Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 9:29 a.m.
Sadly, the public's chances of catching a former Beatle in action are dwindling with each passing year.
Twenty-one years after John Lennon's assassination in 1980, George Harrison succumbed to brain cancer in 2001, leaving Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as the lone holdovers from the Fab Four.
Fortunately for Las Vegans, however, McCartney will return to town for his second concert on the Strip in six months. The 60-year-old rock legend plays Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena, where he also stopped in April during the first leg of his long U.S. tour.
As always, McCartney is treating his fans to what they want: a long show packed with Beatles classics, along with a sampling from his hit-and-miss solo career.
Throughout the "Back in the U.S. Tour," the onetime Beatles songwriter, vocalist and bassist has also been paying tribute to his fallen former bandmates, dedicating songs to both Lennon and Harrison.
Who: Paul McCartney.
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena.
When: Sunday, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $125, $225, $300.
Call: 891-7777.
Opening band: None.
Personnel: Paul McCartney (vocals, bass, keyboard), Rusty Anderson (guitar), Brian Ray (guitar, bass), Paul "Wix" Wickens (keyboard, accordion), Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums).
Latest release: "Driving Rain" (Capitol, 2001).
Album feedback: "McCartney is one legend with a penchant for breeziness, and many of his lesser solo discs traffic in mere pleasantness. This isn't one of those." (Rolling Stone, 4 stars); "Too many of these 16 tunes sound like they were scribbled down just before the band plugged in." (Entertainment Weekly, B)
Essential Beatles releases: "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), "Help!" (1965), "Rubber Soul" (1965), "Revolver" (1966), "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967), "The Beatles" (The White Album, 1968), "Abbey Road" (1969), "Let it Be" (1970), "Pastmasters Vol. 2" (1988).
Essential solo releases: "McCartney" (1970), "Ram" (1971), "Band on the Run" (1973), "Tug of War" (1982), "Flaming Pie" (1997).
What to expect: McCartney's 2 1/2-hour shows are broken into four parts: an electric "warmup" set, an acoustic portion, another electric segment featuring many of his most beloved classics and a pair of encores. He generally plays upwards of 35 songs, touching on all eras of his 40-year career.
Recent set list: Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Wash., Saturday: "Hello, Goodbye," "Jet," "All My Loving," "Getting Better," "Coming Up," "Let Me Roll It," "Lonely Road," "Driving Rain," "Your Loving Flame." Acoustic set: "Blackbird," "Every Night," "We Can Work it Out," "You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight," "Fool on the Hill," "Here Today," "Something," "Eleanor Rigby," "Michelle," "Here, There and Everywhere" (acoustic set ends), "Band on the Run," "Back in the U.S.S.R.," "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Let 'em In," "My Love," "She's Leaving Home," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Freedom," "Live and Let Die," "Let it Be," "Hey Jude." First encore: "The Long and Winding Road," "Lady Madonna," "I Saw Her Standing There." Second encore: "Yesterday," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "The End." (from fansite macca-central.com)
Tour feedback: "McCartney and his backing quartet did Fab Four songs in a way that The Beatles themselves would never have been able to accomplish outside of the studio and onstage because of the limitations of their equipment at the time." (Boston Herald); "There was really no urgency or edge to his music .. there was occasional poignancy in those silly love songs and beautiful ballads, and there was lots of fun in the rollicking rockers and peppy pop." (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune)
Previous Las Vegas appearances: Aug. 20, 1964 (Convention Center, with The Beatles); April 14, 1993 (Sam Boyd Stadium); April 5, 2002 (MGM Grand Garden).
Says McCartney: "I was thinking the other day about the achievements people want in life. It was sort of shocking as I started to think about some of mine. Imagine being the guy who wrote with John Lennon? Are you kidding? I have such an admiration for John, like most people. But to be the guy who wrote with him -- well, that's enough. Right there you could retire and go, 'I had a fantastic life. Take me, Lord.' " (Rolling Stone, Nov., 2001)
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