Paul McCartney On How Bruce Springsteen Made Him And Everyone Else Play Longer Shows

Paul McCartney is in his early 80s, and he still hops on stage every show and goes on to play marathon three-hour concerts.

Why — when he could walk out on stage, weave to the crowd, play "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" on a kazoo, and still sell out stadiums — would he do that?

I always assumed it was because of his extensive back catalog from his with Wings and his solo work.

Oh, and the Beatles had a few hits as well.

However, in a recent interview with Conan O'Brien the former Beatle said that wasn't the reason.

He said the reason is that people have come to expect long shows, something that wasn't always the case.

And it's all Bruce Springsteen's fault.

Paul McCartney and Conan O'Brien speak on stage during the 2023 Tribeca Festival at BMCC Theater. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)

Sir Paul Says Bruce Changed The Game With Marathon Concerts

"These days, pretty much there's main act and there might be a warm-up act," McCartney said, per the Daily Mail. "Then , it was a lot of people on the bill because nobody did long, now people will do three or four hours.

"I blame Bruce Springsteen – I've told him so; I said, 'It's your fault man.'"

That makes sense. Think Woodstock. Which musicians from the area didn't perform there? It seems like they let anyone with a guitar onstage, and that was doable because everyone played short sets.

"He did," McCartney said when asked if Springsteen set the trend for everyone, "You can't now do an hour, we used to do a half hour. That was The Beatles thing – half an hour and we got paid for it."

"I tried to work out why was it so short. Well, because there were a lot of people on the bill, and I think when you went to a thing 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 like epic," he said. "It didn't seem strange."

Springsteen is notorious for his marathon shows, and now, it's rare to see any major acts doing shorter concerts like the Beatles used to play.

Nowadays, you'd get a full-fledged riot if the biggest band in the world hopped offstage after just a half-hour onstage.

So, if you like getting your money's worth when you go to a concert, Sir Paul says Bruce is the guy to thank.

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