Back in the U.S. (2002) 

 

Disc One
  1. Hello Goodbye
  2. Jet
  3. All My Loving
  4. Getting Better
  5. Coming Up
  6. Let Me Roll It
  7. Lonely Road
  8. Driving Rain
  9. Your Loving Flame
  10.Blackbird
  11.Every Night
  12.We Can Work it Out
  13.Mother Nature's Son
  14.Vanilla Sky
  15.Carry That Weight
  16.The Fool on the Hill
  17.Here Today
  18.Somethin
  
Disc Two
   1. Eleanor Rigby
   2. Here, There and Everywhere
   3. Band on the Run
   4. Back in the U.S.S.R.
   5. Maybe I'm Amazed
   6. C Moon
   7. My Love
   8. Can't Buy Me Love
   9. Freedom
   10.Live and Let Die
   11.Let it Be
   12.Hey Jude
   13.The Long and Winding Road
   14.Lady Madonna
   15.I Saw Her Standing There
   16.Yesterday
   17.Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End

 

By the time Back in the U.S. arrived in 2002, McCartney’s live albums had become something of a tradition—one seemingly tied to every world tour like a souvenir program, just pricier and with better packaging. The format hadn’t changed much since 1990’s Tripping the Live Fantastic: full setlist, front to back, presented in album form. The problem was, not much else had changed either.

Yes, it had been a dozen years since that last sprawling live set, but in terms of material, McCartney’s studio output during that time had been relatively sparse. His setlists remained largely anchored in Beatles and Wings staples, with only a handful of new songs peppered in—usually whatever he happened to be promoting that year. In this case, it was 2001’s Driving Rain, a solid if not earth-shattering release, and its contributions here feel more like polite gestures than future concert fixtures.

Still, when it comes to Paul McCartney live, most fans aren’t necessarily clamoring for surprises. They want the hits. They want Hey Jude, Let It Be, Band on the Run, and Live and Let Die—and they want them played like they remember. On that front, Back in the U.S. delivers exactly what it promises. It’s a tightly executed, high-energy performance, and it gives fans what they paid those increasingly outrageous concert ticket prices to hear.

One welcome improvement over earlier live albums is the lack of padding. Gone are the “soundcheck jams,” the fragmented noodling, and the self-indulgent filler that disrupted past live releases. Here, it’s just the songs, presented in the order they were performed. However, in trimming the excess, McCartney also removes most of the between-song banter, which in this case is a small but regrettable omission. His tributes to Lennon (Here Today) and Harrison (Something) are touching musical moments, but without context, casual listeners may miss their full emotional resonance. A few words of introduction could have gone a long way.

Curiously, this release was (quickly) followed by another live album—Back in the World—which features a slightly tweaked setlist from the international leg of the same tour. Rather than include the swapped-out songs here as bonus material, they were simply shifted to the new release. A minor annoyance, but enough to make completists sigh in resignation.

Ultimately, Back in the U.S. is a perfectly solid entry in the McCartney live canon—particularly for those who don’t already own Tripping the Live Fantastic or Wings Over America. For the rest, it may feel more like a retread than a revelation. Still, as live documents go, it’s hard to argue with a front-row seat to one of rock’s greatest living performers doing what he does best. Again.

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