Live from the White House: Candice Dayoan reports back about Paul McCartney’s rockin’ performance for Pres. Obama

By Candice Dayoan

“I can’t believe I’m here,” I mouthed to myself as I walked along the corridor I had seen only in pictures. Although it had been a bit odd to go through heavy security while dressed so formally, I was smiling the entire time. I was in The White House. I tried to keep it civilized, but I have to admit that I took a few pictures of the front lawn from inside…and checked in on FourSquare.

President Obama presented Sir Paul McCartney with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Music on June 2, 2010…and I was invited. It airs tonight on PBS.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I definitely expected a much larger room. There were no more than 300 people in the East Room of the White House, and I was ushered to the second row, stage right. Ahead of me, I see a rack of guitar including the actual Höfner 500/1 violin bass guitar (now nicknamed the “Beatles Bass”) that Sir McCartney played on the Ed Sullivan show, which later in the evening a very enthusiastic President Obama made sure the audience was aware of. As a bassist, I about died, and the show hadn’t even started.

I noticed that Sir Paul’s family (including renowned fashion designer Stella McCartney) were taking pictures of the vacant seats in front of them. In fact, several of the celebrities were snapping pictures. I realized that they must be taking pictures of the Obamas’ names on the chairs. It reminded me that even celebrities were just as excited as I was to be there. As the room rose to welcome the President and his family, I tweeted that I could hardly breathe. It was true.

Sir Paul ran in and performed, and that’s when my memory of the night began to swirl together, it was just so much to take in. I honestly don’t even remember what the first song was.

After Sir Paul took a seat, the stars kept coming. Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, Emmylou Harris, Faith Hill, The Jonas Brothers (no doubt the influence of the Obama daughters Malia & Sasha), Lang Lang, Jack White, Corrine Bailey Rae, Herbie Hancock, and Stevie Wonder all performed songs that Sir Paul had written.

The most elegant performance of the night was Corrine Bailey Rae and Herbie Hancock performing “Blackbird”. Her take on the song stripped it to its simplest form, and lyrics like “take these broken wings and learn to fly” became even more powerful as she sang it to a hushed crowed and the Obama family.

However, the most unbelievable moment of the night belongs to Stevie Wonder and Sir Paul taking the stage to perform Ebony & Ivory. The epicness couldn’t be contained.

After remarks from President Obama, the program ended with all the performers jumping on stage for “Hey Jude”. At that point, everyone in the room sprang to their feet and sang along.

As the President left the stage, I yelled “President Obama, Aloha from Hawai’i!” He actually turned around and came back to me, so I gave him the shaka, and he gave me a shaka back. Yeah, that ruled.

Afterwards, the celebrities (minus the Obamas and Sir Paul) joined the crowd for drinks and food in the hall. I got to tell Dave Grohl how much I loved the Foo Fighters, hear the Jonas Brothers arguing, and say hello to other celebrities.

Nothing’s going to beat that Shaka though.

Tonight (July 28, 2010), PBS will be airing this event as “Paul McCartney: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song In Performance at the White House”. It’s set for 8pm, but please check local listings. And look for me, sitting in the second row, stage right =)