Paul McCartney set for San Diego encore concert, according to 'rumours' he cites on his Facebook page

Paul McCartney set for San Diego encore concert, according to ‘rumours’ he cites on his Facebook page

San Diego Union-Tribune

Sept. 13, 2018 7:05 PM PT

Paul McCartney appears set to return to San Diego for his first concert here since his rousing Petco Park show in 2014, according to a reliable source — McCartney himself.

On Thursday, the veteran solo star, Beatles co-founder and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee wrote on his Facebook page: “San Diego! We’ve heard rumours that Paul is bringing his #FreshenUpTour to town in 2019...Get your tour laminate album bundle here! Each laminate comes with a code that could allow access to pre-sales.”

Of course, it’s more than possible McCartney, 74, has a staff member who is assigned to regularly tend to his social media posts for him. But it is more than unlikely McCartney or his management would not have known about — or approved — the San Diego “rumours” post.

McCartney’s 2019 U.S. tour is currently scheduled to kick off May 23 in New Orleans. The closest date to San Diego announced thus far is June 26 in Phoenix. The tour is in support of his new album, “Egypt Station.”

McCartney drew 42,000 people to his 2014 Petco Park show. So far, all eight of his 2019 U.S. concerts announced to date will be in arenas, not stadiums. McCartney’s last arena concert here was in 1976 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now Valley View Casino Center) with his then-band Wings.

AEG Entertainment, which produced his 2014 tour and Petco Park show, is also producing his 2019 U.S. tour. The company owns a controlling interest in Valley View Casino Center.

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga

Music

George Varga

San Diego Union-Tribune music critic George Varga began drumming in rock bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, Varga has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing at the U-T and is a voting member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to providing live coverage of the Grammy Awards and festivals from Coachella and KAABOO to the 1994 edition of Woodstock, he has interviewed everyone from Miles Davis, Britney Spears and (over a game of chess) Ray Charles to Willie Nelson, Kanye West and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis. A triple first prize-winner for criticism and arts writing at the 2022 and 2023 San Diego Press Club awards and a double first prize-winner at the 2022 and 2023 San Diego Society of Professional Journalists awards, Varga is also a contributing writer for Jazz Times magazine and has written for Billboard, Spin and other publications. After attending San Diego City College and San Diego State University, he created and taught the 2002 UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga has written liner notes for more than a dozen albums, including by jazz sax greats James Moody and Michael Brecker, and contributed two chapters to the book, “Dylan: Disc By Disc.”