By David Farrell
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Paul McCartney & Paris Port Dover Pipe Band
The Paris Port Dover Pipe Band performed the Wings track with McCartney at TD Coliseum on Nov. 21. It marks the band's fourth show with the living rock music legend since 2010.
During Paul McCartney’s show at Hamilton, Ontario’s newly renovated TD Coliseum, he reunited with a local pipe band.
At the Friday (Nov. 21) show, the 83-year-old British rock legend brought out the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band to accompany a performance of the Wings hit “Mull of Kintyre” from 1978’s London Town.
“Mull of Kintyre” is known as McCartney’s love letter to the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. The former Beatle rarely plays the song, except while on select tour dates in the U.K., Canada or Australia. The last time McCartney played the track was in 2017 during a string of shows down under.
Friday night’s performance of the song came during the concert’s encore. As McCartney and his band were jamming out on stage, 28 bagpipers and drummers took their places behind them.
“It was amazing,” band founder and senior pipe major Gord Black told The Simcoe Reformer.
“We were behind the stage for the full show and came out at the end for the encore when the audience was going crazy. Some of the (pipe) band were in awe and some were in tears. It’s quite an experience to have 18,000 people cheering for you and Paul McCartney leading the cheer.”
After a stage runthrough at the TD Coliseum earlier in the day, 18 of the pipers gathered at the underground loading bay to “pipe in” McCartney as he arrived.
“He pointed at me and, after we talked, he shook each band member’s hand,” Black shared with the publication.
Bagpiper Rowan Paniccia told CBC that the opportunity to play with McCartney is something out of her wildest dreams.
“I never would have imagined to have been offered to play with Paul McCartney," she says. "It's just a great feeling knowing what we did, and in front of how many people?"
@markwritesthrillers Mull of Kintyre performed by Sir Paul McCartney, in Hamilton, Ontario, accompanied by the Paris/Port Dover Pipe and Drums. what a thrill that must have been to be on stage. The crowd ate it up! #PaulMcCartney #Beatles #hamiltonontario #paulmccartneygotback @TD Coliseum
After the show, the pipe band took to Instagram to express their gratitude. “For many, it was their first time performing at such a high-profile event — truly a once-in-a-lifetime moment,” they wrote. “We cannot thank Paul McCartney enough for giving the band this incredible opportunity, and we wish him every success for the rest of his tour.”
This isn’t the first time the local group has performed with McCartney. Last Friday marked the fourth time the pipe band has played on stage with the music icon. It’s thanks to a connection made years ago through Brantford funeral home owner — and Beatles fan — Dennis Toll.
In 2010, they joined McCartney at Scotiabank Arena (then known as Air Canada Centre) in Toronto to play “Mull of Kintyre” for two back-to-back shows. Five years later, they took the stage with McCartney for the third time to accompany the track.
“McCartney’s longtime musical director Wix Wickens knows the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band well and trusts them to deliver the emotional weight that ‘Mull of Kintyre’ demands,” Toll shared with The Simcoe Reformer.
The rock icon’s sold-out show in Hamilton launched the newly transformed Hamilton, Ontario venue and marked McCartney's final Canadian stop on this North American leg of his Got Back tour.
