(i) lineup

1a. Cage The Elephant
2b. Morrissey (!!)
3c. Paul McCartney (!!!)

(1a) (Cage the Elephant’s) setlist

1. Spiderhead
2. In One Ear
3. Aberdeen
4. Take It or Leave It
5. Cigarette Daydreams
6. Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
7. Halo
8. Telescope
9. Back Against the Wall
10. It’s Just Forever
11. Teeth
12. Come a Little Closer
13. Shake Me Down
14. Sabertooth Tiger

(1b) highlights

• seeing Cage The Elephant for the first time and damn, they put on a show
• “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked” is a killer tune; loved it since I first heard it in 2008ish, I believe
• they had a crowd four times the size of Morrissey’s crowd…and they were before him

(1c) lowlights

• they had a crowd four times the size of Morrissey’s crowd…and they were before him
• it was SO. GODDAMN. HOT.
• I was legally one gigantic mosquito bite at this point

(1d) overall thoughts

Jesus, this band has a lot of fans and it’s pretty clear why. They have big songs, even bigger crowds, and some straight up memorable numbers. Great show.

Photos by: Joe Papeo and Joe Del Tufo

(2a) (Morrissey’s) setlist

1. Suedehead
2. First of the Gang to Die
3. Alma Matters
4. I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
5. Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before (The Smiths cover)
6. Ganglord
7. Kiss Me A Lot
8. World Peace is None of Your Business
9. The Bullfighter Dies
10. You Have Killed Me
11. Speedway
12. The Staircase at the University
13. The World is Full of Crashing Bores
14. Everyday is Like Sunday
15. Meat Is Murder (The Smiths cover)
16. What She Said (The Smiths cover)

(2b) highlights

• MORRISSEY!!!11!!!1!
• I cried when he walked out, I love Morrissey so much, this was the first time I was seeing him, I legit cried
• every Smiths song. all of them. I was overwhelmed.
• it’s a long story, but “Ganglord” is an inside joke with my friends and we died
• MORRISSEY, GUYS
• seeing “Everyday is Like Sunday” standing in mud on the sunniest day of all time in the middle of Delaware is never something I imagined would happen, but god, it did
• MORRISSEYYYYYY

(2c) lowlights

• the festival was selling meat literally at the closest vendor and we were all TERRIFIED Morrissey would smell it and walk off stage
• Morrissey eventually got annoyed and walked offstage (but it was at the end anyway!! we think!!)
• there were less than 100 people in the crowd. at the main stage. for Morrissey. the final act before the headliner. WHAT THE FUCK, PEOPLE.

(2d) overall thoughts

Seeing Morrissey live was a hugely emotional experience for me as a long-time Smiths fan and long-time Moz fan and I feel like maybe only a dozen others felt the same in that crowd in Dover. He sounded like heaven to me; I was beside myself every time a Smiths’ song played, and I’ll never forget that he was actually physically standing and singing right there in front of me. It was a dream. A very anxious dream where I prayed he wouldn’t storm off because Firefly was definitely not meatless and I’m pretty sure I ate a chicken sandwich that day and felt like is Moz looked at me, he would immediately know, but IT WAS STILL A DREAM.

(3a) (Paul McCartney’s) setlist

1. Birthday (The Beatles cover)
2. Save Us
3. Got to Get You Into My Life (The Beatles cover)
4. Let Me Roll It (Wings cover)
5. Paperback Writer (The Beatles cover)
6. My Valentine
7. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Wings cover)
8. The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles cover)
9. Maybe I’m Amazed
10. I’ve Just Seen a Face (The Beatles cover))
11. We Can Work It Out (The Beatles cover)
12. Another Day
13. And I Love Her (The Beatles cover)
14. Blackbird (The Beatles cover)
15. Here Today (The Beatles cover)
16. New
17. Queenie Eye
18. Lady Madonna (The Beatles cover)
19. Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles cover)
20. Being For Benefit of Mr. Kite! (The Beatles cover)
21. Something (The Beatles cover)
22. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles cover)
23. Band on the Run (Wings cover)
24. Back in the USSR (The Beatles cover)
25. Let It Be (The Beatles cover)
26. Live and Let Die (The Beatles cover)
27. Hey Jude (The Beatles cover)

Encore 1:

1. Hi, Hi, Hi (Wings cover)
2. Can’t Buy Me Love (The Beatles cover)
3. Helter Skelter (The Beatles song)

Encore 2:

1. Golden Slumbers (The Beatles cover)
2. Carry That Weight (The Beatles cover)
3. The End (The Beatles cover)

(3b) highlights

• CAN YOU SEE THAT SETLIST, DO YOU HAVE EYES, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE HIGHLIGHT WAS, OH WAIT, THE WHOLE GODDAMN THING WOW WOW WOW
• standing in a stupid muddy field in DELAWARE with 30,000 people, sobbing my eyes out with my best friends, watching a freaking LIVING BEATLE sing the most beautiful song in the world that even aliens in space have probably acknowledged its beauty, HEY JUDE
• Paul McCartney having no clue whatsoever that he’s Paul McCartney
• people who act like Wings is a real thing
• when he would casually mention John Lennon or George Harrison or his “good friend Jimi” (Hendrix) or his “great pal Keith” (Richards)
• the entire thing, seriously, I’ll never really be able to explain this perfection – it was seriously life-changing

(3c) lowlights

• nothing.

(3d) overall thoughts

I really cannot underscore enough that this Paul McCartney performance was the greatest show I’ve ever seen in my life. Nothing will every really touch this show for reasons I can’t even put into words, but it really all comes down to a feeling. And that feeling is this: standing in a muddy Delaware field late at night with 30,000 people, covered in mosquito bites, so freaking tired from the hottest and longest day ever, being with my three closest concert buddies who I’ve all known for more than 10 years and who knowingly or unknowingly have gotten me through some of the toughest times in my life, crying my freaking eyes out, and singing in perfect unison “Naaaaa naaaa na na naaaaaa, na na na naaaa, hey Juddddeeeee.” That’s not a feeling you forget for the rest of your life.