Today, July 15th 2025, I got a ticket to go see Paul McCartney in… Iowa. I wish it was the most impractical thing I had to do to attempt to see him but that’s a story for another time.

The one time I did get to see him, was one of the most magical nights of my life.

During my first trip to Tokyo in 2018 I learned that he was playing and figured it would be a fun thing to do. I was more of a casual listener back then. I didn’t grow up in a very musical family, but The Beatles was one of the few bands my dad was into. So there was always some emotional attachment to them. I knew them more at the surface level, but I loved the vocal harmonies.

A few things struck me that night:

  • Being able to experience silence in a stadium filled with 55,000 people was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Anytime Paul was talking, everyone was listening. The silence was the truest form of attention. And trust me, everyone was freaking out. It felt both meditative and exhilarating.
  • Hearing Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five for the first time blew my mind.
  • As a French person, I felt an instant connection with the Japanese audience. There was something beautiful about being surrounded by people who, like me, were experiencing these English songs through as pure emotion and melody. We couldn’t understand each other’s languages, but we shared the same profound connection to the music.

Suffice to say that I became a fan on November 1st 2018.

I wish I had better photos to share, but these carry memories that most of my other photo sets don’t come close to matching. Looking back at these photos 7 years later, I can still hear that deafening silence.