I’ve been to a lot of concerts (see this Google doc for the full list) and seen a lot of entertainment at tech shows over the years. Tech conferences are not the best place to see a show, since it’s usually not the band’s core audience and the venues often are mediocre. When I heard that Paul McCartney would be the the musical guest at HP Discover, I was excited for the opportunity to see a Beatle live, but didn’t have high expectations. Well, ten thousand of us were in for a performance of a lifetime. Sir Paul and his band put on a show that lasted over 2 hours plus 2 encores. About 3/4 of his performance was Beatles material and only once did he say “this is one of my newer songs”. While most tech events bring the band to the show, we were brought to MGM where we got the full concert treatment including multi-media display of the McCartney archive (created in a partnership with HP). In all, it was one of the top concerts that I have ever seen - even at 68, he delivered an emotional and engaging performance that I’ll never forget.
A lot of the attendees took videos, so if you’d like to see a bit of it - check out these YouTube clips:
Live and Let Die had a great pyrotechnic display and rocked harder than the Guns & Roses cover
Accoustic versions of Yesterday and Blackbird
UPDATE: Marc Farley (@HPSisyphus) shared a neat website that has full setlists from concerts - here’s the McCartney one.
McCartney Amazes
I wouldn’t say that I’m a fanatic, but I do like a good roller coaster. I prefer steel coasters to the wooden ones, mostly because I am tall and the vibration of the wooden ones usually give me too much whiplash. I finally got to go on the #1 Steel Coaster according to a number of websites - Bizarro (formerly Superman) at Six Flags New England (Riverside). Here are my favorites:
- Bizarro - Six Flags New England, Agawam, MA
- Millenium Force - Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH
- Hulk - Universal Studios, Orlando, FL
- Great American Scream Machine - Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ
- Maverick - Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH
The common theme on these rides which I like are great speed (55-75MPH), good length (all about a minute long), and a good mix of twists and turns. I prefer these to some of the ultra-fast, but less complex rides such as Kingda Ka (Great Adventure) and Top Thrill Dragster (Cedar Point). I’ve been to Cedar Point and Universal Studios FL twice, Riverside three times (I live in MA) and Great Adventure probably a dozen times (grew up in NJ). Disney has some great rides - Everest would be in my top 10, but I wouldn’t put it in the same category as the more coaster focused parks. Cedar Point lives up to its name as “The Roller Coaster Capital of the World”.
Steel Coasters
