Disco de Paul McCartney: “Good Evening New York City [2-CD/1DVD]”

A disclaimer: I was at the first night at Citi Field, so I watched with memories of that great performance. I got the deluxe package from Best Buy today and intended on watching the first few songs on DVD. 2 1/2 hours later, I had sat through the whole show and felt like I was back at the concert. Actually, there was one song that was better on the DVD - "I'm Down" interspersed footage from both the Beatles at Shea and McCartney at Citi Field. The DVD must have combined the three nights because Billy Joel is on the DVD (and he only performed the first night) but there are no crowd scenes with umbrellas (it rained during the middle part of the first night). Paul was greatly moved by being back at the site of the historic Shea concert and it shows in his performance. Definitely recommended.

Paul McCartney's released many live CDs and DVDs but this is the best of the bunch he's released. Here's why; 1)We get the whole concert 2)the performances are dazzling (and Paul's in exceptiona voice--no Autotune or any processing device was used to augment Paul's voice)including a brief detour into a cover of a Jimi Hendrix tune (he shares a story about Hendrix having learned "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" even though it had just been released. Hendrix's guitar went out of tune and he asked if Eric Clapton was in the audience so he could tune it for him). 3)We get a healthy dose of Beatles songs (including "A Day in the Life" melded with Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance"), Wings tunes, Fireman and McCartney solo hits. 4)We get to hear the concert and see it on a bonus DVD AND Best Buy has a 2 CD/2DVD set (available only as an import here)in a nice book with McCartney's "David Letterman" live roof top show.

Sound-I'd give it a B for the CDs--they sound good not too loud, compressed or maximized could they sound better? Sure but for a contemporary CD this sounds good. The sound on the DVDs I'd give an A--they sound exceptionally clear, crisp with nice detail. The picture on the DVDs (I watched it upscaled on my Blu-ray player)looks exceptional as well. Would I have liked a Blu-ray option for this? Sure but the DVD looks just fine upscaled with nice detail although you'll notice it isn't quite as sharp as a Blu-ray.

Is Macca using Autotune here? The engineer that worked with Geoff Emerick on this Paul Hicks has indicated that there is no Autotune used on the album. Could there be a variation being used here? Possibly but this is still to me the best of his concerts on video.

The Letterman Show is terrific. McCartney and his band do a root top concert (sort of)at the Ed Sullivan Theater where The Beatles first appeared live for U.S. audiences for the first time changing history for themselves, us and altering music.

If you can find the 2 CD/DVD set pick it up (Best Buy is sold out on line but they fail to mention that MOST stores have them or had them in stock) or pick up the import.

Unlike previous McCartney shows (McCartney directed this himself)this one doesn't intercut performances with interviews and we only briefly get shots done by fans using the digital cameras distributed at the show(only one where the song is interrupted and it's fairly early on outside of "I'm Down". All of which makes this a BIG improvement on previous concert DVD/CD sets. The healthy variety of songs from throughout his long career along with the appearence of Billy Joel for "I Saw Her Standing There" (and the fact that, in my opinion, this is the best backing band he's had and I've seen all of them including Wings)makes this one a keeper. During Macca's story about The Beatles playing Shea the show cleverly intercuts Macca and his band playing "I'm Down" contrasting it with The Beatles performance. Just a note that "I'm Down" does appear on the bonus disc from the "Letterman" show uncut without the footage from The Beatles Shea appearence of "I'm Down" interpolated. There's also a brief "documentary" compiled from the digital cameras given to the people in the audience.

Every little thing Paul and his top notch band including Rusty Anderson (guitar, vocals), Brian Ray (guitar, bass, vocals), Abe Laboriel, Jr. (vocals, drums, percussion), Paul "Wix" Wickens (keyboards)do here is nearly perfect. Sure, you could carp about the fact that Paul's lost much of his upper register but he makes up for it here by dropping some of the material here by a step which allows himself to ably tackle the material. For someone who is 68 years old, Macca has a great voice after 45 plus years of entertaining you and me.

If you can't find this 2 DVD, 2 CD set check Paul McCartney's website (although they have been running behind in their shipping).

Other recommended McCartney Live Recordings:

Allright Macca lovers...we all must own this and its a great collection...but if you hurry to BEST BUY for $19.99 you get a DVD sized package with a BONUS DVD with about an hour of exclusive footage from his David Letterman appearance (many songs not even shown) and more...plus the package is lavish and has great artwork a bonus BASEBALL style Playing card of Macca and is the 5 star version of this CD sized packaged 2 cd one dvd. I'm not going to argue about sound or editing or his age and hair coloring...these are a cool batch of some of the greatest songs of our time performed by the only guy with the right to do it and he even sprinkles in a very obscure classics like "Mrs Vanderbilt" for goodness sake so redundant to your Macca collection its not.

Oh...and I agree with others...nice to have a full show...can't understand why Paul continues to think we want to see audience members crying and singing more than watching him and his band but after all these years and all his movies...I expect that and am used to it.

for casual fans this is great...for true fans...get to Best Buy and get the whole package!

This is an excellent live collection put out by Paul.

I've seen him live four times.

I remember in '89 thinking, "Boy, his voice is shot!"

But, somehow, 20 years later, he sounds better than ever!

Feel free to order from Amazon. After all, they are obviously a very trusted name,

but if you want a real value, head over to Best Buy and pick up the Deluxe Package for

only $19.99!!! This comes with a well-made booklet, tons of photos, a McCartney baseball card,

2 Cds, and 2 DVDs... one including his rooftop performance during his David Letterman appearance, and

a documentary.

I was hoping he's head all over the US this year, but this will have to do.

And again, he sounds really good!

Paul McCartney has more money than Bill Gates - he continues to write and record new songs simply to express his love of music and he continues to tour to share his love of music with his millions of fans. "Good Evening New York City" is a superbly recorded two hour concert of songs from the Beatles and from Paul McCartney's four decades of writing and performing. Adding a two hour DVD filmed version of the concert to the package and pricing it at just $15 for two CD's and a DVD makes this Paul's gift to his fans.

Over the decades, Paul has recorded many "live" concerts. Some of the songs on "Good Evening" are available on half a dozen albums. Yet, "Good Evening New York City" is special...it may be the pinnacle of McCartney's career. He and his crack band put on a wonderful show. The rock songs have lots of energy, sometimes they rock harder than the original versions, and the ballads have nuances than come from maturity and experience.

What make "Good Evening" perhaps the "ultimate" McCarney collection is the song selection. He brings together great songs from the Beatles, from Wings, and from his solo career. His "live" versions of some of his more recent songs, such as "Only Mama Knows", "Dance Tonight" and "Highway" are a wonderful "fit" with songs he wrote almost fifty years ago.

The sound engineers did a great job of preserving the feel and energy of a "live" performance, while also preserving the subtle details of each instrument, and balancing the vocals with the band. A stereo system that plays loudly with lots of deep bass will let you enjoy both the power and subtlety of Paul's astounding skill on the bass guitar, something that gets missed with TV speakers or cheapo earbuds.

Yes, if you are a Beatle's fan, or a McCartney fan, you already own two or three versions of most of these songs. But, "Good Evening" is truly special, and at the silly low price of this CD and DVD set, it is a wonderful gift from Paul to his fans...you NEED "Good Evening" in your collection.

Millions of people have enjoyed Paul's music over the past four decades, and people will be listening to Paul's music for many decades to come. If you have someone in your family who is age ten to age twenty, "Good Evening" would be the perfect gift...for most younger folks, Paul's music will be both "brand new" and amazing.