As part of the heavy promotion for his 2007 album
Memory Almost Full
,
Paul McCartney
played an intimate set at
Amoeba Records
' Hollywood branch -- well, as intimate as a jam-packed set at a cavernous two-story store could possibly be. Ex-
Beatles
always tend to cause a commotion, and this event was no exception, with fans waiting outside for days to get a spot for the June 27 concert -- a day that just happened to coincide with
Paris Hilton
's first post-prison interview with
Larry King
at CNN's L.A. studios, thereby making the corner of Cahuenga and Sunset the epicenter of pop culture for a brief moment in addition to being sheer traffic hell for Los Angelenos thinking they might get a chance to rub elbows with
Ringo
in the audience. For those who weren't lucky or patient enough to get inside -- or happened to not live in L.A. -- the show was excerpted as the four-song EP
Amoeba's Secret
in 2009 and released in full as
Amoeba Gig
a decade later.
McCartney
naturally plays a hefty chunk of
-- five tracks, including the single "Dance Tonight" and "That Was Me," which sounds randy and funny in a way it didn't on the studio LP -- alongside a bunch of
standards and a few solo tunes, plus a rousing throwaway of the 1920s classic "Baby Face." Much of the set list is familiar from
concerts of the 21st century, but the intimate setting does enliven his crackerjack band and also forces
Paul
to switch up the order a bit: the concert closes not with the singalong of "Hey Jude" but the rollicking one-two punch of "Lady Madonna" and "I Saw Her Standing There," which closes the show with a bang. This kinetic energy elevates
above the scores of live albums released in the 2000s: those were all arena productions, this is a rock & roll show. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine