FAREWELL TO CANDLESTICK:A Personal Glimpse To Sir Paul McCartney's Au Revoir

August 14,2014--the whole crowd was eagerly waiting as we all bid farewell to Candlestick Park after 50 years of providing entertainment.No,this isn't your average every day rock concert,and what makes it a lot different is that we're making history once again.I'm pretty sure Sir Paul is somewhat sentimental too-being able to play with the Beatles at their very last concert at the said venue and now he's back here again to bid farewell,to take a last glimpse,before Candlestick itself will become history.

Been in the venue around early in the evening where security was a bit tight.With the cops warning the spectators not to take anything from the stadium as a souvenir otherwise will be penalized heavily.Being just an average kid,I settled on a $250 plus tax ticket from my hard forked money,I couldn't afford the best seats especially the VIP ones that costs thousands of dollars-what's this poor lad going to do?

Being on the upper part of the venue where you could hardly see Paul onstage,probably as small as ants to describe it but nevertheless could still feel the excitement and the audience screams with thrill as Paul tore the place apart.

I've been a Beatles fan since discovering them as a child back in the late eighties,first getting the original 13 albums plus Past Masters singles on cassette and later replacing them on CD formats.And no I wasn't around when the Beatles first shook the world back in the sixties but lord knows how much I love them and their music.I did managed to listen to other bands when I was growing up in the 90s but it was the Beatles where I kept on returning to over the fact that no other band on this earth has accomplished what they had,how awesome they ruled the charts and how many good songs they have written.

It's a bit of a shame that Candlestick Park had to be demolished to give way to a commercial center/retail development projects.Imagine how much history 'the Stick' has  got over the last fifty years.Looking at the huge screen that night Paul went onstage,I didn't see a 72 year old rock star but rather a young Beatle who is having his last concert  pre-empting the band's retirement from touring.I could hardly imagine how it felt that night of August 29th 1966 but then I was probably having the same excitement my dad and other folks who lived during that time.The concert's main highlights I would agree is the fireworks show during Live And Let Die.

Armed with nothing but my cellphone,I can say I am quite jealous at the people below especially those at the VIP seats.And it would all be embarassing to post a snapshot of the stage far away from where I am seated.

Among Paul's words at the venue were "Its sad to see this place closing down but we're going to close it with style".Perhaps going sentimental about playing the last gig with the Beatles and going back there the second around,this time to bid farewell to the venue that's about to end up in ruins.Considering that he didn't start the show right away with a video screen having a mixed collage of rock stars,some of them who died in the intervening years.

Though the gig is a part of Paul's tour promoting his new album,wittily titled NEW,the SF concert were filled with Beatles and Wings songs.Tunes that became standards and stood the test of time.

The concert came to an end around past midnight after the last encore,"Thank you, San Francisco, for being cool now and for being cool back then," as the closing remarks ending the concert and thus saying goodbye to Candlestick Park.One might not know what'll happen in the next fifty years but we all have our memories,memories that will last a lifetime.


(c) Keith Vernon Adagio