A MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney

Sir Paul McCartney is honored as 2012's MusiCare's Person of the Year in this gala concert held in Los Angeles, featuring a varied slate of performers serving up (mostly) Beatles songs and a few Macca numbers from his years with Wings and as a solo artist. The show kicks off with members of Cirque du Soleil's “Love” cast dancing in the aisles to a medley of “Get Back/Hello Goodbye/Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,” followed by the guest of honor and his band delivering spirited renditions of “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Junior's Farm.” During the 15-song set (including medleys), artists put their own particular stamp on McCartney-penned tunes, ranging from the familiar Sergio Mendes version of “The Fool on the Hill” to the not-so-familiar rendition of “I Saw Her Standing There” by Neil Young & Crazy Horse in full guitar-thrash mode (making the song about twice as long as the original—a hands-down highlight). Also on hand are Alison Krauss & Union Station with a countrified take on “No More Lonely Nights,” soulful piano turns by Alicia Keys (“Blackbird”) and Norah Jones (“Oh! Darling”), and a wonderful granola-crunchy “We Can Work It Out” by Coldplay. James Taylor and Diana Krall team up to perform “Yesterday” (a song that sounds even more mournful with Taylor's signature voice), and McCartney returns with a closing medley (“Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End”), in which he's joined by Joe Walsh and the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl. Sure to be appreciated by Beatles fans and celebrity gawkers (periodic audience shots capture David Crosby, Tom Hanks, Smokey Robinson, and others), this entertaining concert is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 and LPCM stereo. Recommended. (R. Pitman)