Paul McCartney Adds Atlanta, Boston and Washington, DC Shows

What began as Paul McCartney christening the New York Mets' new Queens stadium is beginning to develop into a mini tour as Sir Paul has added shows in Boston, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, Georgia, to his summer schedule. And his Website implies more dates are on the way: "Look out for more news on additional dates here on PM.com very, very, soon..." The Atlanta concert on August 15th will be a benefit to raise money for the upkeep of the city's Piedmont Park, which will host the concert.

Piedmont Park was founded in 1887, but local authorities in recent years have struggled to find the funds to maintain it. In 2007, the Dave Matthews Band and Allman Brothers attracted 50,000 concertgoers to the park for a benefit show, and Macca's August 15th concert is expected to eclipse that crowd, the AP reports.

Additionally, McCartney has also booked an August 1st concert at Washington, DC's FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. According to a press release, Paul's set will be stocked with Beatles, Wings and solo career hits, plus some songs from Paul's side project the Fireman and their new album Electric Arguments. The concert will be McCartney's first in the nation's capital since October 2005, however the Beatles' played their first-ever concert in America at the Washington Coliseum in 1964. Tickets for the FedEX Field show go on sale tomorrow, June 26th. McCartney's pair of shows at Boston's Fenway Park (where Phish and Dave Matthews Band recently performed) go down August 5th and 6th.

McCartney's headlining set at Coachella was his most recent stateside gig before he announced a pair of shows at New York's new Citi Field. The structure is a replacement for Shea Stadium, where the Beatles played their legendary concert in 1965; McCartney helped Billy Joel play the last-ever gig there before it was demolished. McCartney's shows at the new stadium are July 17th, 18th and 21st.

Related Stories:
• Paul McCartney Set For First Concerts at New York's Citi Field
• Paul McCartney Pays Tribute to Lost Beatles, Plus Cohen and Morrissey Impress at Coachella
• McCartney To Score Animated Film Based On Children's Book

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter