Miami: McCartney's talents enchant crowd Sep 17, 2005 Magical Mystery Tour By Leslie Gray Streeter - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Leslie G. Streeter Those three words said it perfectly. It was, after all, the first song in the first show of Paul McCartney's "Us" tour, which started Friday night at Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena. The mystery is in how a 63-year-old man is still so lithe, so liltingly sweet of voice, and, yes, so darned cute. And the magical part? Well... have you ever seen Paul McCartney? As expected, the evening was a jaunt into the former Beatle's musical closet, from his work with his legendary first band, his Wings work and his solo classics. But also a place to introduce the sold-out crowd of the faithful to songs from his new album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. And the crowd — mostly shiny-eyed Baby Boomers and, in some cases, their equally shiny-eyed children and new keepers of the Fab Four flame — was appreciative of the newer songs, like the pleasant Fine Line and the soft, if shaky, Jenny Wren. But they were there to celebrate in McCartney's rich back catalog, to beam nostalgically and waltz in their seats to Til There Was You, to point and pump their arms during Jet, and to sing blissfully along with the poignant The Long and Winding Road, as the once and future Cute One provided the earnest backing on piano. And McCartney, smiling broadly and soaking up the goodwill, was only too happy to oblige. From the Paul-narrated video of old family, Beatles, Wings and solo clips that preceded his entrance, to the many sing-alongs, he seemed happy to conduct that trip down memory lane salted with the occasional new song, as long as everyone had a good time. "Hello, Miami Beach!" he yelled, after a well-received version of Wings' Jet. "Hello, Florida! Hello, America!" Of course, McCartney wasn't actually in Miami Beach, but in Miami. But he's a knight, so I think he's allowed. It must be a musically interesting place to have nothing else left to prove to anybody, but still producing major albums. Maybe that accounts for the ease that McCartney has as a live performer. If you're there, you already love him. You know most of the songs, and most of the words of those songs. So the man seemed content to just spin out whatever he wanted, telling stories along the way. McCartney preceded In Spite of All The Danger, the first song that The Quarrymen, the Beatles' earliest incarnation, recorded with a story of how each of the five members paid a pound each to record it, and then kept it each a week. He played the softly brilliant I Will and explained that he did so because a guy in a Mexican restaurant told him his daughter had played it in her high school show. The only time that McCartney's voice faltered was during the aforementioned Jenny Wren, a song about a girl dreaming for a perfect world. Some of the notes seemed to elude McCartney, but by the time he trilled Blackbird or led a giant screaming sing-along on Band on the Run, the perfect notes were back. Not that the crowd ever left. They were with him all the way. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/local_news/ epaper/2005/09/17/m5c_mccartney_0917.html NOV@MUSIC - all rights reserved ©2003