Now that arena and stadium shows run for hours on end, doing "a fucking matinee" apparently isn't enough. This rings especially true for Sir Paul McCartney, who only has one person to blame for this cultural shift: Bruce Springsteen.
In an appearance on the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, McCartney detailed how short sets were in the '60s in comparison to now. "You were on package bills. These days, pretty much there's a main act and there might be a warm-up act," he said. "But then, it was a lot of people on the bill because nobody did long [sets]. Now people will do three, four hours. I blame Bruce Springsteen. I've told him so. I said, 'It's your fault, man!'"
As the Boss is known for his shows lasting three or four hours (on one meal a day, no less), the former Beatle is steadfast in who's responsible for run-on shows. When O'Brien asked if Springsteen "ruined it for everyone," McCartney responded, "He did! You can't now do an hour," he said. "We used to do a half-hour. That was like the Beatles' thing. Half an hour, and we got paid for it!"
He continued: "I tried to work out, why was it so short? Well, because there were a lot of people on the bill. I think, if you were a comedian, the promoter would say, 'How long can you do? Four minutes?' The guy would say yes, so they would do four, and so we thought, 'Well, half an hour — that's epic.' That was it. A big Beatles show, we were on and off like that. It didn't seem strange."
Macca may be involved in a cultural shift of his own, as he's using AI to unearth an unreleased Beatles track. Regardless, his beef with Springsteen is all in good fun — unlike his scrap with Michael Bublé. At least if his comments upset his buddy Bruce, he can always win friends back with salad.
Listen to McCartney's episode of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend below.
In an appearance on the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend podcast, McCartney detailed how short sets were in the '60s in comparison to now. "You were on package bills. These days, pretty much there's a main act and there might be a warm-up act," he said. "But then, it was a lot of people on the bill because nobody did long [sets]. Now people will do three, four hours. I blame Bruce Springsteen. I've told him so. I said, 'It's your fault, man!'"
As the Boss is known for his shows lasting three or four hours (on one meal a day, no less), the former Beatle is steadfast in who's responsible for run-on shows. When O'Brien asked if Springsteen "ruined it for everyone," McCartney responded, "He did! You can't now do an hour," he said. "We used to do a half-hour. That was like the Beatles' thing. Half an hour, and we got paid for it!"
He continued: "I tried to work out, why was it so short? Well, because there were a lot of people on the bill. I think, if you were a comedian, the promoter would say, 'How long can you do? Four minutes?' The guy would say yes, so they would do four, and so we thought, 'Well, half an hour — that's epic.' That was it. A big Beatles show, we were on and off like that. It didn't seem strange."
Macca may be involved in a cultural shift of his own, as he's using AI to unearth an unreleased Beatles track. Regardless, his beef with Springsteen is all in good fun — unlike his scrap with Michael Bublé. At least if his comments upset his buddy Bruce, he can always win friends back with salad.
Listen to McCartney's episode of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend below.
