Paul at the Roundhouse

 

June 11, 2026 --  A Conversation with Paul McCartney at the Roundhouse in London 

in defense of McCartney (1976 San Francisco)

 

In Defense of McCartney

By David Cheit

The Independent

June 18, 1976

    A Beatles reunion is a special fantasy. If it ever happens, its mere existence will transcend any of the more concrete details of a performance. The songs won't have to be good just so they could be. Period.

     Until the dream comes true, we have to settle for what we can get. Wings is no match for the Beatles, but when you can get Paul McCartney on stage, and he sings " Yesterday " for you, it doesn't matter much who he's playing with. 

    That incredible thirst for a taste, a drop, anything to bring back the Beatles experience was in shouting, arm-waving, foot-stomping evidence last weekend when Paul McCartney brought his band of the '70s to the Cow Palace. The inadequacies have been adequately covered in local reviews. Yes, Paul's voice was unable to make the highest notes. Yes, the sound system was inappropriate, almost to the point of distraction, and yes, the new group is a far cry from the old group, but under the circumstances, everybody went home satisfied.

     If a reunion is in the cards, this certainly was an encouraging preview. It showed that Paul is ready to return to the Beatles' music. He has said he couldn't face it for so long that he could only recently consider performing it again. It also showed his capability as a performer. True, the strenuous tour has taken its toll on his vocal cords, but the acoustic numbers, "Blackbird" and "Yesterday", were nothing short of entrancing. 

    The Wings tunes can't possibly be held in the same reverent light as the Beatles classics, simply because they're not Beatles songs, but they still stood up very well and were received with enthusiasm, with one or two dull exceptions. 

    Other criticisms of the tour have been aimed at Linda McCartney, whose vocal and instrumental contributions to the Wings are, to be sure, undistinguished, but that kind of pickiness doesn't do justice to the way McCartney has managed to preserve his image through the years, while John, George, and Ringo all went through various phases of what's sometimes perceived as weirdness.

     Linda is part of that image. She has helped make Paul something of an all-American Beatle. The spirit and unpretentiousness of the '60s remain, but now Paul is in his 30s. He's a dedicated family man. He's married to a pretty American girl. It's an appealing image, and none of the other Beatles has it.

     Paul hasn't changed much since the days when the Beatles represented a vaguely sinister presence with their funny long hair and odd slang vocabulary. It's everyone else who has changed.

Get Back

 

Paul in a tux

June 14, 2001

Now here is something you don't see too often:  Paul McCartney wearing a tuxedo!   I think he cleans up pretty nice and I think Heather's gown is beautiful.  
 

Hospital Closure is a Scandal Raps McCartney (1991)

Paul and Linda are among the protestors marching to keep Rye Hospital open in October 1990

 

Hospital Closer is a Scandal Raps McCartney

No Writer Listed

Daily Post

June 11, 1991

     Pop star Paul McCartney angrily lashed out yesterday at the government after the Department of Health announced the closure of his local hospital. 

    Health Minister Stephen Dorrell told local MPs in a letter he had decided to uphold the decision by Hastings Health Authority to close 15-bed Rye Memorial Hospital in East Sussex, but Mr. McCartney, in a statement to the Press Association, slammed the decision as a scandal and asked, "Who the hell do they think they are?"

     He claimed, "This government is fast fostering a feeling of impotence among its people. We no longer have a hand in any decision. Perhaps then this decision will bring about the necessity for a change of government. 

    "Now it makes me think so much for Major and the claim the NHS is in safe hands with the Tories. How are we going to take seriously a man like Major when events like this closure are happening the length and breadth of our country?"

     Last October, McCartney and his wife, Linda, led hundreds of banner-waving protesters to a rally at the hospital, two miles from the Pop Stars' home in Peasemarsh. He also offered to pay four nurses to staff the hospital's casualty unit. Yesterday, he said it was scandalous that the government could go against the wishes of the local people.

    " A local boy died from an asthma attack that could have easily been prevented if the casualty department here had been open. Do we have to suffer more deaths to prove to them the need for a local hospital?" 

     Muriel Mayer, secretary of the hospital's steering committee, which led the protests against closure yesterday, vowed to fight on.

     The Department of Health later said Rye was an "old hospital building providing outmoded and inefficient forms of care." A statement added Hastings Health Authority "has facilities in a number of small sites and needs to rationalize those services to cover service priorities within the district, patient care will not be affected."

Maui Neighbors

 

From back in the day, my best GF’s grandparents lived on Maui and their property was next to George Harrison’s property there.
When he wasn’t there, they would help to tend to his property.
And when he was there, he would stop over to visit with them.
Here is George drinking a Dos Equis Amber with her grandparents.
True story…" - from Facebook

McCartney Has Renewed Glow in the Limelight (San Francisco 1976)

 

McCartney Has Renewed Glow in the Limelight

By Steve Connell

The Sacramento Union

June 15, 1976

    The ex-Beatle Paul McCartney is no longer the boyish mop-top British idol of the 1960s, but thanks to his much-celebrated Wings Over America tour, he's once again in the limelight and very much alive and well. 

    He proved all that, plus much, much more here Sunday and Monday nights in the cavernous Cow Palace. Both shows were sold out far in advance, and Sunday's was like nothing I have ever seen. Incredible might not even be enough of a superlative to describe the affair. Even before the concert, the aura of anticipation hanging over the ticket holders and those who were frantically looking for someone with extra tickets for sale was in evidence.

     Some three hours before the show time, they were already lined up to the back of the huge parking lot, waiting and waiting in hopes of getting some kind of decent seat for the festival seat show. The air was buzzing with electricity, and when it finally got going, when Paul made his first triumphant rise to the stage, where he hadn't set foot in nearly 10 years, a roar of approval, so deafening I could hardly stand it, ripped through the hall like a tidal wave. Cameras were flashing in the darkness at a rapid-fire pace, like a million strobe lights blinking at once. I think every rock critic in California must have been there, and of course, there were people from everywhere and numbering nearly 20,000. 

    I talked to one fellow who flew out from Georgia just for the show; another drove from Seattle. I'm sure there were countless others who traveled just as far, and I doubt it was any of the throng walking away disappointed. 

    McCartney is indeed professional in every sense of the word. While I hadn't previously been too impressed with his band, Wings proved to be extremely talented. Paul's wife Linda plays keyboards and sings with Denny Laine and Jimmy McCulloch on guitars, Joe English on drums, and a superb horn section of four. And they blend nicely. They perhaps use too much volume, but the Cow Palace has never been known for good acoustics. 

    They started with newer Wings material, tunes off the Venus and Mars, and Wings at the Speed of Sound LP, plus tunes like "Maybe I'm Amazed" from Paul's first solo album. But when the evening wore on a bit, and McCartney and Company moved into a series of old Beatles, it was the crowd that went nearly ecstatic. These were tunes that brought back memories and tugged at the heartstrings, songs like "Lady Madonna", a very moving "Long and Winding Road," I've Just Seen a Face", "Blackbird", and the classic " Yesterday " with Paul soloing on acoustic guitar.

     A very psychedelic "Live and Let Die" with smoke bombs, blinding flash explosions, and flashing lights galore was an overpowering spectacle. In all, McCartney performed for over two hours, 28 tunes, including two rocking out encores (who said he wouldn't give the crowd its money's worth?)

     Throughout it, his distinctive vocals were pleasing and clear. His guitar and piano playing easily adequate. His bass work truly excellent, and he'll display those talents three more times on this tour in San Diego, Tucson, and Los Angeles. My advice to any rock music fan would be if you're going to be in one of those areas and come by any means, wangle a ticket out of somebody to go. It's a show that shouldn't be missed.

Blackbird Signing

 

June 11, 2001 

There was Magic in the Air

 June 12, 1971 

Let It Be - The Making of the Beatles Final Album Book 2 -- a book review

 

In 2024, I read an amazing book about the Beatles' Get Back Sessions written by Terry Wilson.   If you are interested in my review of that book, click right here.  

The author stated that part 2 would be released in 2026, and, right on time, it was published a month or so ago; I just finished reading it this week.   Part 2 picks up where Part 1 ended and continues into the Apple Sessions of the Get Back sessions.   

Just like I said about the first book, I am amazed by the detail the author, Terry Wilson, researched to get the complete picture of these infamous sessions. Not only did he use all of the books available on the subject, but he also used the Nagra tapes and video documentation.  And he debunked the myth that George was unhappy throughout the session and that everyone was miserable.  He did show that the whole Allen Klein fiasco was going on at the same time and how it affected the group.  He also showed how Billy Preston did not come in to "save" the band, and that Magic Alex wasn't fired after not having Apple Studio ready in time.  

The big build-up in the book is, of course, to the rooftop concert, and Wilson goes into great detail about the concert and who was on the roof with the Beatles.  He also tells the story of the painting seen behind Ringo's drums during the rooftop performance and how Neil Aspinall ended up with it.  There is also a lot of research on the next day's performance at Apple, focusing on the slower number—something I feel gets totally overlooked—but those songs are performances as well. 

What I also enjoyed was that the story did not stop there.  While he no longer had the Nagra tapes and video to refer to, Wilson dug into the "mystery" sessions at Apple in February and all the other sessions up to January 1970 for the songs on the Let It Be album.   I really found the talk about how the Glyn Johns Get Back album was leaked to radio stations and bootlegged interesting.  He kept the story going through Disney+ and Anthology 4, which I think was the perfect way to tell the full story of Let It Be. 

With the announcement of the opening of 3 Savile Row in the near future, I feel like this volume of the book was very timely.   It was hard for me to put it down, although I did find volume 1 to be a little more interesting, but that was just personal preference.   I can't recommend this book enough for fans who want to read the minute details of the Get Back Sessions.   All the books from the past are now obsolete because Terry Wilson's two-volume set covers everything completely.  Check it out!