By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
May 18, 1997
If there’s one thing Paul McCartney knows, it’s how to charm an audience. Wearing a casual black suit, white T-shirt and a pair of trendy “trainers” (they’re sneakers to us Yanks), the former
Beatle came across as relaxed and congenial during a live telecast and Webcast Saturday afternoon.
He made quips that had the studio audience laughing and invited the enthralled fans to sing along on a silly tune he made up for the event.
The hourlong “McCartney’s Town Hall Meeting” was broadcast live by the cable music channel VH1 from London’s Bishopsgate Institute. Most Beatles fans will recognize the venue from the Beatles song “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”: The celebrated Mr. K.; Performs his feat on Saturday; At Bishopsgate.
McCartney’s appearance preceded the May 27 release of “Flaming Pie,” his first new album in four years. He answered a couple dozen questions, which were selected from more than 3 million queries sent to him via the Internet, phone, mail, fax and on-the-street interviews. He then chatted online with fans during a live half-hour Webcast.
The question everyone asked was whether the Beatles would ever reunite.
“It’s highly likely that before the Anthology project, we might have reunited if John (Lennon) were around,” he said, referring to his former bandmate, who was killed Dec. 8, 1980. “People gave us a lot of offers to reunite, but you can’t do it without John. People say maybe (Lennon’s sons) Julian or Sean could’ve sat in, but without John there is no Beatles. There’s the Threetles, but it’s not the same. So we just got into the Anthology project and enjoyed it.”
The Beatles Anthology trilogy – released over the last two years – scored three consecutive No. 1 recordings.
McCartney also revealed that he and Lennon once considered taking up an offer by “Saturday Night Live” to reunite the Beatles on the comedy show for the princely sum of $1,000. They decided against it.
Asked which ’90s groups he was into, McCartney, who recently was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, said, “Most of the new artists I know through my kids. I like Beck. I like Oasis.”
When the audience snickered because many critics consider Oasis to be a Beatles copycat, Sir McCartney continued, “I do like them. I think they sing good and play well. And if they’re going to be derivative, it might as well be something I’m connected with.”
President Clinton also made a taped appearance.
“I think (the Beatles) were brilliant,” he said. “I still think `Eleanor Rigby’ was one of the most powerful songs ever.”
McCartney returned the admiration for his famous fan, but said his favorite Beatles song was the lovely ballad “Here, There and Everywhere.”
“Flaming Pie” will be released 30 years after “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and 40 years after McCartney met Lennon. The album title also has a Beatles connection.
“John . . . came up with the dubious origins of the Beatles (name),” McCartney said. “He said it came in a vision . . . from a man on a flaming pie who said, `You shall be the Beatles with an `a.'”
