Over 200 000 people showed up for Sir Paul's free show on the Plains of Abraham, the historic battleground in Quebec City.
I went with a friend who's a huge Beatles fan, he dragged me outta bed at 4:30AM the morning of the concert so we could secure a spot in front of the stage.
We got to the park shortly after they opened the first "staging area" at 5AM and spent the day waiting in line, it wasn't exactly exciting but they at least piped the sound check through the sound system and let us listen in. At 5PM they opened the second staging area, behind the stage. Finally at about 5:45PM they threw the gates to the main site open and it was a free for all.
We managed to get a spot relatively close to the stage (about 100ft back), we could at least see the stage and had a good view of one of the giant screens. Looking back on the sea of humanity on the plains was surreal, you don't really have a mental concept of what 200 000 people look like until you see it for yourself. I hadn't been in a crowd that size since Soleil de minuit in Montreal.
When Paul took the stage the roar from the crowd was deafening.
He played for about 2 and a half hours and along with his solo stuff and Wings stuff he threw in a bunch of Beatles songs; Let it Be, Drive My Car, Get Back, Eleanor Rigby, Blackbird, Yesterday, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Lady Madonna, Back in the U.S.S.R., he did Something as a tribute to George and a medley of A Day in the Life and Give Peace a Chance as a tribute to John and of course threw in Hey Jude.
While going in, I was really just a casual Beatles fan tagging along with my hardcore friend, leaving the concert I really felt I had experienced something special. It's definitely an experience I'll remember for a long time and in the end it was worth getting up at 4:30AM for.
The crowd (really half the crowd, there was an equal amount on the other half of the hill that didn't fit in the frame):
The stage:
Paul takes the stage:
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