PAUL McCARTNEY AT THE APOLLO - AWESOME!

I had the great privilege tonight to see Paul McCartney's amazing concert at Harlem's Apollo Theater. It was an invite-only event put on by SiriusXM in honor of hitting the 20 million subscriber mark (I am an employee of the company, but the event was, rightfully so, for subscribers). (By the way, I didn't take this picture, my friend Jon, who is a subscriber, and won a ticket to the show, took this picture).

It was an incredible show (for a full setlist, check me out on Twitter, I tweeted each song as he played it). Ostensibly, he is promoting the 30th anniversary of what is maybe his greatest post-Beatles work, Wings' Band On The Run, and he played a bunch of songs from the album ("Band On The Run," "Jet," "Let Me Roll It" and "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five"), but the setlist had tons of his songs from when he was fab. The opened with a very muscular version of  "Magical Mystery Tour," followed closely by "Drive My Car," "All My Loving" and even "One After 909."

Paul is one of the greatest songwriters of all time, even his detractors have to admit that. But he is also a great showman, and knows how to write a setlist.  He goes from totally rocking with songs like "Back In The U.S.S.R." to really quiet songs like "Blackbird" (which he said was inspired by the racial injustices in America). He can go from a pretty angry song ("I'm Looking Through You" is one of his meanest, it always seemed a bit out of character to me) and then the very next song was the tender "And I Love Her." And it's all believable.  I don't think he gets enough credit for the diversity of styles he has mastered, both musically and lyrically.

My highlight of the night, though, was his cover of Marvin Gaye's "Hitchhike." He did it as a tribute to all the great performers who had played at the Apollo.  It was a bit messed up, the sound on the vocals went out during the song ("now you know it's a live radio broadcast," he joked afterwards) and he had to start over.  But it was a great performance and it featured go-go dancers, rocking it '60s style (if I had to guess, I would say Maureen Van Zandt, wife of Steven, was the choreographer). There were other guests - a children's choir - on "Wonderful Chrismastime," one of my least favorite Paul songs, but it was sweet. I loved when Paul put on the mandolin for his semi-recent classic "Dance Tonight." Another great moment was "A Day In The Life" which went into John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance." And, finally, the ending medley of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" which went into "The End."

Like Bob Dylan and Ozzy Osbourne, Paul couldn't do it without an incredible band.  These guys love Paul, and they love and respect his music. Keyboardist Wix has been with Paul since 1989 (the first tour I saw Paul on, Flowers In The Dirt), the other three guys have been with him since 2001: guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist/bassist Brian Ray and especially drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., who is not just a monster behind the kit, but also has a charisma and sense of humor that everyone love (especially, it seems, Paul). It doesn't just come off as the Paul McCartney review, these guys really make it rock and come off like a band.  Paul ended the night saying "See you next time," and I can't wait until "next time" comes around. At 67, the guy rocked for two hours, if you ever have the chance to see him, you should definitely go! He really works it: besides playing his main instrument, bass, he also switched to electric and acoustic guitar, piano and even mandolin. All these years later, he still rocks.

Oh and by the way, "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" was a hell of a lot of fun, I know people make fun of that song, but get over it!

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: WE DISCUSS THE BEATLES

2009 was a great year for Beatles fans: it saw the long-overdue remastering of the band's catalog. Also, their mono recordings were available on CD for the first time. Plus, there was their edition of the popular video game Rock Band.

2010 isn't going to top that. But there are some cool releases from The Beatles and their members that we'll be talking about tomorrow morning on SIRIUS XM OutQ's Morning Jolt with Larry Flick.

First off, the reissues of the "Red" and "Blue" albums. Released in 1973, "Red," or 1962-1966, is a double album which includes their biggest hits from the first half of their career. "Blue," or 1967-1970, is a double album that covers the rest of their career. My parents had "The Blue Album," and I still have that copy.  That's one of the first albums I remember listening to. There is nothing on "Red" or "Blue" that wasn't reissued last year, but for people looking to start getting into the band, these are great places to start (there's also the single CD best of 1, but that's a bit too short for my tastes). Both collections hit stores next week.

Out now is The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring The Beatles 2 DVD set which I just wrote about. Of course the highlights of these are The Beatles world-changing performances. But it is interesting to watch the rest of the shows, to see what passed for entertainment back then.  I don't mean that in a snobby way: it's just that, compared to the rest of the entertainers on Sullivan, The Beatles were totally wild and radical.  These days, The Beatles are part of the cultural language.  But watching these shows, you get a better sense for why they had the effect that they had.

This past weekend, the whole world seemed to be celebrating the life and music of John Lennon, as he would have turned 70 on Saturday. The official John Lennon page on YouTube featured video messages from Ringo Starr, Aerosmith, DMC, Jeff Bridges, David Gray and many others, plus lots of non-celebs, just fans. And of course, his catalog has just been reissued, including a box set.  But what interested me the most is the new version of 1980's Double Fantasy, which has the original album, and a "stripped down" version of the album, kind of un-re-mixed by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas (who produced the original).

Meanwhile, Paul McCartney is reissuing what is arguably his finest post-Beatles work Wings' 1973 album Band On The Run. It comes out November 2, and will have extra discs with bonus tracks and a DVD with video footage from the era.

The Beatles have long been holdouts in the digital music marketplace: you still can't download thier music (legally) anywhere. But they are thawing a bit: they are going to reissue the non-Beatles Apple Records catalog on October 25, including music by Badfinger, James Taylor (his first album) and Billy Preston.