Paul McCartney in Red Square (2005)
*** (out of 4)
Part concert film, part documentary, this release covers Paul McCartney's shows in Russia during his 2003 tour, which was the first time he had ever played there. Through the documentary we learn about Russia's troubled past and how The Beatles and their music was banned from the country during the 1960s and if you were caught buying their stuff on the black market you could be arrested. Through interviews with the people we get to hear stories about what the group meant to them and the best parts of the film deal with them discussing how they thought it would be impossible to get to see them or any of their members live. I know many reviews have bashed this for not being a complete concert but there are plenty of those out there so the added story sets this apart from many other releases out there. I personally thought the story wasn't told all that well because it seems like the producers didn't want to get too political. Where the actually story starts to shine is when we hear stories from people who talk about what the music meant to them. What speaks even louder than their words is just seeing their reactions in the crowd during the concert footage. While we don't get a full concert there are still twenty songs played complete. The numbers include hits like Hey Jude, We Can Work It Out, Let It Be, I Saw Her Standing There, Can't Buy Me Love, Live and Let Live, Birthday, Maybe I'm Amazed and lesser known tracks like I've Just Seen a Face, Calice Skies and Two of Us. The concert is high on energy as McCartney is in a very good form with strong vocals and the band is great as usual. The highlight of the show has to be Back in the U.S.S.R. as the crowd certainly erupts.
