Much has been made of Paul Mccartney’s three sold out concerts at the Mets’ new Citi Field, and their historical significance coming almost 35 years after the Beatles played the Mets’ old home at Shea Stadium.  The shows were recorded for future release on DVD, received a great deal of media attention, and piled up the glowing reviews.

Much less however has been made of the next night’s show just outside D.C. at the Washington Redskins Fedex Field(the 4th of 9 sold out shows on this US tour).  This show however, is not without a history of its own as Washington, D.C., not New York City was actually the first show The Beatles played on US soil.  History or no history, I was at an all time high of anticipation and decided to spring the extra coin for seats in the front section of the field; after all how many chances do you get a chance to see a Beatle up close and personal.

It ended up being just about what I thought it would be, incredible.  The original Beatles show in D.C. was 12 songs, lasting about a half hour.  The 67 year old Macca bested that by about 25 songs, playing through his ample songbook for better than 3 hours. Throughout the night Macca rotated between his famous Hofner Bass, electric and acoustic guitars, and the piano with great moments at each.  The sound was exceptional as the band was flawless, and that world famous voice sounded as good as it did on the original recordings.  While the energy during the Beatles songs was understandably unmatched, Paul clearly has a wealth of quality solo material from each of the last 4 decades, including a few great jams from last years Fireman project.  He even broke it open on a few songs, going into improv jams that really added to the show.

Paul, while not a conversationalist contributed just enough timely back stories and nostalgic tales about his former bandmates to keep things lively.  These sentimental tales, turned into song and provided some of the more memorable numbers from the evening including an acoustic version of “Here Today”(a song he wrote for John shortly after his death), a performance of “Something” on a ukulele given to him by George, and a campfire style singalong of John’s “Give Peace a Chance”.

While the night took a reflective turn at times, this was no nostalgia act.  This was a legend, putting on a show to the likes of which I have never seen.  Watching this show got me to think, when exactly was the peak of Paul’s live show?  If you were to say the early days in the Cavern club, you are missing out on a whole lot of great material.  The early Beatles Stadium tours were characterized by screaming women and poor sound systems, and they pretty much stopped playing live after Rubber Soul.  Wings had its moments, but then again it was Wings.  The solo tours of the 80′s and 90′s were great but there was a hesitance to play certain Beatles material and had a slight flair for the dramatic.

So where exactly is the peak of Sir Paul’s live show?  While I can’t say for sure, I can say that the 2009 version of the Mccartney live show is full of energy, boasts a wide open songbook, and a flawless performance.  Seeing Paul Mccartney live is an amazing experience, one that I won’t soon forget.