Paul McCartney Trades Dance Moves With a Robot in ‘Appreciate’ Video
Paul McCartney has updated the premise of Night at the Museum with a sci-fi twist. In his clip for “Appreciate,” a track off last year’s New album, “The Museum of Man” is patrolled by a robot named Newman (as in New-man). It looks in on typically human scenes, such as a family at the dinner table, a man entertaining kids with a marionette, an office scene and, naturally, the former Beatle holding his signature, violin-like Hoffner bass. Then things come to life, and Newman looks quizzically as McCartney sings the downtempo pop rocker and all the other exhibits come to life. By the end of the video, Newman loosens up, does a little dance and even plonks out a few notes on an electric guitar.
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“I woke up one morning with an image in my head of me standing with a large robot,” McCartney said in a statement. “I thought it might be something that could be used for the cover of my album New, but instead the idea turned out to be for my music video for ‘Appreciate’. Together with the people who had done the puppetry for the worldwide hit War Horse, we developed the robot who became Newman.”
McCartney premiered the video exclusively in Japan, where he is currently on tour.
He returns to the U.S. in June, playing 18 dates. The tour’s final date, August 14th, will be the final concert ever to take place at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the venue where the Beatles played their last-ever full concert in 1966.