Over 11 years and 570 episodes, John Rabe and Team Off-Ramp scoured SoCal for the people, places, and ideas whose stories needed to be told, and the show became a love-letter to Los Angeles. Now, John is sharing selections from the Off-Ramp vault to help you explore this imperfect paradise.
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Why would Paul McCartney play for a few hundred people, when he's got thousands in the audience at Desert Trip? As an anonymous member of his entourage told Off-Ramp High Desert Correspondent R.H. Greene, "He loves music."
When Thursday's flash concert was announced at the legendary venue Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown, Greene hit the road, and brought back a tale of the joys and sorrows of superfandom.
Greene - and a superfan named Sue Weisenhaus - didn't get inside, but The Desert Sun's Bruce Fessier reported on the set:
McCartney opened with a solo number, “Save Us,” and then went into a selection of Beatles and Wings songs, including “A Hard Day's Night,” “Junior’s Farm” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Fans screamed and sang along, especially to his Beatles songs. When he tried to end his set with “Hey Jude” after an hour and 15 minutes, he got shrieks before most everyone began singing along. “I can’t stop this thing!” McCartney said. Then he came back for an encore of three more songs.
Fessier also says David Hockney attended, and that the gig — set up at least a few weeks ago — was designed to be as "locals only" as possible.