So you’ve heard that Paul McCartney is coming. It’s a chance to see a Beatle in concert for perhaps the last — or maybe first — time. It’s an opportunity to sing along to “Hey Jude” and other favorites.
On Oct. 17 at U.S. Bank Stadium, Macca, as fans call him, will join a parade of — and I say this respectfully — older music stars on the Minnesota concert schedule this year. The Beatle is well past 64 — he’s 83 now — and still cute, if you ask any female Beatlemaniac.
Why are so many aging baby boomer favorites on the road this year?
David Browne, Rolling Stone senior writer and author of books on the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, has a few theories:
- Some artists are addicted to the adoration of a crowd, “not that that’s a bad thing,” Browne said. “It might take the place of drugs or alcohol. You can only imagine the roar of a crowd in a stadium or arena must be an incredible high for these folks to hear.”
- As artists get older, perhaps they worry about being forgotten. “Keeping themselves out there makes them feel that they’re part of modern music in some way,” Browne said.
- While some senior citizens might keep engaged with Wordle or golf, legacy rock stars keep engaged mentally, physically and spiritually by performing.
- For some artists, life on the road is their life. “When they’re home, that’s not normal life; that’s weird. They don’t know what to do,” Browne said. “They’ve been doing it so long they don’t know any other way to live.” Or simply put, performing is what they do. Period.
- Some veteran artists, believe it or not, might need the money whether to pay ex-spouses or child support, and they could be bankrolling a large staff and band members with health care and other benefits. Nowadays, touring is an artist’s largest source of income, Browne pointed out.
- There’s an audience that wants to see them and it’s not just the old fans, Browne said. “There’s a certain number of millennials and Gen Zers who are kind of curious about this stuff, and they don’t have that chip on their shoulder that perhaps Gen X had about boomers. A lot of these classic rockers were sort of derided as being dinosaurs in the ‘90s and they were only in their 50s. They’ve transcended that and they’re more like rock’s Mount Rushmore, and you have to visit before it’s too late.”
Whether you agree or disagree with Browne’s explanations, you can’t argue with this steady parade of legacy music artists on the Minnesota calendar this year:
Bobby Rush, 91, March 6, the Dakota, Minneapolis. The chatty, playful Southern bluesman charmed with the North Mississippi Allstars, and he’ll return Aug. 17 with Kenny Wayne Shepherd at the Pantages Theatre.
Johnny Mathis, 89, March 8, Mystic Lake Casino, Prior Lake. His body looked bent and frail but his voice was wonderful, wonderful. Three weeks later, he announced he would stop touring because of memory issues.
Bob Dylan, 84, April 4, Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, Mankato. The stage was dimly lit but the Minnesota bard’s words shined through.
