Why Paul McCartney Loves Using Explosives During ‘Live and Let Die’
“Live and Let Die” is a staple at Paul McCartney’s concerts. The former Beatle almost always performs his James Bond theme song while on tour, and it’s an epic sight to see. What makes this song so epic is McCartney’s use of explosives, which shoot off right after he sings the title. “Live and Let Die” is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and McCartney explained why he loves performing it consistently.
Paul McCartney loves watching the audience during the explosions of ‘Live and Let Die’
Anyone who has seen Paul McCartney live or his performances online have witnessed the booming explosions during “Live and Let Die”. It seems unsafe as McCartney looks enveloped by the fireworks that go off right when the chorus begins. Fortunately, the singer is safe, as many safety precautions are being enforced. In an interview for his website, McCartney said the decision to include explosives was a salute to Bond movies.
“When we started performing it to big audiences, we got a bit creative and thought of all the explosions in Bond films,” McCartney said. “That’s what they’re all about! So, we got our pyrotechnics guy – who is amazingly called ‘Shaky’ – and together, we worked it up. He did the explosions, and then we got our lighting guys to come in and add some sympathetic lighting to it, then our stage designer did the film that comes up behind us where we kind of blow up the Houses of Parliament and stuff like that. It all came together as a really nice moment in the show.”
The main reason McCartney loves the explosions so much is the reactions from the audience. Since he can’t see everyone, he watches the front row and sees how much they jump when the boom happens.
“By adding these big explosions, you know it’s going to make people jump out of their seat, and what we all love to do as a band is watch the front row,” he continued. “You can see the people who haven’t been to the show before because it shocks them! If it’s a couple, they look at each other and go, ‘Oh my God, did you see that?’ Which amuses us.”
McCartney was worried about how the explosives would affect one audience member
Any audience members sitting closer to the stage are in for the surprise of their life when Paul McCartney sings “Live and Let Die”. It’s startling, and people who are not prepared could be frightened by it. The “Let it Be” singer shared that during one performance, he saw an old lady in the front row and was concerned the effects would be too much for her. Fortunately, she was fine, but it could have stopped the concert.
“I remember this very old lady at the front. At a guess, I’d maybe say she was ninety or something,” he explained. “She was loving the show, and I’d started singing the opening lines of the song, ‘When you were young, and your heart was an open book…’ But then I looked at her and thought, ‘Oh God! We’re going to kill her! What do we do?’ I carried on and got to the crucial bit, ‘Say live and let die’ and… BOOM! The explosions went off. I sheepishly looked over, expecting the worst, and she was going, ‘Yeah!’ She was loving it! So, we didn’t kill her; we thrilled her!”
