Just for a bit of fun, while it’s still fresh in the mind, I thought I’d analyse Paul McCartney’s set list from his “Got Back” concert in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago.
Paul McCartney set list, Melbourne 21/10/2023
Song | Band | Album |
Can’t Buy Me Love | Beatles | A Hard Day’s Night |
Junior’s Farm | Wings | single |
Letting Go | Wings | Venus and Mars |
She’s a Woman | Beatles | single |
Got to Get You Into My Life | Beatles | Revolver |
Come On to Me | Solo | Egypt Station |
Let Me Roll It | Wings | Band On The Run |
Getting Better | Beatles | Sgt Pepper |
Let ‘Em In | Wings | Wings at the Speed of Sound |
My Valentine | Solo | Kisses On The Bottom |
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five | Wings | Band On The Run |
Maybe I’m Amazed | Solo | McCartney |
I’ve Just Seen a Face | Beatles | Help! |
In Spite of All the Danger | Quarrymen | single |
Love Me Do | Beatles | Please Please Me |
Dance Tonight | Solo | Memory Almost Full |
Blackbird | Beatles | White Album |
Here Today | Solo | Tug of War |
New | Solo | New |
Lady Madonna | Beatles | single |
Fuh You | Solo | Egypt Station |
Jet | Wings | Band On The Run |
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! | Beatles | Sgt Pepper |
Something | Beatles | Abbey Road |
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da | Beatles | White Album |
You Never Give Me Your Money | Beatles | Abbey Road |
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window | Beatles | Abbey Road |
Band on the Run | Wings | Band On The Run |
Get Back | Beatles | Let It Be |
Let It Be | Beatles | Let It Be |
Live and Let Die | Wings | Live and Let Die |
Hey Jude | Beatles | single |
I’ve Got a Feeling | Beatles | Let It Be |
Birthday | Beatles | White Album |
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) | Beatles | Sgt Pepper |
Helter Skelter | Beatles | White Album |
Golden Slumbers | Beatles | Abbey Road |
Carry That Weight | Beatles | Abbey Road |
The End | Beatles | Abbey Road |
First, we can break down the number of songs by band.
As you can see, quite a bit of songs from Wings and his solo career, but there’s more Beatles than anything else.
![Paul McCartney 21/10/2023: songs by original performer](https://danielbowen.com/uploads/2023/11/Paul-McCartney-Melbourne-21_10_2023_-Songs-by-original-performer.png)
If we find the original album from each song, we can see that the final (recorded, not released) Beatles album Abbey Road gets more tracks than anything else. There are also a lot of singles – back in the 60s, many songs got a single release but not an album release.
![Paul McCartney 21/10/2023: Songs by original album](https://danielbowen.com/uploads/2023/11/Paul-McCartney-Melbourne-21_10_2023_-Songs-by-original-album.png)
Finally, by percentage of each album played. Abbey Road actually ranks second here, with 6 out of 17 tracks played. But the winner is the superb Wings album Band On The Run, with 4 out of 9 tracks played, or 44% of the album.
![Paul McCartney 21/10/2023: Percentage of original album played](https://danielbowen.com/uploads/2023/11/Paul-McCartney-Melbourne-21_10_2023_-percent-of-original-album-played.png)
From all this can we reach any conclusion? Perhaps only that McCartney knows what the crowds like!