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STUDIO: A&E Home Video
MSRP: $34.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 128 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:

Sound Check Songs: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, Friends To Go, And How Kind Of You
More About Us – Interviews With Paul McCartney, The Band, And The US Tour Crew
US Tour Pre-Show FIlm
On The Road With Us
Create Your Own Playlist Jukebox

 

The Pitch

Paul McCartney hops on one foot through concert tour. Heather Mills isn’t amused.

The Humans

Rusty Anderson, Abe Laboriel, Paul McCartney, Brian Ray and Paul Wickens

The Nutshell

Paul McCartney was once part of an amazing Skiffle band. They went to India, took drugs and made better music. Then, Macca left to make soft rock hits with his vegan wife. Naturally, the baby boomers ate this shit up with a spoon. So, sit back and watch old fucks worship their aging Albion Rock God. You’re going to see more footage of them than concert footage.



The Lowdown

Paul McCartney – The Space Within Us is a television special. That should serve as a sufficient disclaimer before I listen to the Pitchfork Media Nazis rail on and on about the importance of live performance. The problem with the television aspect of the concert is that it feels pre-packaged. Every single moment of the show is wrapped around bookend interviews with one-off band members and fans. Too much time is wasted trying to give every little Macca hanger-on some time to talk.

A&E really wanted to do something special here. You can tell that they had plans for the multiple camera changes and stage angles. Sort of smacks of some Fathom Events double-dip that never came to be. The problem with these angle changes is that they aren’t utilized on Blu-Ray. But, nobody outside of porn studios really puts the angle button to use on your Blu-Ray remote.

Paul McCartney is a seasoned musician with a backlog of songs that most would kill to own. Well, Michael Jackson didn’t really kill to buy a huge chunk of it. But, that’s neither here nor there. The point is that when I watch a Paul McCartney concert film, I wanted to see Macca rock out. That didn’t happen here and it’s enough of a disappointment to put me off any future Macca A&E DVDs or Blu-Rays.

The Space Within Us is an interesting failure. There was a plan to do something different, but that leads into the usual claptraps that come with new endeavors. But, there were only ten minutes of continuous music performance in a concert film. Hold that in your head, as you stare at this Blu-Ray at your local big box store. It’s a rental, but only if you’re curious.



The Package

Paul McCartney – The Space Within Us comes
to
Blu-Ray with a mediocre release. The special features are rather weak, save for the sound check performances. These extra songs were something that needed to be in the film. I don’t care about the fans. I didn’t see any damn fans hogging the spotlight during Stop Making Sense. What makes A&E think that I give a fuck about somebody interpretation of Jenny Wren?

The A/V Quality is amazing for a television special. But, the concert footage tends to suffer from a bad back channel mix. I notice that most of the music is forced into the front speakers which kills the concert aspect of the show. When I listen to HD Music, I want to hear an aural ocean surrounding my head. But, that didn’t happen here.


6.4 out of 10