Despite the incredibly hot temperature that plagued the venue, magic was in the air in Syracuse, NY, last night.

Paul McCartney, the former Beatle, played a lifetime of music to the huge and overheated crowd at the Carrier Dome last night. McCartney, 75, along with his band made up of guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray, keyboardist and accordion player Wix Wickens, and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. brought out the big guns, playing all of McCartney’s hits ranging from his time in The Beatles (“All My Loving”, “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”, “You Won’t See Me”,) Wings (“Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five”, “Junior’s Farm,” “Band on the Run,”) and his solo stuff (“My Valentine,” “New,” “Maybe I’m Amazed.”)

Temps inside the Carrier Dome reached around 70 degrees. The venue, built in 1978 and completed in 1980, has no air conditioning, which made the show a bit of a struggle just to watch with all the sweat dripping into your eyes. It felt like I was at an outdoor venue due to all the heat, and the massive number of people in the dome didn’t help cool it down. Even McCartney seemed to have struggled with the blaring heat, taking off his sports coat very early into his set.

Before McCartney and crew got on the stage, a DJ came on and played several remixes of McCartney’s songs like “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road,” “Hey Bulldog,” and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”

The legendary musician opened his set with the classic Beatles tune “A Hard Day’s Night.” The heat didn’t stop him from playing a total of 39 songs. As mentioned earlier, he played songs from his times in the Beatles and Wings as well as his equally successful solo career. Most of his set featured Beatles and Wings songs while he only played five songs from his solo material, including two songs from his newest release New.

The audience roared and sang along to nearly each track McCartney played. “This is so cool,” McCartney spoke to the crowd, “I’m gonna take a moment just to drink this all in.”

He also told the audience some incredible stories. During his song “Let Me Roll It,” the band played a snippet of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady.” The reason why he played “Foxy Lady” was because he helped launch Hendrix’s career in London. During one of his show’s in London, Hendrix’s guitar got so out of tune due to a vibrating device on his guitar that he asked if legendary guitarist Eric Clapton could retune it. Clapton, who was in the crowd, told him no. The classic Beatles tune “Something” was written by McCartney and George Harrison on ukuleles, which McCartney opened the song with before the band slowly joined in. He told the audience several other stories, such as the song “Here Today” being written about a conversation Paul could never have with former Beatle John Lennon who was killed in 1980.

“We’re going to have a party,” McCartney told us, and we certainly did. The whole show was nothing but pure nostalgia to the crowd filled with Baby Boomers, along with my parents (my mom is a diehard Beatles fan.) True to his word, the night was filled with not only hot air but with love and happiness.

After the show, several concert goers were asked about what they thought about the incredible show.

“It was pretty good,” Issac Annal of Oswego, NY, said. “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Lynn Stone and Mike Galeazzi from the Syracuse area thought it was amazing. “There probably isn’t a bigger rockstar on this planet than Paul McCartney,” Galeazzi said.

McCartney’s next show on his world tour is in Uniondale, NY, at the Coliseum.