The Town's a Buzz with Sir Paul playing Kyiv on June 14th, 2008

Kyiv has not seen the likes of this much hype on a concert ever before, this I am certain of. As I walked across Maidan Nezalezhnosti there were three cranes working on the assembly of the stage for the Sir James Paul McCartney concert to be held Saturday June 14, in Kyiv.

Reports have it that there are 80 semi's of equipment being shipped into Kyiv for the gig. Yesterday I aw at least 12 of them and that was just for the stage, all the bulky stuff, being transported buy firms that soley transport equipment for such shows. One the trailer of one of them I could see an A4 sheet taped with the name Springsteen in large letters.

It was clear who the non-Ukrainians on the site were. They were wearing work boots, and hard hats - clearly these guys know something about safety on the job.

A little later on I had to stop by the third line of the Globus shopping complex which is located behind the "chick on the stick" on maidan, and there were at least a dozen people in the span of about ten minutes that I overheard mentioning to friends that they were going to the Paul McCartney show next Saturday. In all honesty I think they should start squatting now if they want to have a decent view of Sir Paul. On the other hand with the peformance being broadcast live on Noviy Kanal somehow I feel there will be much more comfort to be had at a local bar in front of the tele.

Later on that evening I walked down Prorizna Street and up in front of the golden arches was a big tower already assembled. I'm not sure how much oligarch Pinchuk is paying for this gig, but it is clearly a lot more than he paid Sir Elton John last year.

Well I'm sure a very small proportion of those who intend on going to the show will actually get a glimpse of Sir Paul... but one thing is clear, people are definitely going to be able to hear him.

It's too bad that an old friend of mine still doesn't work at the Central Post Office, his office window was in clear view of where the stage is being set up.