By Wayne Robbins
Newsday (Nassau Edition)
May 27, 1976
The rumor that "Paul is dead" that has lingered ever since the Beatles' Abbey Road album was finally dispelled Friday night when Paul McCartney brought his band Wings to the Nassau Coliseum. The feeling that "Paul is a wimp", a purveyor of pop fluff that has prevailed among critics and some Beatles fans devoted to John Lennon, was also proved wrong Friday night. McCartney led his band through two and a half hours of rock and roll played with a harder edge than anyone who has suffered through recordings like Wild Life or Venus and Mars would have thought possible.
Performing over 20 songs through the clearest sound system I've ever heard in a large arena rock concert, and using a laser light show that complemented the sound, the Wings concert was a nearly unqualified success. 10 years after McCartney's last American performance with his former band, he retains much of the charisma that helped make the Beatles pop music most elemental force in the last quarter century.
The mood of the audience was close to hysteria as the band took the stage in the darkened hall. Members of the audience reacted to McCartney's presence by lighting matches, a rock hall ritual almost always saved for the encore demand at the end of the show. "Good evening, all," a voice with the familiar Liverpool lilt said.
The children of Long Island, some of whom paid as much as $40 for a scalper's ticket, went bananas. After seeing and hearing the show, it is easy to understand why McCartney might be the most reluctant of all the former Beatles to agree to a reunion. Not only is he by far the most successful as a recording artist, but his band Wings is also a fully developed professional vehicle as good as or better than any major self-contained pop band today. The sound centers around McCartney's strong, booming bass lines, which he is capable of using as either a rhythm support or a lead instrument. The guitarists Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch don't fret much about flamboyance, but they achieve a direct driving sound, which is enhanced by their lack of pretension. Joe English is a drummer who plays with muscle and finesse. Then there's Linda.
Linda McCartney has been a rallying point for the anti-Paul crowd, which has blamed her for the Beatles' breakup and for McCartney's subsequent slide into musical cotton-candy-ism. Though she has virtually no stage presence, Linda more than holds her own, playing supportive keyboard and Mellotron lines and adding a strong voice to Wings' superb harmonies. A four-piece horn section helped give the band its full, flawless sound.
The younger members of the audience seem to truly like Wings music, and with good reason. McCartney has overcome the tendency towards mawkishness that marred his early post-Beatles solo albums like Wild Life and Ram, and he obviously knows it. None of the more than 20 songs Wings performed came from those albums. Songs like "Band on the Run", "Live and Let Die","Let Me Roll It", and even "Silly Love Songs" show McCartney's gift for melody and his love for pure, simple rock and roll. During "Jet" and "Rock Show", one remembered that while Paul was the Beatle who sang the pretty ballads, he was also the one most influenced by the manic vocal styles of Little Richard.
The three Wings songs sung by other members of the band were politely received, while the Wings songs sung by McCartney were affectionately and enthusiastically appreciated. But when McCartney did Beatles tunes like "Lady Madonna, " " Long and Winding Road, " " Blackbird", "I've Just Seen a Face, " and " Yesterday", there was a communal roar of delight that could only have been louder if the other members of Paul's band were named John, George, and Ringo.
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