User Reviews

This may be the only instance I've ever enjoyed the documentary part of a concert DVD more than I enjoyed the music. Oh, Paul McCartney's songs and performances are fine but I prefer hearing the entire song sung if I am going to look and listen to a concert. Here, that doesn't happen, which I know disappointed a lot of buyers, and I don't blame them. Fortunately, I rented this first, but I did find - after the first 20 minutes - the "tour" of Moscow and McCartney's thoughts very touching.

Yeah, "touching" is not a word I would think to use in describing something like this but it is appropriate. at happened the more you see of this trip. The famous ex-Beatle spent some quality time with fans, admirers, country leaders and most importantly kids. He met and helped orphans and patiently helped a mid-teen rock group, listening to them and giving advice. It was really nice. It showed McCartney in a very humanitarian light.

All of this behind-the-scenes material was the expense of the songs but, at least made this DVD worth watching once.

The only thing that was ridiculous was the plethora of comments early on about how McCartney and the Beatles brought down Communism. That is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever heard but several people in here actually espouse that view and are dead serious. If you can be patient and get by that segment, the rest of this documentary is far better.

So, if you're looking for a straight concert, forget it because over half of it is interviews and following the famous singer around Moscow. But if you want to learn something about Russia and see a good glimpse of it in 2003, and a nice look at McCartney being a "regular guy," this is pretty good. You can still get a concert on this DVD because a bonus feature includes a 45-minute concert (all music) he did in St. Petersburg

Although you don't get full songs in any of the Red Square concert, here's the song list: Getting Better, Band On The Run, Can't Buy Me Love, Two Of Us, I Saw Her Standing There, We Can Work It Out, I've Just Seen a Face; Live And Let Die, Let 'Em In, Fool On A Hill, The Things We Said Today, Birthday, Maybe I'm Amazed, Back In The USSR, Calico Skies, Hey Jude, She's Leaving Home, Yesterday, Let It Be, Back In The USSR (reprise).

McCartney is back with Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Abe Laboriel Jr. And Paul 'Wix' Wickens - aka his best band since The Beatles - playing all the Beatles and Wings hits you can imagine as well as a few deep cuts from those two super groups - nineteen songs in all.

The most exciting thing about this brilliant concert is that - as the title suggests - the concert is taking place in Moscow's Red Square(and there's a concert in St Petersburg on the DVD as well, with an outstanding version of 'Helter Skelter' and 'I've Got A Feeling) and at one stage, Vladimir Putin joins the crowd. This gets McCartney to reprise his most poignant song given the circumstances - Back in the USSR, at full tilt - and the crowd predictably goes nuts.

Seeing the emotion on the faces of people in the crowd (and listening to the documentary-style pieces that are inserted between songs) you get an understanding of how McCartney and the Beatles made an impression on people in the USSR, even if their music was not exactly state-sponsored. Music really can bridge all sorts of gaps, be they generational, financial or even political.

Why doesn't this one get 10 out of 10? Simple: the cut-down version of Band on the Run. C'mon guys! What were the producers thinking? Either feature the entire Wings epic or none of it at all.

Confused about what this film is. There's a version on YouTube that runs for about 100 minutes (the video appears to be three hours, but it repeats footage in the second half), and features documentary footage with concert footage. Then there's a 160-minute YouTube video that's just the concert. I guess I'll include this entry for both? I feel like they're different films, though.

The interviews are a little hard to watch in 2022. 2003 seemed like a more innocent time, and McCartney having nice things to say about Putin in various interview segments haven't aged well, but some of the documentary stuff about the history of The Beatles in the USSR/Russia is interesting.

The music fares a little better. Not McCartney's best concert, but it sounds good enough and he puts on a solid show, as per usual. I also feel like the concert-only video is the way to go for this, because the documentary stuff gets repetitive and fluctuates between interesting and poorly aged, and the music is more consistent.

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.