Paul McCartney - Palais Omnisports de Bercy
Paris, France - March 25, 2003 - Aud 4
Disc 1:
Disc 2:
Comments: Nice, quite listenable audience recording.
Here's a review of this show from UK's Guardian, written by Alexis Petridis:
When Paul McCartney toured the US last spring, many observers drew parallels with the Beatles' arrival there four decades previously. In 1964, the band were credited with raising the nation's spirits in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. McCartney's Driving Rain tour was meant to perform a similar function in the wake of September 11. A tall order, but his shows were rapturously received. A year later, and he is launching his European tour in the middle of a war. His gung-ho post-9/11 song Freedom is noticeably absent from the set, and McCartney makes no reference on stage to Iraq. Always happy to leave the politicking to his former song-writing partner, his solitary excursion into current affairs was 1972's Give Ireland Back to the Irish, which, despite its feisty title, may well be the most mild-mannered protest song in history. The French audience, however, are more resolute. After he dedicates Here Today to the memory of John Lennon, the Paris crowd erupt in a spontaneous chorus of Give Peace a Chance. But if the world needs cheering up by a studiously non-partisan sunbeam, it is difficult to think of a better candidate than the chirpy ex-Beatle. He is fantastically good at his role, piling on the Beatles' songs at the expense of new material, and throwing in a handful of 1970s rarities for die-hard Wings fans. His young band tackle Back in the USSR and Wings' Jet with impressive ferocity. McCartney's solo section - featuring a lovely version of Blackbird and an unexpected take on Abbey Road's You Never Give Me Your Money - is almost absurdly poignant. For once, McCartney's own image could do with a lift. Whatever the logic behind his recent attempt to have some Beatles' song credits reversed to McCartney/Lennon, it played badly with a public who view his late collaborator as a sort of guitar-slinging equivalent of Mother Theresa. Tonight, he plays to his strengths by highlighting his remarkable legacy - no figure in pop has a stronger back catalogue. With these songs, McCartney cannot fail.