Ray Manzarek died aged 74

Ray Manzarek died today, aged 74. Famous for being the talented keyboard player of The Doors, he also had some connection to The Beatles.

In March 1973 (40 years ago) Ray Manzarek and the two other remaining Doors members (Robbie Krieger and John Densmore) arrived in London to look for a possible replacement for deceased Doors singer Jim Morrison.

Some of the names on Ray's list were Iggy Pop, Joe Cocker and Howard Werth (of The Audience). But they also had a meeting with Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney said the following about The Doors: "I always liked the Doors and was sorry I missed them at Isle of Wight. It was a few months after the breakup and I wasn’t in a good place. But their music has always been cool."

Ray Manzarek recalls how they came up with Paul McCartney: "It was clear we needed to find a new front man. We couldn’t go on with me and Robby. So we figured let’s go to London and find someone. We thought about Joe Cocker- he’s a great singer. Iggy Pop came up. Do you know him? From the Stooges? Really raw and onstage he’s kinda like Jim, way out there. We were talking about singers we liked and Robby loved Little Richard. He said “that’s rock power.” That’s when I thought, what about Paul McCartney? Besides singing better than all of us he is the best bass player around and I won’t have to play bass anymore. We’d be like Lennon, musically at least, and provide that darkness and edge. So I called Paul and I was happy he agreed to come by and talk."

Complete list of Roy Orbison and The Beatles Tour 1963

After playing for smaller audiences in April and May 1963, The Beatles went again on a monster tour, this time with Roy Orbison. Orbison was a major star, having had a string of hits which included Only The Lonely, Crying, Love Hurts, Running Scared, In Dreams and many many more.

Much later Roy Orbison would become one of the Traveling Willburys (together with George Harrison)

18 May Adelphi, Slough
19 May Gaumont, Hanley
20 May Gaumont, Southampton
22 May Gaumont, Ipswich
23 May Odeon, Nottingham
24 May Granada, Walthamstow
25 May City Hall, Sheffield
26 May Empire, Liverpool
28 May Gaumont, Worcester
29 May Rialto, York
30 May Odeon, Manchester
31 May Odeon, Southend-on-Sea
1 June Granada, Tooting
2 June Hippodrome, Brighton
3 June Granada, Woolwich
4 June Town Hall, Birmingham
5 June Odeon, Leeds
7 June Odeon, Glasgow
8 June City Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
9 June King George's Hall, Blackburn

Please Please Me reaches number 1 in the UK Albums Chart

Yes! Exaclty 50 years ago the first Beatles LP reached the coveted top spot in the official Album charts in the UK

UK OFFICIAL ALBUM CHART of 11 May 1963

1. Please Please Me - The Beatles (2)
2.Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard and the Shadows (1)

3. Reminiscing - Buddy Holly (2)
4. I'll Remember You - Frank Ifield (4)
 5. West Side Story - Original Soundtrack (6)
6. Girls! Girls! Girls! - Elvis Presley (7)
7. All Star Festival - Various Artists (5) 
8. All Alone Am I - Brenda Lee (10)

9. Hats of to Del Shannon - Del Shannon (new)
10. South Pacific  - Original Soundtrack (8)

Paul McCartney live at Estadio Governor Placido Castelo in Fortaleza, Brazil

Paul McCartney appeared life at the Placido Castelo Stadium in Fortaleza, his last leg of the Brazilian Out There Tour

The Set List:

    Eight Days A Week
    Junior's Farm
    All My Loving
    Listen To What The Man Said
    Let Me Roll It
    Paperback Writer
    My Valentine
    Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five
    The Long And Winding Road
    Maybe I'm Amazed
    Hope Of Deliverance
    We Can Work It Out
    Another Day
    And I Love Her
    Blackbird
    Here Today
    Your Mother Should Know
    Lady Madonna
    All Together Now
    Mrs Vandebilt
    Eleanor Rigby
    Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!
    Something
    Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
    Hi, Hi, Hi
    Band On The Run
    Back In The USSR
    Let It Be
    Live And Let Die
    Hey Jude

    Day Tripper
    Lovely Rita
    Get Back

    Yesterday
    Helter Skelter
    Golden Slumbers
    Carry That Weight
    The End

Paul McCartney live at Estadio Serra Dourada in Goiania, Brazil

Today Paul McCartney gave his second concert in Brazil during his "Out There" Tour.

Normally Paul McCartney is a punctual performer, but this time the concert started half an hour late because Paul's jet got delayed due to bad weather

McCartney's band was :
- Paul 'Wix' Wickens (vocals, keyboards, guitar, percussion, harmonica),
- Brian Ray (vocals, guitar, bass),
- Rusty Anderson (vocals, guitar) and
- Abe Laboriel Jr (vocals, drums).

The Setlist:


    Eight Days A Week
    Junior's Farm
    All My Loving
    Listen To What The Man Said
    Let Me Roll It
    Paperback Writer
    My Valentine
    Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five
    The Long And Winding Road
    Maybe I'm Amazed
    Hope Of Deliverance
    We Can Work It Out
    Another Day
    And I Love Her
    Blackbird
    Here Today
    Your Mother Should Know
    Lady Madonna
    All Together Now
    Mrs Vandebilt
    Eleanor Rigby
    Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!
    Something
    Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
    Band On The Run
    Hi, Hi, Hi
    Back In The USSR
    Let It Be
    Live And Let Die
    Hey Jude

    Day Tripper
    Lovely Rita
    Get Back

    Yesterday
    Helter Skelter
    Golden Slumbers
    Carry That Weight
    The End

Paul McCartney kicks off his Out There tour in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Today, Saturday May 4 2013, Paul McCartney kicked off his new World Tour (aptly called "Out There) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Approximately 55,000 fans watched the 70-year old ex-Beatle perform many songs that he never before performed live in concert.

First treat of the evening was "Eight Days a Week" which The Beatles only performed during their 1965 concerts. Other unique songs were "Your Mother Should Know", "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and "All Together Now".

He also performed Lovely Rita for the first time and Another Day

The complete Belo Horizonte setlist

• Eight Days A Week
• Junior's Farm
• All My Loving
• Listen To What The Man Said
• Let Me Roll It
• Paperback Writer
• My Valentine
• Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
• The Long And Winding Road
• Maybe I'm Amazed
• Hope Of Deliverance
• We Can Work It Out
• Another Day
• And I Love Her
• Blackbird
• Here Today
• Your Mother Should Know
• Lady Madonna
• All Together Now
• Mrs Vandebilt
• Eleanor Rigby
• Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
• Something
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
• Band on the Run
• Hi, Hi, Hi
• Back in the U.S.S.R.
• Let It Be
• Live And Let Die
• Hey Jude

Encore:
• Day Tripper
• Lovely Rita
• Get Back

Second Encore:
• Yesterday
• Helter Skelter
• Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End

The Beatles on the Classics 100 of Flemish Radio 1

Every year the most important Flemish radio station (Radio 1) publishes its Top 100 of classic rock and pop songs.

At the moment of writing, they are counting down and have arrived at number 80.

So far, the following Beatles or Beatles-related songs have been played. I wonder if any other will make it to the top 10. I'm counting on Yesterday, Hey Jude and Imagine to make an impact.

Update: there will be a total of 6 Beatles songs in the list (not counting solo-projects) The list (2013) so far:

004 The Beatles A Day In The Life

014 John Lennon Imagine

028 The Beatles Here Comes The Sun

051 The Beatles Hey Jude

059 The Beatles Yesterday

064 The Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever

081 The Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps

154 The Beatles Get Back

162 The Beatles Something

164 The Beatles In My Life

180 The Beatles I Am The Walrus

193 The Beatles Let It Be

219 The Beatles Eleanor Rigby

229 Wings Band On The Run

235 John Lennon Jealous Guy

277 John Lennon Working Class Hero