paul mccartney's "good evening new york city" cd/dvd review

i picked up paul mccartney's "good evening new york city" cd/dvd release of his opening night show at citi field last summer on tuesday. i'm a big fan of paul - especially his days with wings - and it was major disappointment for me to have been in vermont when he took the stage in my back yard, so to speak. this combination audio/video turned out to be the next best thing!

the is one difference between the two medium - the cd does not contain much intersong chatter. watching the dvd - aside from the visual - includes paul's comments and interaction with the fans. that interaction isn't on the cd, most likely because of space limitations, so it has less intimacy - but great sound. if possible, watch the dvd performance first - before taking it out for a spin on your ipod!

the setlist is fantastic. he not only includes the beatles/wings standards that we would expect to hear - but paul tossed in plenty infrequently heard material to keep it interesting. old chestnuts ("mrs. vanderbilt") from wings, paul's solo material ("flaming pie"), and cuts from his "fireman" series ("electric arguments") found their way on stage! the only thing paul left off the table from his prolific catalog was the orchestral work! i think the fans didn't mind leaving the "liverpool oratorio" or symphonic poem, "standing stone" for another venue!

video images played behind him during the show, which added an interesting element to a few numbers. paul dedicated songs to john ("here today" - which brought tears to his eyes), george ("something") and linda ("my love"). and he was joined on stage by billy joel for "i saw her standing there" - who returned the favor when paul joined him last year for his performance at shea! through out the performance, paul rocked - and no problems keeping up with his much younger (or so it seemed) current band mates.

i picked up the standard edition release (2 cds/1 dvd). a deluxe edition (2 cds/2 dvds) was also released, which includes, among other things, paul's appearance on the david letterman show. for fans who missed that, it's worth going for the deluxe edition just to see the outdoor "mini-concert" that he performed on the marquee! but whichever you prefer, don't pass up mccartney at citi field. it'a a performance must for any paul mccartney fan!