help herself and leaped onto her chair to see the melee and we both screamed like girls.

And if the pyrotechnics weren't enough...

HE PLAYED HIS UKULELE!

Our family loves the twangy uke sounds (we might be a smidge dorky) and so did George Harrison, (definitely, not dorky) who wrote "Something" with the ukulele. Paul spoke of George and played his song and it was pure awesomeness.

The man himself and his uber cool ukulele.

 

 The stadium was filled with Jumbotrons, so you could still watch giant Paul while you trekked to the ladies room.

 Fabulous.

I didn't realize that there was an official Wings hand gesture until Paul did the double hands "W" move, 

He said."...this one is for the Wings fans out there," before he played Band on the Run.

Of course, this move became a favorite of Lily's by the end of the night.

Here she is leaving the concert... "Wings!"

As we were walking to our car, we met this gentleman on the corner who was playing, guess what..."Let it Be." We listened and enjoyed, and I didn't tear up this time but it was still very good.

Mr Williams introduced himself to us and invited us to come hear him play sometime at the Blue Wisp...cool.

And so ends a very fun, very musical night with my favorite 10 yr old girl and my favorite Beatle.

My hope is that Lily does always remember it just as perfectly as I will.