Paul McCartney – Good Evening New York City DVD
Paul McCartney’s management has posted an official announcement concerning the DVD of Macca’s New York City gigs. The DVD/CD set will be released in the U.S. on November 17th by Hear Music/Concord Music Group (Starbucks). There will apparently be two editions. The standard edition will have the 2-disc audio compilation of the three-night event plus a DVD. The deluxe version will include an extra DVD featuring the July 15th performance on top of the Ed Sullivan Theater marquee.
A DVD release of a McCartney show is pretty much a given nowadays since every tour of his has been filmed and released in some form or another. What I’m personally hoping for this time around is video of the FULL concert without any unnecessary “cut-ins” of interviews or old archival footage of the Beatles. Past concert DVDs have been marred in this way with stylized video edits and performances cut short by talking heads going on and on about the importance of the music and the history behind it all. I don’t want to be told what to feel. Just show me the concert “as-is” with no interruptions or awkward shots of middle-aged fans weeping uncontrollably. These video directors need to show some restraint and stop trying to show off the latest in video editing techniques!
So cross your fingers and hope for the best!
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Here’s the official press release:
PAUL McCARTNEY “GOOD EVENING NEW YORK CITY”
Multi-Disc CD/DVD Special Package Features Dazzling Performances of Beatles, Wings and Solo Classics From Citi Field, Formerly Shea Stadium, Historic Site of The Beatles’ Landmark 1965 Concert
US Release – 17th November
FROM HEAR MUSIC/CONCORD MUSIC GROUP
UK Release – 23rd November
Mercury Records
“It was three great nights for the band and for me personally it was very exciting to be back opening a new stadium on the site of the old Shea Stadium where we had played 44 years previously. Even more exciting because this time round you could hear us!”
Paul McCartney’s historic three-night musical christening of New York’s Citi Field, witnessed by 120,000-plus attendees and universally hailed as a concert experience for the ages, will be immortalized November 17 when Hear Music/Concord Music Group releases “Good Evening New York City”. This momentous musical experience will be available in two formats: a 3-disc (2 CD + 1 DVD) standard edition and a 4-disc (2 CD + 2 DVD) deluxe version featuring expanded packaging and a bonus DVD including McCartney’s traffic-stopping, headline-making July 15 performance on the Ed Sullivan Theater marquee (including bonus numbers not aired on the Late Show with David Letterman broadcast). The set will also be made available in high quality vinyl. In any configuration, the 30+ songs and nearly 3 hours of music comprising “Good Evening New York City” are a must-have for attendees wishing to relive the July 17, 18 & 21 shows, those who couldn’t get tickets and/or anyone interested in an audiovisual document of a living legend. “Good Evening New York City” marks McCartney’s 2nd release for Hear Music. The first was 2007′s highly acclaimed Memory Almost Full. The standard version of “Good Evening New York City” will be available at participating Starbucks company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada and wherever music is sold.
As the inaugural musical event at Citi Field, the site of the former Shea Stadium, the July 2009 shows held special significance not only for McCartney but for generations of his fans. The shows were performed on the same hallowed ground that The Beatles, in 1965, played the 34-minute show that would set the precedent for the modern day stadium rock show–and where in 2008 McCartney joined Billy Joel for the final rock show before the original stadium’s demolition. As documented on “Good Evening New York City”, “I’m Down” from the 1965 set list was revived for the Citi Field shows, albeit this time played through a PA that was not overpowered by screaming fans (though there were still several thousand who tried). Other highlights of “Good Evening New York City” include faithful takes on Beatles classics “Drive My Car,” “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “The Long And Winding Road,” “Blackbird,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Back In The USSR,” “Paperback Writer,” “Let It Be,” “Hey Jude,” “Helter Skelter” and more, plus “Something” rendered on ukulele gifted to Paul by George Harrison, and a tribute to John Lennon in the form of a medley of “A Day In The Life” and “Give Peace A Chance.” Wings era chestnuts include “Band On The Run,” “My Love,” “Let Me Roll It” and the pyrotechnic tour de force of “Live And Let Die,” while timeless McCartney solo material ranges from “Here Today” to the upbeat “Flaming Pie” and “Dance Tonight” to a pair of numbers from Electric Arguments, the 2008 album released under the alias of The Fireman.
The concert footage featured on “Good Evening New York City” standard edition features concert footage directed by Paul Becher, who has overseen live visuals for McCartney for some 200 performances and counting. The 33-song 2 hour 40 minute performances were shot in High Definition using 15 cameras and digital footage incorporated from 75 Flipcams handed out to fans over the course of the three night stand. The audio mix, in both stereo and 5.1, was handled by longtime McCartney engineer Paul Hicks, whose credits include the recent Beatles remasters, The Beatles Anthology, Let It Be… Naked, and two Grammy awards for his mixing work on the Beatles’ Love album.
The deluxe edition bonus DVD will feature footage of McCartney’s July 15 performance on the outdoor marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater, previously available only as a webcast on the Late Show with David Letterman website. The marquee set, which marked McCartney’s return to the site of The Beatles U.S. television debut, generated front page headlines and literally stopped traffic as word of mouth generated a crowd that packed Broadway from Columbus Circle to Times Square.
Paul McCartney’s July 17-21 Citi Field stand has already been unanimously hailed by critics and audiences alike as the concert experience of a lifetime. On November 17, “Good Evening New York City” will document it for the ages.
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Related posts:
[...] I’ve been listening to the newly released two-disc audio CDs of Paul McCartney’s Good Evening New York City this week and I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed by the blatant use of auto-tune (pitch correction software) on Paul’s vocals. yes, I understand that auto-tune is pretty much standard practice nowadays in the pop music industry but for an iconic voice as Paul’s, the tell-tale signs of auto-tune just ruins for me. [...]
There is no Auto Tune on “Good Evening New York City”. A member of the Steve Hoffman Forum contacted Paul Hicks, who along with Geoff Emerick did the audio mixing for this album, & he laughed when he was asked the question & said that it was not used. I’d say that’s pretty undeniable proof that there is no Auto Tune. If anyone claiming this can actually prove it, then I’ll be glad to stand corrected.
The thing is I don’t hear this at all. I think the album sounds great. In fact I think it’s his best post-Wings live album. I’d love to hear McCartney himself address this, & I bet there would still be folks who, even then, would claim it’s on there. The problem is that Auto Tune is out there now, & it’s on people’s minds, so they are listening for it, wondering where it is & isn’t used. In this case they are sadly mistaken & while they are certainly welcome to their opinions if they don’t like the sound, they, frankly, look like fools when they claim, with utter certainty, that Auto Tune is being used here, when someone like Paul Hicks assures us this is not the case.
Yes, I saw the message in the forum and my guess is that the production crew along with Macca wouldn’t want fans to know that they used pitch correction on the recordings. so of course they’d deny using it.
Also, maybe it was the way the person phrased the question to Paul Hicks? maybe Hicks said no to the use of “Autotune” by Antares but would have said YES to the use of Celemony’s “Melodyne”.
Ro the reverend John C. Link: You are a jack***. A stupid, stupid jack*** who has no idea what the hell you are talking about. If you can’t hear auto-tune, then you obviously have terrible ears. Are you freaking kidding me? “Paul Hicks told me so!” I don’t care if Paul told me himself that auto-tune wasn’t used. The proof is on the recording. Jack***.
hey Jeff. take it easy. everyone’s allowed their opinion on this.
I have and still am a number one fan of Mccartney. I pretty much have seen every performance of his, whether that be live or dvd/you tube. I am also an audio engineer/musician/singer for about 15 years. When I first saw the video clips of his “Good Evening New York City” concert, my ears were TOTALLY shocked. I noticed auto-tune/melodyne or whatever pitch correction RIGHT AWAY. I have seen numerous concerts of Paul with pretty much the same set list. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY pitch correction in comparison. Other videos do NOT utilize it, and you can tell. If you cannot then the trick has worked on you. As great as he is for a singer, at 67 he does waiver on notes. Paperback writer is a prime example. The sustained note is TOO perfect. I can even predict when he is going to fail in strength on some notes, having seen/heard the set same set lists of many concerts. But the bottom line is.. there are far more untrained ears in the world than there are trained, so for the most part it doesn’t matter. But this may be a tell tale sign that my hero may have to realize that his godly voice has finally given up the ghost and needs to retire to a more somber singing style. Aging sucks.
I totally agree with you Paul. If you didn’t see it early, here’s my complete review of the 2-disc audio CD of Good Evening New York City:
http://www.retroblog.net/2009/11/20/cd-review-good-evening-new-york-city-marred-by-auto-tune/
I agree with the use of autotune. It’s very obvious from time to time. But I disagree that McCartney should retire to a more somber singing style. I do think his rock voice is still in good shape, while he seems to struggle more and more with mellow ballads. Like it’s easier for McCartney these days to shout at the top of his lungs. The use of autotune must be some some kind of laziness, instead of redoing vocals, or just leave it like it is.
I as an musicteacher and audiophile can say that i’m 100% sure that he uses autotune in some way on the “GOOD EVENING NEW YORK CITY” release. The signs are to strong to deny it (and that’s why i put “Paul McCarthney autotune” in the google searchwindow). Nevertheless it’s a good concert but i would like to hear the natural “Macca”, can’t be that bad…can it?
[...] I’ve been listening to some old Paul McCartney boots these last few days just to wash the bad aftertaste left from this whole autotune debacle. I’d rather listen to a pure, un-altered performance of a Macca show than some artificially pitch-corrected mess that’s on Good Evening New York City. [...]
It is a real shame that what looks like a great performance has been destroyed by auto-tune (a generic name for pitch correction) more likely Melodyne used very ‘extremely’.
You just have to listen to the entire intro of Live and let die, or a part I just spotted in Yesterday ‘why she had to go-I’ with the tell tail auto tune flip from one note to the other. The word ‘remember’ at the start of Hey Jude is pretty funny too.
You can hear auto tune even if its not really re-tuning, it has this smoothing effect as it flattens the upper harmonics of the vocal.
It is a matter of opinion whether you can deal with this sound or not. It is simple fact that ‘auto-tune’ is used throughout this show.
I suggest watching one of the many previous shows with this line up, much better!
The auto-tuning bummed me out so bad. F*ck computers, seriously.
Yes, Auto-tune (or whatever) is DEFINITELY there! I’d recommend the 2003 Red Square concert.