Crowd 'Comes Together' in excitement for Paul McCartney concert in Newark

NEWARK — Decades after his musical debut, Paul McCartney’s impact on the generations of people who followed his career could still be felt outside his concert at the Prudential Center on Monday.

The famed Beatles member came to New Jersey for shows scheduled for Monday and Tuesday night, leaving the concertgoers to reminisce about McCartney and his band mates.

“I’ve been a Beatles fan since ‘68,” Frank Kisly of Middlesex said while waiting outside the Prudential Center on Monday. “I was 5 years old just swinging on the swings in the backyard singing to “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

The Beatles rose to prominence in the early 1960s. McCartney along with band mates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr released 12 studio albums.

Joshua Frisch of South Orange said he’s been waiting 30 years to see some of those songs live.

“They basically changed music,” Frisch said of The Beatles. “They just changed the way songs were written.”

McCartney traveled to Newark as part of his “One on One” tour. The music spans from his solo career plus tracks from The Beatles and Wings. Each show goes on for around three hours.

Angelo Nicosia of Cliffwood Beach brought his 15-year-old son, also named Angelo, to the show as a chance to bond.

“I asked him what he wanted for his 15th birthday and he said, ‘I’d like to see Sir Paul McCartney,” the elder Angelo Nicosia said. “I’m a classic rock guy. I was pleased when my son sort of got interested in the music but now he’s the master and I’m the student.”

The younger Angelo Nicosia said he was always aware of The Beatles but his fandom grew after listening to a playlist of their top 50 songs.

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“I think that just by sheer popularity and impact today The Beatles are the greatest band of all time,” he said.

The young Shainbrown brothers Max, 9, Sam, 11, and Jake, 8, brought a sign to the show asking McCartney to sign a form allowing them to be late for school the next day so they could stay up late to see the concert.

No opening act performed before McCartney at the Prudential Center, leaving the fans with the musical icon for the whole night.

Monday’s concert was the second time seeing McCartney for 17-year-old Ben Kurtz of Stanhope.

“It was a great experience because I got to see my idol,” Kurtz said.

Kurtz said he was impressed by McCartney's "artistic ability with the songs” in different genres and the way he can “touch people’s hearts.”

Seeing McCartney brought back a childhood dream for Jan Griner of Newark, who goes by “Jan the Fan.”

“Paul McCartney was my first love when I was 11 years old,” Griner said. “Of course being only 11 it was hard to go to a concert but I cried for six months, so my mother took me in 1964 to Shea Stadium.”

Monday marked the 11th time seeing McCartney for Rocky Gammone of Brooklyn but it never gets old for him, even as the years go by for the musician.

“I give [McCartney] a lot of credit,” Gammone said, “because he’s got a lot of spunk. Anybody who’s 75 years old, that’s awesome.”

Email: jongsma@northjersey.com