Paul kicked off a major US tour in spring 2002 to support Driving Rain, his first album of fresh material since Flaming Pie came out in 1997. The tour split into two legs: "Driving USA" hit American cities first, then after summer break, "Back To The US" extended things across the country before moving to Mexico and Japan. The Australian dates got cancelled, but the whole run was a massive success. Paul brought along Rusty Anderson and Abe Laboriel Jnr, both of whom played on Driving Rain, plus "Wix" Wickens on keyboards (he'd toured with Paul in 1989 and 1993) and Brian Ray on guitar.

In November 2002, Paul released Back In The U.S., a live double-CD with 35 songs from the 2002 tour. A DVD concert film dropped at the same time.

The new CDs pack 20 Beatles songs, including tracks like Getting Better, Mother Nature's Son, Hello Goodbye, and Sgt. Peppers (reprise) that Paul had never performed live before. George Harrison's Something gets covered as a tribute. You get Driving Rain material throughout, classic Wings and solo deep cuts, plus Here Today and C Moon performed live for the first time (C Moon had mostly been a soundcheck number until then). Vanilla Sky, the song Paul wrote for the film, makes an appearance too.

The Complete Track List

CD 1 runs 54:41, CD 2 runs 60:46.

CD 1:

  1. Hello Goodbye (03:46) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  2. Jet (04:03) / Paul & Linda McCartney
  3. All My Loving (02:09) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  4. Getting Better (03:10) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  5. Coming Up (03:26) / Paul McCartney
  6. Let Me Roll It (04:24) / Paul & Linda McCartney
  7. Lonely Road (03:12) / Paul McCartney
  8. Driving Rain (03:11) / Paul McCartney
  9. Your Loving Flame (03:29) / Paul McCartney
  10. Blackbird (02:30) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  11. Every Night (02:51) / Paul McCartney
  12. We Can Work It Out (02:30) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  13. Mother Nature's Son (02:11) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  14. Vanilla Sky (02:30) / Paul McCartney
  15. Carry That Weight (03:06) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  16. The Fool On The Hill (03:09) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  17. Here Today (02:28) / Paul McCartney
  18. Something (02:33) / George Harrison

CD 2:

  1. Eleanor Rigby (02:17) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  2. Here, There And Everywhere (02:26) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  3. Band On The Run (05:00) / Paul & Linda McCartney
  4. Back In The USSR (02:56) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  5. Maybe I'm Amazed (04:49) / Paul McCartney
  6. C Moon (03:51) / Paul & Linda McCartney
  7. My Love (04:03) / Paul & Linda McCartney
  8. Can't Buy Me Love (02:09) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  9. Freedom (03:22) / Paul McCartney
  10. Live And Let Die (03:05) / Paul & Linda McCartney
  11. Let It Be (03:58) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  12. Hey Jude (07:01) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  13. The Long And Winding Road (03:31) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  14. Lady Madonna (02:21) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  15. I Saw Her Standing There (03:08) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  16. Yesterday (02:08) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon
  17. Sgt. Pepper's (reprise)/The End (04:40) / Paul McCartney & John Lennon

The Band's Memories

The CD liner notes pull together tour memories from the crew.

Paul McCartney on the tour:

"What do I remember? A fantastic tour with fantastic people. The audiences, the magic of my first American tour in years, the bouquets being hurled up from a smiling, thankful audience almost made us not want to go home after our final night at Fort Lauderdale. The hundred-strong crew holding up heart cards as I started the introduction to The Long And Winding Road and got as far as 'the long...' before the notes choked in my throat, an emotion-soaked tour, the nightly runner onto the bus and excited chat from the sweaty band as we recalled the evening's gig, whilst the bus lurched up the concrete ramp and out of the arena. Nikons flashing, film cameras whirling, cops' Harley motorcycles roaring past as they escorted us to and from the airport. The people in the audience, the funny faces, the emotional faces, the kids, the mums and dads shaking their hips like it would never go out of style, tears for John, Linda and George and cheers for their memories.

The U.S. flags during Freedom, like poppies in a field, the fist-clenched salutes of proud Americans remembering their lost heroes. Abe thwacking his drums and cymbals and breaking a million sticks a night, Rusty and Brian jumping and whirling like demented windmills, Wix's phenomenal keyboard inventions and his increasingly eccentric introductions, reminding us how much we love to play live.

Rehearsals where we looked forward to what was to come, planning the pre-show and eventually seeing our friends, Michelle, Geoff, Fiona et al ballooning around the arena in their pierrot costumes. Loving Heather and I sharing the road together making new friends. Singing Getting Better for the first time since I had recorded it, the standing ovations during the acoustic set, Rusty's giant hands mashing out solos, Brian's smile telling me 'good take', Wix's antics during Maybe I'm Amazed, backstage moments before the gig as we hugged and prayed and gave thanks, the ritual of the throat lozenge shared with Scotty, Woody and our backstage mates, the intense wave of energy coming off the audience, happy faces, proud faces, young faces, old, knowing smiles, emotions, that connection, never to be forgotten. That's what I remember.

Love, Paul"

Brian Ray on the tour:

"To choose a few highlights from the tour that rocked my world (and the U.S., I hear)...that's like picking out the most beautiful wildflower from a field full of them. Let's start at the first night of the tour. We opened in Oakland, where my father grew up. It was if we were all being carried through that show. It was magic, effortless, exhilarating. Up we went, floating. When the five of us came off the stage before the first encore, the feeling of joy, triumph and camaraderie was huge. It was so fresh and new. We had only rehearsed two weeks with Paul so it could have been anything, but it was good, really good. I could feel my father smiling down at me from beyond. After the show in Boston, Paul invited the band to his house for a few days off. Paul and Heather woke us up in the late morning and made breakfast for us. We sat and talked for hours about future plans, including Paul's invitation to go play with him for the queen's golden anniversary at Buckingham Palace. Let me check my schedule. That was a great morning.

I will never forget all the laughs, on the jet rides with Paul, at the aftershow parties and onstage. I was relieved when Paul would crack up or just wink when one of us would make a mistake during the show. There's something cool about that. Seeing the VIP ticket crew and the press officers dressed up to carry the big balloons in their pre-show cameo was worth a few laughs. Geoff Baker, in particular. White clown suit, glasses over the mask, cigarette hanging from his mouth like Keith Richards...bad clown before a crime spree."