It was a ninth period to remember.
Wednesday afternoon at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, about 400 teenagers were surprised by a visit from none other than ex-Beatle Paul McCartney. The 71-year-old Brit is currently in town promoting his latest album “New” (which drops Oct. 15) and spent more than an hour playing songs and taking questions from event master of ceremonies Jim Kerr of Q104.3, as well as the school’s star-struck students.
Among the new songs played were a mid-paced rocker called “Save Us” and the album’s title track which he dedicated to his wife Nancy Shevell who was also in attendance. For the most part however, McCartney concentrated on songs from the Wings and Beatles back catalogues, including “Jet,” “Eight Days A Week,” “We Can Work It Out,” and “Back In the U.S.S.R.”
While fielding questions from the floor, McCartney gave the school’s budding creatives an insight into his long and storied career.
“When we first started out, I was terrified of doing anything wrong onstage,” he explained at one point. “I got to learn, though, that people don’t mind. In fact, they kind of like it. People go, ‘I was at the show where he made a mistake!’ ”
Another student asked what the main obstacles in his career have been, to which McCartney simply replied, “The critics,” before singling out one in particular. “At the time, there was a New York Times reviewer who said “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was a load of rubbish. The next week, it went to No. 1, and he took it all back!”
Macca also gave some bits of background information on some of the songs he played. Explaining the origin of the “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” he admitted that he and John Lennon had essentially lifted the lyrics from an unlikely source. “The day we wrote this song, we were looking at John’s wall and there was a circus poster on it. It was a lucky thing, because we pretty much just wrote down what on the poster.”
Before playing a beautiful solo rendition of “Blackbird,” he also added that it was a song written to give the members of the American civil rights movement some hope and encouragement during their struggle.
After the questions were completed, McCartney and his four-piece backing band rounded off the show with “Hey Jude” which enthusiastically joined in a singalong.
It’s not the first time the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts has hosted a big name pop performer. The institution — which was founded 12 years ago by Tony Bennett — also hosted Billy Joel during the summer.
McCartney’s full performance will be streamed via iheartradio.com and Yahoo on Monday, Oct. 14, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.