McCartney Show Raises Spirits and Cash in New York

Paul McCartney and his musical friends exhorted a Madison Square Garden audience to “Let it Be” on Saturday night in a glittering and emotional concert amid a weekend of benefits for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“The Concert for New York,” broadcast live on the VH1 cable channel, also featured such pop-rock stars as Elton John and Mick Jagger performing for an audience that included 6,000 uniformed firefighters, police and rescue workers.

These guests of honor were seated in prime seats on the floor of the arena--for free--while thousands of others paid from $200 to $10,000 for the 6-hour concert.

“At my salary, I’m usually way up there, in the top row,” said Det. Jim Matamoros, pointing to the balcony. For this concert, he and colleagues from the Queens detective bureau were in the seventh row, a reward for their work searching for traces of bodies in the rubble at the trade center site, at the morgue and at the landfill where the debris is taken.

“Life has changed. We’re changed,” said Det. Lou Garza, a 20-year police veteran. “They say we should get back to normal, but I don’t know what normal is. This is nice, though.”

Another police officer, Brendan Murray, got backstage where he wound up with autographs of McCartney and former President Clinton--on his chest.

The officers and firefighters got the first standing ovation after David Bowie opened the concert by singing Paul Simon’s “America,” and spoke of the crowd as “my fellow New Yorkers.” Saluting his “local ladder,” Bowie said, “It’s an absolute privilege to play for you.”

It was a night of some new music from headliner McCartney, whose father was a volunteer firefighter in Liverpool during WWII. He introduced “Freedom,” a ballad he wrote after the terrorist attacks. It’s a mid-tempo sing-along that includes the line, “I will fight for the right to live in freedom.”

But the Garden event was mostly a night of classic pop-rock, much of it performed against a backdrop of the city on a screen behind them. The selections ranged from Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” and The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” to James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and the John-Joel pairing on “Your Song.”

The musical acts were broken up by appearances by movie stars such as Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, many of whom sported firefighter and police hats. Between songs, the audience also saw short films by New York directors, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee, as well as one by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who recently staged his own benefit concert in Carnegie Hall.

There were appearances by Clinton, New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, whose office was the target of an anthrax letter. New York sports figures also appeared, including Yankee manager Joe Torre, who was accompanied by a youngster who had lost his father in the Sept. 11 attack.

There also was comedy.

“Some people thought it is an awards show,” Billy Crystal said. “It’s not--we couldn’t find anyone to open envelopes.”

Will Ferrell, of “Saturday Night Live,” also delivered his impersonation of President Bush, and Adam Sandler reprised his “SNL” Operaman character in an aggressive slap at Osama bin Laden.

In the end, the spotlight remained on the police, fire and rescue officers.

The mood generally was as festive as any rock concert, with 250-pound firefighters swaying and singing along with the music.

And yet, there were constant reminders that it wasn’t just another rock show--women holding up photos of their late husbands or police and firefighters carrying memorial posters for lost colleagues. There were also tears--both on stage, where relatives of attack victims were introduced, and in the audience, where scores of anonymous men and women wiped their eyes, as well.

In the spirit of New York, it was not without discord: boos greeted actor Richard Gere when he called for “love, compassion and understanding.” Acknowledging the reception on a night when other speakers taunted Bin Laden, Gere, a Buddhist, said, “That’s apparently unpopular now, but that’s OK.”

Proceeds from the night--including pledges called in by television and radio audiences--will benefit the Robin Hood Relief Fund, which is assisting victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Saturday event is one of three all-star concerts being held this weekend. Michael Jackson, the Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey, ‘N Sync and others will perform today during an eight-hour concert at RFK stadium in Washington. In Nashville, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw and others will star in a country music show.

Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn contributed to this report.