The Driving World Tour was a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

by English musician

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

. It marked his first tour of the 21st century and of any kind since 1993's New World Tour. For the first time in nearly a decade, McCartney returned to the road following the death of first wife, Linda McCartney, the death of George Harrison, and 9/11. This was in promotion of his 2001 album '' Driving Rain''.

Paul "Wix" Wickens Paul Wickens (born 27 March 1956) is an English musician, composer, and record producer, professionally known as Wix. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Wickens has worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon ...

returned on keyboards and is credited as Musical Director. New to the fold were Americans

Rusty Anderson Rusty Anderson is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who is best known for his work as the lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's touring band though he has worked with an extensive list of artists in addition to his own solo career. Ca ...

Brian Ray Brian Thomas Ray (born January 4, 1955) is an American session musician, guitarist, bassist, singer–songwriter, and musical director. He is best known for his work as a bass, rhythm, and lead guitarist with Paul McCartney's touring band, ...

, and

Abe Laboriel Jr. Abraham Laboriel Jr. (born March 23, 1971) is an American session drummer. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican rocker Johnny Laboriel, and brother of record producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo ...

Paul McCartney's then-fiancée

Heather Mills Heather Anne Mills (born 12 January 1968) is an English former model, businesswoman and activist. Mills first came to public attention in 1993 when she was a model and was involved in a traffic collision with a police motorcycle in London. T ...

accompanied him on the tour and was in the audience for every American performance.

Background

The tour began on April 1, 2002, when the American leg was kicked off in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. The official release chronicling the first U.S. leg of the tour was the CD and DVD ''

Back in the U.S. ''Back in the U.S.'' (subtitled ''Live 2002'') is a double live album by Paul McCartney from his spring 2002 Driving USA Tour in the US in support of his 2001 release '' Driving Rain''. It was released with an accompanying DVD to commemorate h ...

'', which itself would be promoted by another leg in the States. The second American leg was followed by visits to Mexico and Japan. A remix of The Fireman tracks and a performance by

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

opened each show.

Tour band

– lead vocals, acoustic,

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

– backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars *

– backing vocals, acoustic, electric and bass guitars *

– backing vocals, keyboards, accordion, acoustic guitar * Abe Laboriel, Jr. – backing vocals, drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Tour dates

Set list

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Driving World Tour 2002 concert tours Paul McCartney concert tours

Background

Tour band

Tour dates

Set list

See also

References