Rockshow (1980)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

An Exercise In Nonsense

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Rockshow (1980) *** 1/2 (out of 4) The title to this concert film is quite fitting as it covers the 1976 U.S. tour by Paul McCartney and Wings. I've seen countless shows of The Beatles as well as McCartney solo but this was the first time I had ever seen a complete (or near complete) show by Wings. I wasn't really sure what to expect especially since I've read some negative things about this film but for the most part I thought the documentary was highly entertaining and the concert was great. I've read a few people complain about the actual look of the concert and while it isn't nearly as well filmed as shows today, for its time the thing still looks pretty good. If you watch many concert films recorded from this era they pretty much look like this. With that out of the way, the music is what's really important and we've got some major winners here. The entire concert is a blast with many great hits, some lesser known tunes and everything from loud rock to some quieter ballads. The best way to see this film is in its uncut, 139-minute glory, which was remastered and re-released in 2013. This includes several great songs that were missing from the previous theatrical version including a wonderful and touching version of "Blackbird." Other great tunes include "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Let Me Roll It," "My Love," "Silly Love Songs" and the rocking "Band on the Run," which has quickly become my favorite song from McCartney. McCartney and the band show a lot of energy throughout the show and I especially liked the softer, acoustic side.

Rockshow, the film which is in fact different from "Wings Over America", is one of the late seventies best concert films. No it isn't state-of-the-art by current standards, far from it, but it can be found in very good quality if one is dogged in pursuit. That is what I'm reviewing here. I have a quite good DVD transfer of the film and the sound is very good - considering all things. I say this because it allows a closer inspection. Paul is obviously very happy to be in the structure of a band, his band this time. The joy he is experiencing in being the master of his destiny is apparent.Many thought, especially at the time, that it was pure indulgence to include his wife Linda. In retrospect, and by examining this performance as well as revisiting his Wings albums, Linda was most assuredly up to the task. Wings was a crack band. Jimmy McCulloch was a very versatile and talented guitarist/song-writer/vocalist, Denny Laine should have been a star in his own right and not just remembered by the masses as the guy who with The Moody Blues sang their first and second best single of all time, Joe English had the power of Keith Moon with a penchant for embellishing that power with fantastic cymbal work, and finally Linda really did have chops as a keyboardist and her background vocals somehow blended far better than she ever got credit for. Simply put: This band rocks with a vengeance and takes no prisoners and those in 1976 who were fortunate enough to be at any of their shows seem to uniformly testify to this.Rockshow is a fantastic concert film. If you can find a good copy that will be your verdict even if you are a hard-case. Paul had assembled some fantastic pop songs as only he could and he was excited to be playing them live - it shows. There is also great balance to the aural assault as Paul added a blue-chip horn section which really sweetened it, but yet the music still has a definitely edgy dirty rock and roll feel. Long before that once dedicated music network came up with their innovation of live acoustic set Paul did it right here and it is good as it gets plus it paces the concert nicely.I have nothing but compliments for Rockshow. I have no idea why Paul hasn't decided to remaster the entire show, add extras, and release it for his legions of fans. Paul is quite generous in his later years in making pro-shot performances available in the public domain as well as releasing a steady diet of current tour shows, this gives one hope one day this will again surface and in a quality never before imagined. Until that time I feel fortunate to have a good copy and I love to pull it out regularly. Please Paul do hear your fans requests and re-release it! Rockshow is a fantastic concert film for the ages.UPDATE: Thank you Paul! I got the Blu-Ray in 2013 and it is utterly fantastic.

This video has been out of print for over 10 years. It shows up from time to time at Beatles trade shows and can be found in older video rental stores. Hopefully this will be remastered for DVD someday and include extra moments from this 1976 Seattle show, such as Ringo Starr greeting Paul on stage after the encore.My videotape leaves out several songs present on the complete Wings Over America cd. This is odd because there is a trailer at the end of the tape that includes "Lady Madonna," which was cut from the 1981 Thorn/EMI release, which I believe is the last commercial release of this video. A few years ago VH-1 aired the show in its entirety the week "Flaming Pie" was released. Sir Paul has gone back and remastered a few Wings cds in the new 5 channel stereo format, so hopefully this will finally become available again. In the meantime, try to find the double cd "Wings Over America," which is also out of print but not hard to find.

This is the best recorded tour of Paul McCartney, showing the power of his solid band Wings. Linda reaches beautiful vocal harmonies on "Listen To What The Man Said" and Paul distills love and careness for her in the masterpiece "Maybe I´m Amazed".The sound quality of the video is not the best; well, it was 1976 and the record machines for live performances weren´t as good as the studio ones, but It´s not the hi-fi sound that kicks here, is the talented Paul and his beloved wife.It´s pretty hard to get this picture, so I recommend you to buy the "Wings Over America" CD at www.amazon.com. It has all the movie songs, plus some surprises.