Paul McCartney Live in St. Petersburg (2005 TV Special) User Reviews

Unlike 'Red Square,' This Is All Concert

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 3 March 2008]

This is a bonus feature on the "Paul McCartney in Red Square" DVD and, unlike the latter, is a straight concert. There are no "documentary" interruptions: just a continuous 45-minute concert. This concert was held several years after McCartney did the Moscow concert and then did some quick sight-seeing in St. Petersburg. He promised the people at St. Petersburg he'd be back, and lived up to his word.

Anyway, in many respects, McCartney fans who purchased the 'Red Square" DVD wanting to see a concert, will probably be happier off watching this bonus feature.

The song list is as follows: Jet, Got To Get You Into My Life, Flaming Pie, Let Me Roll It, Drive My Car, Penny Lane, Get Back, Back In The USSR, I Got A Feeling, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End, Helter Skelter.

The picture isn't as sharp as the Red Square Concert, but at least this one is all music, so enjoy.

The One Macca Concert I'd Wanted To Be There For!

[AudioFileZ · 9/10 · 7 April 2012]

Paul told the people of St. Petersburg he would be back and true to his word he did. I'm reviewing the "boot" version of this show which supposedly is complete and it is "over-the-top". I'd give it a 10 with one deduction because as a boot it has far too many distant shots and fan shots. There isn't nearly enough Paul close-ups. But, I digress as this is one fantastic show. It has a number of "firsts" where Paul performs songs such as "You Won't See Me" for the first time in public. This is pure gold. The solo acoustic break is phenomenal too! The heart wrenching song dedicated to John is something to behold as is his impassioned performance of "We Can Work It Out". It's not an understatement to say the band is ON FIRE! The audio is excellent with just a noticeable bit of higher white noise as if it's analog, still it is excellent. Of all the shows I've watched Macca perform (thanks to Paul and YouTube there's many)this is the absolute one I'd wished to be front and center watching. If you can find the boot DVD it is simply a must see. Paul McCartney, the greatest rocker of the 20th and 21st century...end of discussion.

You get what you came for

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 5 October 2013]

It's as simple as always with concert documentaries. People who enjoy the artist, will like it. The others probably won't care or even think of watching it. It's a bit of a special one with McCartney not having performed in Russia ever before the Red Square concert, but still you have to be Russian I guess to be able to fully appreciate the significance of the concert. For me it just felt like every other.

The director is Mark Haefeli who worked on quite a few projects with McCartney since then and even scored two Emmy nominations for McCartney's travels to Russia, including one for this one, but lost to the Olympic Winter Games footage from Torino. The music was okay, although i've never been the biggest Beatles or Macca fan. I read in some other comments that it's exclusively concert footage, but the one I saw had ten minutes before that that showed McCartney behind the scenes in Petersburg sort of, how he was connecting with fans, during rehearsal etc., just the usual stuff before the actual concert began and went on till the end of the short film.

Good Concert

[Michael_Elliott · 14 February 2012]

Paul McCartney: Live in St. Petersburg (2003)

*** (out of 4)

Jet/Got to Get You into My Life/Flaming Pie/Let Me Roll It/Drive My Car/Penny Lane/Get Back/ Back in the USSR/I've Got a Feeling/Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/Helter Skelter

This concert is a companion piece to PAUL MCCARTNEY IN RED SQUARE and shows the singer's visit to St. Petersburg the year following his historic show at Red Square. Those disappointed in the other show probably won't be any happier if you are expecting a full concert. This show here clocks in at just under 80-minutes and only features eleven songs but the majority of them weren't played on the other disc (the only repeat is Back in the U.S.S.R.). For the most part this is an enjoyable show as once again McCartney and his band are in fine form both vocally and musically. Of the songs on this show "Let Me Roll It" and "Get Back" certainly stand out from the pack as does a rocking "Jet" that opens the show. The start of the documentary has McCartney talking about how successful the Red Square show was and how they immediately thought of a time to return to Russia. The crowd is also fun to watch as they're all certainly into the music and loving each second. With the shorter setlist this is certainly fans only but it's still very fun.