The Wings of Man

 

Photos of Paul in Finland can be found in the book Wings Live: On tour in the 70s by Adrian Allen.  You can order the book here https://paulmccartneyafterthebeatles.com/wings-live-whats-inside-a-sneak-preview/

The Wings of Man

By Bea Wilkstorm

McCartney Ltd

December 1972 issue

The whole thing started on June 29th when there was an enormous headline on the front page of Finland's largest newspaper saying, "Beatle Paul to play Finland."  I simply couldn't believe my eyes.  I've been a Beatle fan all my life but never seen any of them in person.  It just seemed too good to be true (although I knew Paul wouldn't approve of the Beatle reference).

The first thing I did the next morning was to telephone the box office, but they had never heard of a Wings concert.  I thought this is the same as before -- only rumors.  I called regularly and lost heart a hundred times before finally getting a ticket. 

The 4th of August, the concert day, finally arrived.  I felt so strange and could not believe that I was actually going to see James Paul McCartney for the first time in person.  The seats were unnumbered, so my friend and I arrived quite early, and yet when we arrived, there were already a lot of people, and we got seats in the 12th row.  In the end, there were about 5000 people there, and that's a lot for Helsinki!  

At last, it was 8:00, the light dimmed, and there he was (I know I should say "they were," but it was a while before I could take my eyes off Paul).  He looked so gorgeous.  I just sat there staring with that funny feeling in my stomach.  It was not until I was able to get right up in front of the stage to take some photos that I really grasped who he was.  When I saw him close and saw those fabulous eyes of his, I about died.  At one time, I know he looked straight at me.  I was the only one up front.  I'm sorry I wasn't able to take a photo of him standing with his left hand behind his head, as that's what he did all the time he was talking. 

I won't give you many details about the songs they sang or how the concert was planned.  I'm sure you have heard everything about the Frankfurt concert.  They sang 14 songs in all.  Wings got warm applause after every song, but still, Paul wasn't really satisfied.  He tried to get us going by saying, "we don't want to be the only one working up here."  After a while, he succeeded, but not until he said, "this is our last number now - GET UP! Let's rock this hall!"  Everyone stood up and began to dance.  The feeling was just too much.  I think I'll never get over it.  By then, I was right up front and was able to get a good close look at him.  Everybody loved it -- even Wings.  Paul even made up a small improvised dance with Linda.  Most of the reviewers were impressed with his voice and the piano playing, though they did get some unfavorable reviews, mainly I think, because Paul refused to give any interviews.  I could go on telling you about the concert forever, but I'll sum it all up by saying that Paul looked fabulous, sang very well (his voice was much stronger than I had expected) and the whole group was really good.  In short a super concert!