Back in the U.S. Live 2002

by

Paul McCartney

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I was fortunate enough to have seen Paul McCartney in concert twice--once in Dallas on the first leg of the tour (Driving USA), and once in Chicago on the second leg of the tour (Back in the US). It's hard to put into words how unbelievable this concert was. Just being in the presence of possibly the greatest musician of all time is really an indescribable experience. And I'm sure I'm one of the only 16 year olds who has seen Paul McCartney twice in their lifetime.

Paul got up on stage and sang 36 songs, totaling about 2 and a half hours of pure music---that's no intermission, no cheesy dance numbers, or anything like that...and one might think that his voice may have aged with him, but he can without a doubt still sing like no other. He sang songs from the Beatles, Wings, and some of his solo songs from earlier in his career and also more recently, like from his "Driving Rain" album ("Loving Flame," the song he wrote for Heather, is on this album). He sang many timeless Beatles classics including "Hello Goodybe", "Can't Buy Me Love", "All My Loving," "Blackbird," "Lady Madonna," "Yesterday," "Maybe I'm Amazed," "The Long and Winding Road," and "I Saw Her Standing There," just to name a few. Some of the Wings songs were the unbelievably done "Live and Let Die," as well as "Jet," "Band on the Run," and "Coming Up." He also performed a very touching tribute to the late George Harrison by playing "Something" on the ukelele, after telling the crowd that George was a remarkable ukelele player. He also sang "Here Today" in tribute to the late John Lennon, as well as the famous song "My Love" for his late wife Linda. Not only did he sing these songs, but before singing many of them, he talked to the crowd, whether it be giving a history about why the song was written, or entertaining the audience with a funny story from his many travels.

Anybody who is a Paul McCartney fan or a Beatles fan should not think twice about buying this CD. It is a collection of timeless classics that came from the greatest show I've ever seen. Paul McCartney is a legend, and I guarantee this CD will not disappoint you.

This aural souvenir of Paul McCartney's 2002 American tour gets only a middling rating.

The playlist on BACK IN THE U.S. is nothing less than spectacular; performances are better than competent-- McCartney is in good voice and the backup's right-on with their renderings of oh-so-familiar tunes. Paul's occasional lyric lapses are forgivable, and because of tight editing, crowd noise isn't much of a distraction. So what's wrong with this album?

Simply put: it's not all that easy to listen to, mainly due to a too-high volume level. Even gentle songs like "Yesterday," "Here, There And Everywhere," "Mother Nature's Son," "Eleanor Rigby" and "Fool On The Hill" are unpleasantly harsh because they're just TOO LOUD. And the supposed-to-be-loud songs are quite deafening.

Live albums invite such criticisms, and more. If the musicians choose to reinterpret old favorites, the cry of "Blasphemy! How dare they!" is heard, and if they remain as faithful to the studio tracks as possible, then the complaint is "you may as well stick with the originals." It's a no-win.

Being at a great live performance is exciting for the audience, yet a transcription of the same show rarely captures the acoustics, the feel or the mood. Such is the case here. To be fair, this is as fine a Paul McCartney live album as he's ever released. But that only means all of them are in some way flawed.

TOTAL RUNNING TIMES --

DISC ONE -- 54:32

DISC TWO -- 60:36