Paul, Linda Enrapture Huge Throng (Tuscon 1976)

Paul with his birthday cake and gift baskets backstage in Tuscon

 

Paul, Linda Enrapture Huge Throng

By Larry Fleischman

Tuscon Citizen

July 21, 1976

    At 7:15pm Friday night, they opened the doors to the Community Center Arena for the Wings Over America concert, and 11,000 people came bouncing through. They came in shouting, having stood outside in the heat for several hours. Some had fainted. Inside the arena, meanwhile, the band went through its soundcheck, and local VIPs basked in the cool air conditioning, trying not to look overwhelmed by what was happening that night. 

    When the fans came in, they slid across the empty arena floor and crammed against the wood blockers a few feet from the stage. One wheeled his friend across in a wheelchair, standing on the back to gain speed like an Eskimo out for a sleigh ride. 

    They had come to see and hear Paul McCartney. After the concert, several young women stood on the lip of the stage, trying to send him notes and presents. One local jeweler had made Paul a gold pendant for his birthday. It cost $300, the jeweler said, but he didn't seem to mind. He had seen Paul McCartney.

     Paul and Linda were sitting in a little dressing room. One side of the room was filled with flowers, cakes, and hors d'oeuvres. A telegram "from your fans in Phoenix, who couldn't make the show" was presented to Paul, and he seemed genuinely glad to receive it. 

    When the reporters were led into the room, there was no sign of their traditional cynicism. It took McCartney and his wife to get things going by saying how much they liked Tucson. Linda said they had been planning to spend some time in town with friends, but never got a chance (she once attended the University of Arizona). Paul said he had never been to Tucson, noting that "Get Back", with its famous reference to the city, had come out of a Beatles jam session, "and the fact that I had met Linda."  "Jojo," Linda said, "had just been a name."

     The conversation turned to talk of the Beatles. When asked whether it took him a long time to get used to being a Beatle, McCartney said, "It takes forever. You never get used to it. You start a little group and you think, 'What should we call ourselves?' Every group knows the feeling."

     Paul has a way of handling people that indicates he is honestly concerned with the individual he happens to be talking to. It is a neat thing, especially around reporters who are sometimes treated less than civilly by big stars. 

    One thing McCartney disagreed with was the need critics feel for analyzing his music, for comparing the music he makes with Wings with the music he made with the Beatles. "When the Beatles first came out, it was called the 'Merseybeat'." McCartney recalled, "We didn't say that, we didn't call it that, some fellow did, and everybody listened to him. I've had to live with that for years; it was really just some bit of music.

     "Some fellows on guitar, bass, and drums, a little bit of a show. Get out there, do it. If they liked it, great.

     "I hate anything besides that myself, talking about it, analyzing it. I just enjoy it."