Paul McCartney - The Space Within Us (DVD)

Paul McCartney's own words in the extra feature, More About Us speaks volumes about what one can expect from the US concert tour, and this documentary, "We called it US because there's US and the Band, Us and the audience, and US, the like-minded people around the world."

Many McCartney fans seem to have mixed feelings about how this concert was presented here. I've read several dissatisfied perspectives about how much time ...
...If you don't know who Paul McCartney is, you must have been living under a supremely isolated rock for the last few decades! Who doesn't want to know more about someone who had such a major impact on countless lives through music, and will likely continue to impact on lives yet to come?! McCartney is getting on in years, as they say, but who wouldn't want one last chance to see him perform? Here it is!

Throughout the 29 or so songs ... more

Paul McCartney's own words in the extra feature, More About Us speaks volumes about what one can expect from the US concert tour, and this documentary, "We called it US because there's US and the Band, Us and the audience, and US, the like-minded people around the world."

Many McCartney fans seem to have mixed feelings about how this concert was presented here. I've read several dissatisfied perspectives about how much time is devoted to various audience members and plenty of complaints that this is far more documentary than it is concert. While I can certainly understand that avid fans simply want to hear the music, I can't say I agree with much of the dissatisfaction that I've seen vented over this DVD.

If you don't know who Paul McCartney is, you must have been living under a supremely isolated rock for the last few decades! Who doesn't want to know more about someone who had such a major impact on countless lives through music, and will likely continue to impact on lives yet to come?! McCartney is getting on in years, as they say, but who wouldn't want one last chance to see him perform? Here it is!

Throughout the 29 or so songs delivered here by the US tour , there is, indeed, a great deal of footage revolving around a wide variety of anonymous people. Pictures of audiences the tour played to before, during and after random shows are scattered throughout, and there are quite a lot of unknown fans who talk about their love of McCartney, his music, and the impact it has had upon their lives or even the lives of their children. During one segment of the US tour, Paul and the band actually have a live broadcast with the entire concert audience directly to an orbiting space shuttle! I can only imagine the unique wonder of being wakened one morning aboard the space shuttle by a live McCartney rendition of English Tea!

Vicariously through this DVD, I can imagine what the participating audience members felt and that alone was rather a powerful and awesome feeling. As I listened to Paul talk about his fans, the audiences he's played to, and how it feels to be playing to people who hold up signs like, "My Grandmother watched you play at Candlestick Park", I puzzled over what I was seeing and hearing. As the fans reciprocated with their thoughts, emotions and experiences of McCartney and his music my wonder grew as I realized what I was really seeing on this DVD.

This is not a concert dvd, nor really a documentary although it does indeed have the feel of both these genres. Among the many songs performed by US are: Magical Mystery Tour, Eleanor Rigby, I'll Follow the Sun, Fine Line, Jenny Wren, Flaming Pie, Yesterday, Let It Be, Penny Lane, Too Many People, and Fixing a Hole. The music, as always, is excellent and the performance undeniably uplifting and energizing. You will hear a great deal about Paul McCartney's life, his views, his career, his music, his fans, his concerts, and endless bits of candid trivia delivered from band members, celebrities and fellow citizens.

In reality though, The Space Between Us shows us simply how very thin is the line that separates us all, no matter who, what or even where we are in Life and on the planet we call home! Through music, the universal language, we see people like Paul Stanley, Bill Clinton, Bob Spitz and Paul McCartney talking about what the Beatles and McCartney have meant to them, right along side names and faces we've never encountered and likely never will again, people who could be our neighbors. I was particularly moved by a family of three generations who shared some of their experiences as they prepared to attend the concert together. I found myself wondering if my own family might attend some performance in the future in a like manner and who we might go to see.

McCartney's self-assured demeanor had me wondering just how inflated his ego really might be at times, but as I listened to all those contented people who had been touched by his music throughout their lives, as well as by this tour, as I listened to what the impact meant to famous and obscure individuals, I realized how truly difficult, what a burden, it must be to be someone who is so well-known.

McCartney and many of those he worked with on this tour (as well as many others in the past) remark on how important it is to him to strive for perfection. Timing, lighting, every detail is important and the goal is ultimately a show that won't disappoint the huge crowds of fans who will be attending. It would require enormous self-assurance to bear up under such weight and surely the power of wielding such a force would be easily confused with arrogance or even hubris.

Yet, this DVD really does make it apparent just how much McCartney appreciates his fans, their lives, and his fellow beings around the world. I received the distinct impression that Music and pushing for perfection in his performances are of inestimable value to McCartney, in great part because this is the part of himself that he gives to every person who listens. He seems to have a solid sense of his own mortality in this DVD although that seems of very little interest to him. Far stronger is his desire to perform so that those succeeding generations have a chance to listen to the music he helped to create by the original performer.

In the moment when you are performing before a vast audience all singing together to wake up a small group of fellow humans moving through Space far above your planet... could anyone really feel anything other than the great connection that runs through the heart of all of us? Would not the lines between your life and so many others blur as your voice joins so many others? Providing proof, yet again, that US is much more than the sum of any "Me", no matter who you are... one life, one performance, or even one talent pales before the positive force of so many gathered together to share and appreciate music. All of which provides some very interesting food for thought as well as a unique look at a renowned musician and, perhaps, his last tour.

Image and Sound: I viewed this in a U.S. dvd format

1.718 aspect ratio
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or
DTS

Special Features:

US tour pre-show film:

a very interesting look at McCartney's childhood, the formation of the Beatles, McCartney's career. McCartney reminisces and shares family photos, documents, personal remarks from teachers, concert and newspaper clips from throughout his life. One gets the sense that we are simply sitting down and listening to him fondly remember events that shaped generations and influenced music and entire era.

Sound check:

Three candid songs performed during the tour as sound checks along with clips of the crew having a good time. Pretty fun!

On the road with US:

Footage of the tour on the road set to music.

More about US:

Paul, band members and crew members talk about the tour, their experiences and what it was like working with a legend.

Final Thoughts:

If you just want the music, listen to the CD. For a unique experience, take a closer look at The Space Between Us! Well worth the asking price.

 

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