Paris Port Dover Pipe Band teams up with legendary Paul McCartney in Hamilton

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For the fourth time, the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band has played a major musical part in a Sir Paul McCartney show.

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On Friday, 42 bagpipers and drummers in the world-touring group were at Hamilton’s TD Coliseum hoping for the chance to be onstage with the legendary star, who has an almost seven-decade history in the music industry.

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Just 27 of the performers finally stepped onto the stage for Mull of Kintyre, a haunting piece that McCartney rarely plays on tour except in the United Kingdom or Canada.

“It was amazing,” said band founder and senior pipe major Gord Black.

“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.”

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The pipe band has played internationally at major events and tattoos, and has appeared with other major stars such as Rod Stewart and Andre Rieu.

On Friday, after a stage run-through at the Coliseum, 18 of the pipers hurried to the underground loading bay to “pipe in” McCartney, now 83, as he arrived.

“He pointed at me and, after we talked, he shook each band member’s hand.”

Black had wanted to include four very young pipers, including two from St. George, despite an age limit that had been set by the production company that would have excluded them.

Once McCartney saw the young performers, he pronounced their inclusion in the show as “perfect” so they were able to go on stage, giving them an amazing experience.

The connection between the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band and McCartney was facilitated years ago by local funeral home owner Dennis Toll, who is a life-long Beatles and McCartney fan and had met the man several times over the years.

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Toll smoothed the way for the band to perform with McCartney twice in 2010, once in 2015 and then this weekend.

“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,” said Toll.

Black and Toll say fans will often fly or drive hundreds of miles to a McCartney show in Canada just hoping to hear Mull of Kintyre played and audience members and band members often respond with tears.

“Paul McCartney just gets better and better,” said Black. “He and John Lennon changed the face of music and how it was dealt with so being encouraged by him is a once in a lifetime experience.”

Or, in Black’s case, an experience of at least four times in a lifetime.

The event was a highlight in the pipe band’s 25th anniversary year.

They played the massive Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in the summer and are hoping to do another major stage show sometime over the next year.

SGamble@postmedia.com

@EXPSGamble

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