Paul's Back Where He Belong ...at the Top! (1975)

 

Paul's Back Where He Belongs .... at the Top!

By Martyn Sutton

Leicester Mercury

October 30, 1975

    Paul McCartney is backstage after a highly successful Paul McCartney and Wings concert.  He is surrounded by burly policemen who are nervously clutching their notebooks. The men in blue are there to protect Paul from his fans. 

    Autograph hunters come in many forms, and although Paul has seen it all before, he is always charming, courteous, and friendly. 

    Wings' tour of Britain has just ended after the band played a series of one-night stands, which took them from Southampton to Manchester and Cardiff to Dundee. Behind them, they left thousands of satisfied customers, a string of good reviews, and several pieces of the Rolls-Royce, which was mobbed in hometown Liverpool by a crowd of Beatle proportions.

    Having conquered Britain again, Paul, his wife, Linda, Denny Laine, Joe English, and Jimmy McCulloch are now set to spread their wings over the rest of the world. Paul McCartney explains what happens next. "The World Tour is not very hectic, but in November, we are touring Australia and Japan. We play seven dates in Australia and three big dates in Japan, then we have a bit of time off over Christmas. And then go to America in the new year, but that's not really that hectic, but we will take in a lot of places in the end."

      Each of the 13 British concerts have seen the same McCartney magic on stage and the same frantic scenes in dressing rooms and hotels. The band plays over two hours' worth of superb music, takes several encores, and races backstage. On stage, the audience listens with respect, applauds wildly at the beginning of every song, and even more wildly at the end of every song. They listen instead of scream and appreciate the music, not Paul's hairstyle.

     Backstage, though, the predatory journalists from the music papers have not caught up with the new Paul McCartney. He is still subjected to questions about the Beatles. Will they reform? Why doesn't he go solo? Why play with a band like Wings? Why is he doing this tour? 

    All of them miss the whole point of it all. Paul McCartney is a musician, and musicians have to communicate. "It's good fun to get out and play for people on a Saturday night", he says.  And he means it. He needn't bother touring, of course, but he needs live audiences to perform too. "It's no good just playing good music to yourself all the time", he explains. His wife, Linda, interrupts to talk about the crowd reaction when they are waving their hands, dancing, smiling, and singing along. "You know they are really appreciating it. They are giving back to you. I love it."

     Paul McCartney and Wings are now one of the three most successful acts in the world, alongside Elton John and the Carpenters. The sales of Wings' last two albums have been phenomenal. They released Band on the Run in 1973, and it was cited in EMI's annual report as contributing to increased worldwide profits. That album is still in the animal charts now, and has sold over a million copies in Britain alone, and well over 3 million more overseas. 

    Their latest album, Venus and Mars has a worldwide advanced order of one and a half million and is selling like hot cakes wherever records are sold. 

    McCartney is back on top with his current music, but for the first time, he plays his compositions from the Beatle days. The audience, predictably enough, loves hearing "The Long and Winding Road," "Lady Madonna," and particularly "Yesterday."

    "I suppose that 'Yesterday' is the number they know best of all of mine, and it's good that we're doing it. At one time, I was too embarrassed to do it because I thought that people would say it's not as good as the Beatles."

     With those reservations now gone, how does Paul feel about the audience participation in his Beatles standard, "Blackbird?" "The whistling on 'Blackbird' was brilliant. I like the audience whistling along. We must encourage them. If anybody feels like doing bird impressions, this is the number!"

     "Who was that man who did bird impressions?" Linda asked. "Percy Edwards, to name but a few," says Paul and smiles. It is still the same Beatles smile that captivated a generation, but he's older now. He's 33, and he's a husband, a father, and a musician. He's far too old to be an idol anymore. Yesterday is a long time ago.