Saw Paul McCartney at the Isle of Wight Festival last night. He put on a great show, but why oh why does he persevere with his violin bass? I know it's his trademark, but it was pretty near inaudible and and didn't add anything to the bottom end. After all the great bass sounds of the other bands ( Jazz and P-basses predominated) I would have to say his was the poorest bass sound of the weekend. He followed Pink who was awesome (great girl bassist using a P-bass) which didn't help. He really worked hard however, put everything into his performance, did 3 or 4 encores, ran well over time and in the end totally won over the 65,000 crowd. Great gig - but it would have really rocked with a decent bass sound.
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Hofner bass at the Isle of Wight.
- Thread starter PDQbass
- Start date
- Feb 24, 2004
- 4,103
- 642
- 68
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Phantom Guitars, Eastwood Guitars
it is his trademark. i have seen him many times and the hofner sounded fine - like a hofner....
this may have been the sound guys fault...
this may have been the sound guys fault...
I saw the Beatles in 65 or 66 at Shea.....no kidding and he used it there, I would love to see him and the "Beatle-Bass"...It would not be the same if he used a P bass would it.?...Sounds like the concert was great ............!
Mark Wilson
Supporting Member
No one goes to see Paul McCartney for the bass tone.
They go to see Paul McCartney because he's Paul McCartney
They go to see Paul McCartney because he's Paul McCartney
Another thing you all might want to consider is that the Hofner is easy to play-after all the guy is 68 years old. He doesn't exactly play a short set. Being light weight and easy to play is probably a portion of the reason he still uses the Hofner.
Come guys Macca is like 70 give the old geezer a break he can't shoulder those heavy basses anymore. It might be his trademark but it could all be about comfort now.
We are bassists so we are naturally more critical looking for the best sound and how the bass sits in the mix. The Hofner sounds good and the casual fan won't be thinking about any of this. Paul has stated that he loves the comfort factor,but lets face it...he plays the Hofner also because the fans get a big kick out of seeing him with it...I know I would! That's a historic piece of gear and to see Pauly with it on stage is like a once in a life time deal for alot of people.
