CAPSULE REVIEW : McCartney Keeps Beatles Flame Lit

Maybe I’m amazed at the way

You help me sing the song,

Right me when I’m wrong ...

Maybe I’m amazed at the way

I really need you.

--Lyrics by Paul McCartney.

Maybe I’m amazed, too.

Who ever figured the Beatles--represented by Paul McCartney--and the Rolling Stones would still be challenging for the year’s top live honors in rock a quarter century after “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Satisfaction”?

Even more pointedly: Who ever imagined--in view of his uneven critical standing over the last decade--that McCartney would emerge on top?

But that’s what happened Thursday night at the sold-out Forum in Inglewood as the veteran singer-songwriter, now 47, began his first U.S. tour in 13 years.

On this tour that continues its five-day Forum run tonight, McCartney doesn’t offer the consistent high energy or spectacle of the Stones’ stirring performances last month at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Yet the show, which also will be at the Forum Monday through Wednesday, operates from a more fully satisfying emotional center than the Stones’.

From his selection of tunes (15 from the Beatles days and 12 from his solo career), McCartney conveys a wistful, almost sweet reflection on the values of family and community--an attitude echoed in his own warm, unpretentious manner.

It’s a classy and embracing experience that suggests what once seemed like the dumbest of ideas--a Beatles reunion--might have worked after all. It makes the tragedy of John Lennon’s assassination all the more heartbreaking.

A complete review of the Paul McCartney concert will appear in Saturday’s Calendar section.