McCartney and Wings Fly Into the Garden (New York City 1976)

 

McCartney and Wings Fly Into the Garden

By Ernest Leogrande

Daily News 

May 25, 1976

    The sustained yells that greeted Paul McCartney's entrance on the stage of Madison Square Garden last night were so deafening that they sounded as if the audience had been assembled on stage and the cheers were being fed through the amplifiers set up for McCartney's band. The enthusiasm was understandable and predictable. 

    Last night marked the man's first live performance in New York City in a decade, and the yells were like echoes of the time before, when McCartney was a member of the Beatles playing Shea Stadium. McCartney and his band, Wings, play the Garden again tonight as part of a United States tour, the final leg of an international round of concerts that began with Europe and Australia last year.

     Wings includes Jimmy McCulloch and Denny Laine, guitarists, Joe English, drummer, and a member whom McCartney introduced as "a girl from New York State, my missus: Linda."  Mrs. McCartney plays keyboards and assists her husband with a bit of harmony. The couple's three daughters are part of the international troupe, but strictly in the background. 

    England's best-known southpaw switched from his left-handed electric bass guitar to piano to acoustic guitar and then back to electric as he and the band, backed by a four-horn section, ran through a selection of songs from his own albums and a few oldies from the Beatles days.

     He was once on the outs with John Lennon, with whom he wrote the Beatles' most notable songs, but they have patched it up, and his recapping of songs from the Beatles era, like "Lady Madonna", "Long and Winding Road", and " Yesterday, " was greeted with wildly sentimental audience response. 

    Some slides, a bit of film footage of the band as "Band on the Run", and a laser show were added attractions. There was a bit of hubbub before the concert as Jacqueline Onassis took a seat, but as soon as the lights went down and McCartney entered, it was his show. He played for two hours, 15 minutes, and quite obviously reveled in his reception, remarking at one point, "You're making us feel very at home, I must say."