FUSE TV - Paul McCartney's Bonnaroo Concert Dissected Over Gchat

Paul McCartney's set at Bonnaroo 2013 was a modest affair. Just your typical three-hour show packed with dozens of rock's all-time greatest songs, heart-wrenching tributes to late musical legends, Pussy Riot shout-outs, more fireworks than D.C. on the Fourth of July and an impromptu serenade to a stuffed walrus. He handily owned Friday night at the Tennessee fest by delivering the kind of joyous concert that reminds you why you fell in love with music in the first place.

Oscillating between Beatles classics (i.e., many of the best songs ever written), Wings hits (which are more enduring than snobby critics like to allow) and a couple of solo tracks, McCartney's energy never let up. And somehow—even for those watching him as a speck on a stage a football field away—his cheery, endearingly hammy personality managed to enrapture the crowd of tens of thousands.

Throughout the night, Macca took a break to jokingly chide certain "Bonnaroo-vians" for expecting him to read signs with tiny text, compliment front-row tokers on the quality of their weed and imitate Russian politicians quoting Beatles lyrics.

That impersonation—not to mention a roaring take on "Back in U.S.S.R."—allowed him to reiterate his support for Pussy Riot, whom he recently tried to free via handwritten pleas to Russian officials. Perhaps the government's refusal to free the two imprisoned women explains how ready he was to cartoonishly mock their accents.

Throw in tributes to the recently deceased producer Phil Ramone ("Another Day"), John Lennon ("Here Today"), George Harrison ("Something" on ukulele) and Jimi Hendrix ("Foxy Lady" was referenced at the end of "Let Me Roll It"), and Bonnaroo 2013 had its first truly consummate performer.

I watched the show with Fuse Senior Writer Jason Newman and we discussed after our brains returned to our bodies. Here are our unedited, raw Gchat thoughts on the show below.