Customer Reviews

Paul McCartney - Live in Red Square

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

One of the great things about Macca is he's never forgotten where he came from, and inspite of the wealth and success, he knows what's important. That comes through in spades on this disc which is both a great concert film and a rather touching documentary on a number of social and political notions.
It isn't meant to be heavy going, and because of that, when you see the footage of the kids in the orphanage (the raison d'etre for the concert appearance), when you hear former Soviet military ministers saying they learned English from Beatles records, when you see even Putin crack the KGB veneer to acknowledge that something about the message of love that 4 guys from Liverpool stood for warmed even the iciest of hearts. McCartney seems to know that there was something in the Russian psyche that needed respect from his as well and he is also the consummate diplomat and a generous and genuine musical ambassador. After touring the Hermitage with Putin, he acknowledges how touched he is that the kids in the orphanage who perform for him are dressed in their Sunday best. That's a sensibility that only a working class kid would understand and recognize as important. He also gets quite a giggle out of the Russian police chasing him out of Red Square on his bicycle (it's a no-no), not caring who the heck he is. The laugh is on Mac and he enjoys it, sheepishly.
As for the Concert in Red Square and in St Petersburg, the shows are incredible. A number of talking heads relate their tales of securing Beatles records as they grew up, and it's rather touching. You get the picture that they got the message far more profoundly than those in the west. So as the band hits the stage, the rush in the crowd is exhilarating. Even Putin gets rockin during "Back in the USSR", and his KGB body guards are having a ball.
McCartney's observations during "Fool On A Hill" clearly indicate he knows and understands what this music means to people and he is determined to give them a great show and have fun. And he succeeds brilliantly. During "Let it Be" and "Hey Jude" the crowd is at times on the verge of tears, particularly one old fella. The robust singing along during "Jude" could only have happened in Russia where there is such enormous pride in polyphonic singing. Macca is stunned by how strongly the crowd joins in.
The experience was joyful and humbling. Having met Gorbachev, Putin and so many of the people of Russia, McCartney reflects on what it would be like to be able to tell his parents about this trip. It's the voice of a son who was raised to do the right thing and who wants his parents to know he upheld the family name. There is something about that that cuts across all nationalities and ethnicities. He's the genuine article, and this is a film with great music and a profound message.

If you want to be treated to some excellent music performed live and enjoy equally excellent footage, then this is for you. Paul McCartney is not only a class act, but a veteran entertainer who appears to be happy with himself and at home in his profession. Both speak to the good.

I like the way documenatary footage was added which for me made for a bonus part of the show. Although it was not a "true live experience," it was indeed a delightful performance and the contrast between documentary and concert footage helped strengthen the film. Viewers got an even deeper sense of the concert and what took place in making it possible.

I LOVED the inclusion of several of my favorite Beatle songs!

I was a bit surprised at first when I realized there would be commentary between each song. Having visited Russia (the U.S.S.R. then) in April, 1971 I understand how necessary the commentary is to impress upon the average viewer the importance this concert had for the Red Square audience, many who had grown up in the late 60's and early 70's and were looked upon at that time as the future of communism by the Soviet government. There were also many young people in the audience, their ages appearing to range from 40 to 10
The concert itself, the sound and picture quality are excellent. Seeing it performed in Red Square brought back many memories of my own visit. The prescence of the commentary between songs is extremely valid.
When we were preparing to visit in '71 we were told that if we could afford it we should take rock records with us, especially Beatles as their music was banned in the U.S.S.R., to give to Russian students. I presented the Beatles album I had taken to a student in Moscow. His eyes lit up immediately as he grasped it, turned and ran towards his friends, holding it high and shouting, "Beatles! Beatles!"
At a dinner with Russain students given for us in Moscow there was a Russian band performing. They played several Beatles tunes, including Can't Buy Me Love. When we were leaving St. Petersburg (called Leningrad then) we were fogged in for an hour, the majority of our group went to dinner but four of us stayed in the terminal playing chess and drinking Dark Eyes wine. Whoever was in charge of the airport speaker system took a great gamble and played the White Album for us, side 1, of course.
So the commentary is very essential and gives one a true sense of the impact of rock music, spearheaded by the Beatles, on the Soviet Union. I feel that if the commentary had been a separate added feature few people would have watched it and missed out on the true significance of this concert.
As a side note I also gave the Stones album Beggar's Banquet to a hotel maid in Czechoslovakia. Once again the bulging eyes syndrome as she ran down the hallway yelling Rolling Stones over and over again.
Paul's band is fabulous and all the songs are great. The commentary clips are brief between each song, a little dose of reality and history interspersed with the fun. I have to admit it choked me up at times too. It goes a little deeper than just presenting a concert for the entertainment value alone. This dvd shows how personal freedom can be communicated in a way that not even a strong, repressive government could suppress. It also demonstrates that the Russians can party as well as anyone on this planet!

This DVD is more than just a great concert, it is an historical look at how the Soviet Union and its citizens responded to the Beatles and their music in the 60's up until the fall of Communism in the late 80's early 90's.

Intermittent between each of the songs is a story from McCartney, or a Russian individual. Certain Russian audience members who grew up in the 60's describe how the Beatles's music was banned in their country and how they took painstaking risks to buy their music and memorabilia (at the risk of being thrown in jail by the Soviet KGB). The DVD contains segments of interviews with former soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev describing how important Beatles music was to the Soviet people in a time of oppression. President Putin confirms these remarks by Gorbachev by describing how the Beatles were banned from the U.S.S.R. when he was younger and how he had an opportunity to hear several of their songs as a child (Putin shows up to the Moscow show in a very moving moment during the show).

The DVD is very moving. In fact, during the Moscow concert many members of the audience are in tears as Paul plays the older Beatles's tunes. Several Soviet musicians from the 60's who are interviewed throughout the video describe how they had secret concerts, and secret gatherings to buy on the black market the Beatles's music. Many of these musicians describe how they were unable to obtain any Beatles music and had only one or two photo's of the band and would try to guess who was Paul or who was John, etc. in the photo (having not found out who each Beatles member was until much later).

Aside from the history, the two concerts (one in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg) are fantastic. Paul plays many of the Beatles music intermittent with his own solo work. Some of the Beatles' tunes covered are, of course, 'Back in the U.S.S.R,' 'Fool on the Hill,' 'Birthday,''Helter Skelter,' 'We Can Work it Out,' 'She's Leaving Home,'I Saw Her Standing There,' 'Got to get You Into My Life,' 'Get Back,' 'Can't Buy Me Love,' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,' 'Drive My Car,' and many more.

This is a fantastic DVD with all the essential 'Paul tunes' spanning his entire career. The added interviews, history, and shows simply make this one of the best DVD McCartney has ever released. I highly recommend this DVD.

I had the opportunity to see the promotional DVD published by MPL when this show was transmitted by the American television, the quality is superlative. It is definitively a very different way of enjoying Paul. The documentary is the best, shows the idolatry that the Russian fans had of The Beatles in the communist age and at the same time, the ingenuity of the young people to listen secretly to the music of the Fab Four. One of best things about McCartney.

I welcomed this DVD greatly and purchased it, but when I saw it oh my God ! A single word described it: unwatchable.
Why ? Because you cannot hold more than 3 seconds in each scene. Example: Macca shot, Moscow shot, Band shot, crowd shot, panning shot, Macca smiling shot, and so on. There is not a straight line where you can enjoy both concerts. I first saw the Moscow concert, and then to my dismay realized that the San Petersburg's had the same "dynamic" effect.
It is a pity, as the tour and the songs promised a great and memorable DVD. I just got tired on not being able to "focus" and enjoy the concerts. I am not saying that the production should hold boring stills of the concert, but that continuing changes of takes makes it -in my personal, humble opinion- very difficult to enjoy.
In addition to this, there are mixes of uncompleted songs, interviews, etcetera. Don't think me wrong, I am an optimistic hardcore collector, but this concert(s) could have been far better.

I was born in Cuba, another comunist country and lived there till my 30s. Now I live in USA.
When I was first told to watch this film a few days ago I never expected it was gonna make such a big impression on me and bring me memories of what my own life was in Cuba. There, as in the former Soviet Union, Beatles and rock music was considered a message of western propaganda and banned from radio and TV stations for many years. My own father was a political head in a local radio station and I suffered from such repression even in my own home. But I studied in a school of music and the Beatles were always a reference, a symbol and an illusion for me.
I was one of those kids who listened to american radio stations hidden on his bedroom. I was one of those who gathered in a friends house to enjoy Beatles and rock music on an old cassette player. I was one of those who collected old pictures cut from magazines and newspapers and wondered who of those could be John and who Paul. I also bought in the black market Beatles long play discs for a third of my fathers salary. And I grew up dreaming, fighting and feeling something empty in my heart.
I went to study in a Soviet Union university in the 80s and Red Square, Ermitage, Lenin thomb and many places from that DVD are familiar for me. In 1987 when the Perestroika began I involved myself in political activities and I was arrested by the KGB, sent back to Cuba, lost my career and spent some time in prison. Today, since four years ago, I finally live happyly free in USA.
Watching this wonderful DVD and listen to those interviews and stories brought me memories of my childhood and the life of million of people like me who had suffered repression just for listening a message of love and freedom. Every time Ive been in a classic rock concert since I left my country I have noticed people around me surprised when they see me wipe the tears on my eyes. The same way I cried a few days ago at home while watching Paul McCartney Live in Red Square DVD.
Now I live in a free country, I can go to concerts, buy rock albums and nobody cares for that. Thank you, free world, for giving me this oportunity. Thank you, Paul, John, George and Ringo for letting me dream about it during all my life.

Paul McCartney and his band look and sound fabulous on stage during both the Moscow and St. Petersburg sets. However, what puts a damper on this DVD are the constant interruptions between songs. Each song is followed by up to 5 minutes of documentary footage, mostly related to the Beatles impact on the nation during communist rule. They make it sound as though the Beatles were responsible for the fall of the Soviet Union. Needless to say, it is a bit overdone. This documentary footage should have been condensed and positioned on the DVD as an extra. As is, it really deters from the concert's flow. There are also way too many camera changes during the show. Every few seconds the view changes from Paul to somebody in the audience, to the stadium from afar, etc. This also gets a bit annoying. And, as another reviewer noted, for some strange reason the songs are not played in order. It's dark out for one song, daylight for the next, and back to dark again.
But this disc does have some great music. Just be sure to have your remote handy. Fortunately, each track begins at the start of a song, so you can easily fast forward through documentary footage.

Huge Beatles/McCartney fan here. When I read reviews on Amazon, I make sure to read the five star reviews along with the one or two star reviews. I like to get a real feeling of what I will possibly be purchasing. Interspersed with all the rave reviews for 'Paul McCartney - Live in Red Square' there is a smattering of reviewers who pan this DVD as 'unwatchable' and 'painful', to quote a couple of them, citing the constant switching of cameras as the main reason. The huge McCartney sycophants will give this 5 stars, regardless of the actual quality of the DVD, and those who dislike Paul for whatever reason are predisposed to giving bad reviews, so I suspected that the truth lie somewhere in the middle.

As someone who has sat through many music videos that feature unsettling camera switches every second or two, shots that nauseatingly zoom in and out at warp speed, and rapid-fire angle changes that cause headaches if watched for more than a few seconds at a time, I was hesitant to purchase this DVD when I read the reviews about the camera work, even though I am a Beatles freak and a huge McCartney fan. Luckily, I found this DVD at my local library and checked it out. As much as it pains me to say this, I must agree with those who have a major problem with the constant switching of cameras and the overall unwatchability of this concert.

What is it about the modern music video, and many of the television commercials nowadays, that feel the need to do this? I can only believe that it is geared toward people with little to no attention span whatever. I guess some people nowadays can't focus on an image for more than a couple of seconds without getting bored and grabbing the remote? I don't get it, but I know one thing, I am glad I didn't pay anything for this DVD. Great music, though! I don't know if this concert is available on CD, but if it is, I would HIGHLY recommend every McCartney freak, like me, to get it in that format, rather than this headache-inducing DVD.

Sincerely, this DVD can do that to you. Some of the modern computer games have a warning that people who are prone to dizziness should not play the game. This DVD should probably have the same warning. That is my sincere opinion, and I honestly can't understand how it can receive so many five star reviews. I guess the annoying machine gun effect of the camera work doesn't affect most people the way it does me....

I have to give this DVD two stars only, although the music gets five stars easily! It's just too difficult to sit through for more than a few minutes. It was for me, anyway.

Peace.

I do not believe there is a single video shot of Paul McCartney in this entire video that lasts for more than four seconds before it switches to some other band member, or more so, to the audience. This film is clearly more focused on the crowd and merely blends in extremely erratic video of Paul McCartney and his band. Also, although interesting, the commentary between each song does not allow the viewer to get into any kind of flow with the concert. This really feels more like a documentary than a concert film.

However, the music/audio aspect of the film is outstanding. Paul and his band perform the tunes to perfection. Again, unfortunately, the video editing of this film is (in my opinion) ineffective and not well-done. It would have been nice to have had a DVD option to view the film without the commentary between songs, but even more so, to have been able to view Paul's performance without the camera constantly switching angles and to different band members and the crowd.

I had the priveledge of seeing Paul McCartney live in Dallas, TX in November 2005 and it was truly one of the best concert performances I have ever seen. It is so disappointing that the "Paul McCartney in Red Square" film missed the mark in presenting Paul's performance in a cohesive and flowing way.

I am a huge, huge Beatles and Paul McCartney fan, but was truly disappointed in the video aspect of this concert film.