May 7 – SEATTLE – After delivering an animated version of “Get Back” Tuesday night at Climate Pledge Arena, Paul McCartney stepped back like a man much younger than his 79 years. Perhaps it’s a response to the Spin writer who described McCartney as “frail” after attending the Got Back Tour opener at Spokane Arena on April 28.

Some members of McCartney’s audience in Spokane, aided by walkers, are indeed fragile, but putting Sir Paul in the same category is absurd. McCartney delivered another 2 hour 40 minute show on the second night of consecutive shows in Seattle. Was it perfect? No. McCartney missed “Here Today,” his tribute to John Lennon halfway through, and had to start over.

“I know it,” McCartney said. “I wrote it,” which drew laughter from the crowd. Moments like this goof are wonderful because it’s real, not canned. Mistakes are rare among musicians of McCartney’s caliber.

“We celebrate mistakes because we rarely make them,” guitarist Steve Van Zandt said last year of his experience as Bruce Springsteen‘s consigliere with the E Street Band.

It was worth driving across the state to discover a few changes to McCartney’s setlist. A clean version of “We Can Work It Out” debuted on tour. The Wings’ “Let ‘Em In,” another Got Back ride premiere, was surprising because it was also part of the opening DJ set.

McCartney, who replaced The Beatles’ ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’ and ‘Women and Wives’, was in high spirits as he dressed in a black waistcoat, black jeans and a button down shirt blue with puffy white clouds, which he sports on his tour commercial.

As for the crowd, Rolling Stone incorrectly called the Spokane crowd “moderate”. During the early parts of the Spokane concert, the audience wasn’t too exuberant, but the crowd reached a crescendo by the encore, which eclipsed the decibel level at Climate Pledge. It’s no surprise since most recording artists visit Seattle, but not everyone makes the trip east on I-90.

Seattle’s audience was more diverse. More blacks, Latinos and Asians were represented in the Emerald City. There were plenty of baby boomers among the 18,000 fans in attendance, but there were many more millennials and kids in the Seattle audience. There was even a mother with a newborn baby wrapped in a blanket, who will one day be told that he or she lived a legend.

Queues for goods were in triple digits at various stands at the end of the show. Fans, who dropped $45 on t-shirts, were in the buying spirit, and who could blame them after experiencing such an uplifting night from an energetic iconoclast?