Paul McCartney | GOOD EVENING...N Y | CD

Track list includes "I'm Down,""Drive My Car," "Got To Get You Into My Life," "The Long And Winding Road," "Blackbird," "Eleanor Rigby," "Back In The USSR," "Paperback Writer," "Let It Be," "Hey Jude," "Helter Skelter" and more, plus "Something" rendered on ukulele gifted to Paul by George Harrison, and a tribute to John Lennon in the form of a medley of "A Day In The Life" and "Give Peace A Chance." Wings era chestnuts include "Band On The Run," "My Love," "Let Me Roll It" and the pyrotechnic tour de force of "Live And Let Die," while timeless McCartney solo material ranges from "Here Today" to the upbeat "Flaming Pie" and "Dance Tonight" to a pair of numbers from Electric Arguments, the 2008 album released under the alias of The Fireman.
DVD features concert footage directed by Paul Becher, who has overseen live visuals for McCartney for some 200 performances and counting. The 33-song 2 hour 40 minute performances were shot in High Definition using 15 cameras and digital footage incorporated from 75 Flipcams handed out to fans over the course of the three night stand. The audio mix, in both stereo and 5.1, was handled by longtime McCartney engineer Paul Hicks, whose credits include the recent Beatles remasters, The Beatles Anthology, Let It Be... Naked and two Grammy awards for his mixing work on the Beatles' Love album.
The deluxe edition bonus DVD features footage of McCartney's July 15 performance on the outdoor marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater, previously available only as a webcast on the Late Show with David Letterman website. The marquee set, which marked McCartney's return to the site of The Beatles U.S. television debut, generated front page headlines and literally stopped traffic as word of mouth generated a crowd that packed Broadway from Columbus Circle to Times Square.
Track list includes "I'm Down,""Drive My Car," "Got To Get You Into My Life," "The Long And Winding Road," "Blackbird," "Eleanor Rigby," "Back In The USSR," "Paperback Writer," "Let It Be," "Hey Jude," "Helter Skelter" and more, plus "Something" rendered on ukulele gifted to Paul by George Harrison, and a tribute to John Lennon in the form of a medley of "A Day In The Life" and "Give Peace A Chance." Wings era chestnuts include "Band On The Run," "My Love," "Let Me Roll It" and the pyrotechnic tour de force of "Live And Let Die," while timeless McCartney solo material ranges from "Here Today" to the upbeat "Flaming Pie" and "Dance Tonight" to a pair of numbers from Electric Arguments, the 2008 album released under the alias of The Fireman.
DVD features concert footage directed by Paul Becher, who has overseen live visuals for McCartney for some 200 performances and counting. The 33-song 2 hour 40 minute performances were shot in High Definition using 15 cameras and digital footage incorporated from 75 Flipcams handed out to fans over the course of the three night stand. The audio mix, in both stereo and 5.1, was handled by longtime McCartney engineer Paul Hicks, whose credits include the recent Beatles remasters, The Beatles Anthology, Let It Be... Naked and two Grammy awards for his mixing work on the Beatles' Love album.
Audio Mixers: Geoff Emerick; Paul Hicks.
Liner Note Author: Michael Azerrad.
Recording information: Citi Field Stadium, New York, NY.
Director: Paul McCartney.
Photographers: Lloyd Bishop; Brantley Gutierrez; Bill Bernstein.
Unlike its 2002 predecessor Back in the U.S., Good Evening New York City doesn't cherrypick highlights from a tour, it commemorates a specific event: the inauguration of Citi Field -- the replacement for the now-defunct Shea Stadium, where the Beatles played a legendary show in 1965 -- in the summer of 2009. The circumstances may be different -- different enough to lead to a Billy Joel cameo on "I Saw Her Standing There," the piano man returning a favor from Paul, who played at Billy's Shea-closing shows in 2008 -- and McCartney might have two strong albums of new material to draw upon, but as an album, Good Evening New York City plays a lot like Back in the U.S. with a whopping 17 of its 35 tracks shared between the two titles. More importantly, the vibe is the same, with Macca delivering an expertly balanced and sequenced set with all the skill of the old pro that he is. Apart from the inclusion of "Mrs. Vanderbilt" and "I'm Down," there are no surprises, either in song selection or performance, but no surprises doesn't mean no satisfaction, and this is plenty entertaining. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

• Format: CD
• Genre: Pop
• Released: 11/17/2009