Paul McCartney - Live at the Cavern Club
When Paul McCartney and a select band of ace musicians played this 15-song set of vintage rockers (including two new "old" tunes) on December 14,  1999, 300 lucky people were packed into Liverpool's legendary Cavern Club, where  the Beatles got their start nearly four decades earlier. But the show--comprised  entirely of songs from McCartney's 1999 releaseRun Devil Run--was also seen by  a record-setting Internet audience, allowing the whole world to share the joy of  seeing McCartney return, literally and musically, to the roots of his  illustrious career. This is no-frills McCartney, liberated from the Beatles and  Wings (with the exception of a rousing "I Saw Her Standing There"), and while  the trademark McCartney howl has grown rough at the edges, his love for this  music is enduring and infectious; it's easy to imagine him 40 years earlier, in  the Cavern's previous incarnation (the old club was excavated and refurbished in  1984), belting out a similar set with the same youthful fervor that he  demonstrates here.Boosted by the flawless guitar duo of David Gilmour and Mick Green, McCartney  starts out unevenly (his vocals on "Lonesome Town" are undeniably strained), but  the show steadily improves, and the Mac original "Try Not to Cry" qualifies as a  bona fide highlight, proving that McCartney can hold his own in any rock-historical context. And while the 45-minute set is regrettably brief, this DVD  includes two excellent features--a McCartney interview and aRun, Devil,  Runpromo documentary--that combine illuminating history with latter-day  perspective. Band-member biographies and two 1999 music videos make this a well-rounded package for McCartney's devoted fans.--Jeff Shannon