Tripping The Live Fantastic (1990)
Disc One
1. Showtime
2. Figure of Eight
3. Jet
4. Rough Ride
5. Got to Get You Into My Life
6. Band on the Run
7. Birthday
8. Ebony and Ivory
9. We Got Married
10.Inner City Madness
11.Maybe I'm Amazed
12.The Long and Winding Road
13.Crackin' Up
14.The Fool on the Hill
15.Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
16.Can't Buy Me Love
17.Matchbox
18.Put it There
19.Together
Disc Two
1. Things We Said Today
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. This One
4. My Brave Face
5. Back in the U.S.S.R.
6. I Saw Her Standing There
7. Twenty Flight Rock
8. Coming Up
9. Sally
10.Let it Be
11.Ain't That a Shame
12.Live and Let Die
13.If I Were Not Upon this Stage
14.Hey Jude
15.Yesterday
16.Get Back
17.Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
18.Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying
If ever there was a moment when one might have wondered whether The Beatles were quietly receding into the background of rock history, it was the late 1980s. Lennon had been gone nearly a decade. Ringo was entangled in personal demons. George, having discovered his inner Wilbury, seemed more interested in racing cars than making music. And McCartney—though still recording—hadn’t exactly been setting the world alight with his recent solo output. Then came Flowers in the Dirt, and with it, the tour. Suddenly, the idea of a Beatle on stage in a stadium didn’t feel like yesterday's papers—it felt like an event.
Tripping the Live Fantastic, a sprawling double-disc set, captures that resurgence. It documents the triumphant world tour that followed Flowers in the Dirt, and much like Wings Over America before it, presents a full concert experience—start to finish, no edits, no truncations. At the time, this was a bold move. Most live albums of the era were heavily trimmed, sanitized for commercial appeal. But McCartney, to his credit, gave us the entire show. And the fans—many of whom were hearing Beatles songs live for the first time—were all the better for it.
The setlist is precisely what it ought to be. A smattering of tracks from the new album—well performed and warmly received—plus highlights from his solo career and a few pre-Beatles rock ’n’ roll standards for seasoning. But it’s the Beatles material that provides the heart of the performance. These songs had rarely been played live since 1966, and here they are, rendered with remarkable care and power. Hey Jude, with its extended audience singalong, becomes something close to a communal rite. This is what those songs were built for—stadiums, voices, reverence, and joy.
McCartney’s vocals are in fine shape, his band tight and professional, and the pacing of the concert is generally excellent. But, inevitably, Paul being Paul, things are occasionally “cuted up” in a way that detracts from the otherwise powerful momentum. Scattered throughout the album are soundcheck oddities and bits of musical ephemera masquerading as songs. They don’t add much, and they do disrupt the flow—though, thanks to the marvel of the CD skip button, they’re easily bypassed.
Tripping the Live Fantastic doesn’t just serve as a live document of a tour; it marks a turning point in McCartney’s post-Beatles career. After years of misfires and meandering, he re-emerged with purpose and presence. For long-time fans, it was a much-needed reminder that, yes, Paul McCartney could still fill stadiums—and fill them with meaning. And sometimes, just sometimes, it felt like The Beatles were back again. Or at the very least, that their echo had never faded.
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