Fans Throng to see a Beatle Take Wings
By James Erikson
The News Tribune
June 11, 1976
It wasn't Beatlemania. It certainly wasn't Wingsmania. Maybe it was a touch of Paul McCartneymania that lured more than 67,000 people to see him and his band in the Kingdome last night.
The Kingdome was filled with people and smoke, some smelling like stale perfume, long before the ex-Beatle and his group Wings made their entrance.
When the lights dimmed and the band members finally emerged on the stage, you didn't have to ask whom the people had come to see. "Oh my God! There he is!" shrieked one buxom blonde. "Oh, Paul! "EEEee OOOoo."
Another girl just screamed. A patch on her jacket said it all. "I love Paul."
What could have been a tragedy nearly occurred at that point, as skyrockets were set off in the Kingdome. One didn't go up, but instead fizzled, plunging as a molten fireball into the audience in front of the stage. People screamed and pushed against security guards on the other side of the rope. The guards pushed back, and some people fell down. Luckily, no one was trampled.
The only screams reminiscent of the Beatlemania of more than 10 years ago came at the beginning of the concert, and for the few Beatles songs on the program. Emotional high points were the Beatles' songs "Lady Madonna" and "Yesterday", while the visual highlights came from "Live and Let Die", the song McCartney wrote for a James Bond film. A display of smoke, spotlights, and laser beams accompanied the latter.
Those who came expecting to capture a part of the Beatle past didn't. McCartney is trying to show where he is today. Those who came to hear rock and roll did.
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