It started off as a good night...

 Election Night -- November 7, 1972 

That'll Be The Day

 

October 1972 

Hello from Cavendish Avenue

 October 3, 1972 

New York Stroll

 October 1, 1972 

When I Get Home

 

September 11, 1972

The Wings of Man

 

Photos of Paul in Finland can be found in the book Wings Live: On tour in the 70s by Adrian Allen.  You can order the book here https://paulmccartneyafterthebeatles.com/wings-live-whats-inside-a-sneak-preview/

The Wings of Man

By Bea Wilkstorm

McCartney Ltd

December 1972 issue

The whole thing started on June 29th when there was an enormous headline on the front page of Finland's largest newspaper saying, "Beatle Paul to play Finland."  I simply couldn't believe my eyes.  I've been a Beatle fan all my life but never seen any of them in person.  It just seemed too good to be true (although I knew Paul wouldn't approve of the Beatle reference).

The first thing I did the next morning was to telephone the box office, but they had never heard of a Wings concert.  I thought this is the same as before -- only rumors.  I called regularly and lost heart a hundred times before finally getting a ticket. 

The 4th of August, the concert day, finally arrived.  I felt so strange and could not believe that I was actually going to see James Paul McCartney for the first time in person.  The seats were unnumbered, so my friend and I arrived quite early, and yet when we arrived, there were already a lot of people, and we got seats in the 12th row.  In the end, there were about 5000 people there, and that's a lot for Helsinki!  

At last, it was 8:00, the light dimmed, and there he was (I know I should say "they were," but it was a while before I could take my eyes off Paul).  He looked so gorgeous.  I just sat there staring with that funny feeling in my stomach.  It was not until I was able to get right up in front of the stage to take some photos that I really grasped who he was.  When I saw him close and saw those fabulous eyes of his, I about died.  At one time, I know he looked straight at me.  I was the only one up front.  I'm sorry I wasn't able to take a photo of him standing with his left hand behind his head, as that's what he did all the time he was talking. 

I won't give you many details about the songs they sang or how the concert was planned.  I'm sure you have heard everything about the Frankfurt concert.  They sang 14 songs in all.  Wings got warm applause after every song, but still, Paul wasn't really satisfied.  He tried to get us going by saying, "we don't want to be the only one working up here."  After a while, he succeeded, but not until he said, "this is our last number now - GET UP! Let's rock this hall!"  Everyone stood up and began to dance.  The feeling was just too much.  I think I'll never get over it.  By then, I was right up front and was able to get a good close look at him.  Everybody loved it -- even Wings.  Paul even made up a small improvised dance with Linda.  Most of the reviewers were impressed with his voice and the piano playing, though they did get some unfavorable reviews, mainly I think, because Paul refused to give any interviews.  I could go on telling you about the concert forever, but I'll sum it all up by saying that Paul looked fabulous, sang very well (his voice was much stronger than I had expected) and the whole group was really good.  In short a super concert!

One to One Concert -- 50 years later

Photo by Richard Adler 

Photo by Richard Adler 

 

August 30, 1972 - 

If I had that time machine I always dream about, going back 50 years ago today to Madison Square Garden in New York City would make the list.    What a thrill it had to have been to see John Lennon perform live in concert!   I can just picture standing there with the crowd shaking that tambourine they handed out at the show.    Maybe the concert is so special to me because we know that John did not get the opportunity to perform live as a soloist during his life.   

Fortunately, the One to One concert is available for us to listen to and watch.  While it isn't close to actually being there, it is better than not having it available at all, right?   John standing there, chewing his gum, wearing that army jacket, and singing into the microphone is so iconic.  

Thank you for the music, John.   Even 50 years later, you know how to rock!  

Move night!

 August 24, 1972 -  Ringo and Maureen see the Godfather 

Wings rocks Belgium

 August 22, 1972 

Paul was having a hard time finding new members for Wings....

 

August 20, 1972

Rotterdam

 

Dusseldorf

 

Time with Ravi

 

August 1972 

White jacket

 

August 14, 1972 

A day of signing

 August 15, 1972 -  I see John and Yoko received a proclamation 50 years ago today as well as signing some important legal documents.  

Busted in Sweden

 August 10, 1972 

Traveling

 

August 8, 1972

Going far

 August 4, 1972 - Finland 

George in London Summer of 1972

 

I am sure that you all have been wondering to yourself what exactly was George Harrison doing 50 years ago.  Well -- do I have a treat for you because I have found a diary written by a fan that was in London in late July/early August of 1972 and shared what was happening with George during that time. 

London 1972

By Kris Martell

The Harrison Alliance

January 1973

 

July 25^th - Saw Pattie today at the office, as well as Alf, Mal (He’s got new glasses!  Wire ones!), and Neil.  We saw Ringo come out again as well.  Joanne went over to Pattie when she came out and spoke with her for a while – her hair’s cut differently now and she’s got bangs.  She waved at all of us as she passed by in her red car!

July 26^th – Today was the premiere of the Bangla Desh film – Angela (an Italian girl) gave me an extra ticket she had, so I got in.  Joanne (who got in thru Alf) and I sat downstairs for a while then decided to try to make it upstairs. That was for “reserved” seats and anybody who was anyone was up there.  We managed to get up there and sat right behind Nilsson (who was making out with some chick) and to our right was Bolin – a few seats away.  George never showed up.

July 29^th – Today I went with Joanne to go to Chelsea and visit the antique market Pattie recommended to us (AntiQuarius).

August 1^st – It’s raining at Apple – we chatted with Alf.  Saw Ringo go in.  Found out George just started recording – saw him go in at 7pm.  “I’m late – good evening!”  He came out at 1:05am (he always made late nights) – smiled – and just waited like he usually does! (Klaus and Nilsson left with him).  Paul Mosian (a man who works for Klein at the NY office) showed up and I directed him down to the studio.  Lindsay – the night guard at the studio, sent cups of coffee up for us – god it was cold!

August 2^nd – George went in at 6:50pm.  Ringo said “Hello” to us – “Hi” to the 3 Scruffs.  When he came out the thanked the Scruffs for the cake, then said, “oh, you shouldn’t wait around, it’s been 10 hours!” His usual speech.  He said goodnight to us, as did Nilsson.

August 3^rd – Today my friend from California gave George a shirt that read “I Dig Love” – white lettering, blue background.  He smiled and said thank you.  Pattie went in at 10:20pm and came out about half hour later.  This was a long night and cold!  We had blankets and slept on the steps huddled against each other – singing sometimes to keep awake and normal.  A policeman greeted us midway through the night and chatted.  Anyhow there was always about six of us – no more – no less – and we sat huddled on the steps.  3 of the Scruffs and 3 of us.  When he came out it was light out (we must’ve looked a sight!) and he thanked the Scruffs for the present they’d given him.  Then my friend said “how’s it going?” to which George said, “now I know why Phil Spector is crazy.”  My friend, “why?”  George:  “Well you have to listen to the same thing over and over again and it makes you go crazy!”  Anyhow – you know how slow George is – talking about that took about six minutes (one must also include the one-minute state breaks he takes while talking).  As he drove past us, he waved – we waited for the trail and got home at 6am.

 

August 4^th – There were a lot of people at the studio today.  George went in and smiled while saying “freak show!”  He came out and said “good morning” to the 5 of us at 4:40.  My friend said “is it getting any better?” to which George said, “It always sounds better early in the evening and then it sounds worse as the night goes on.”  He strapped himself into this blue BMW before starting the car – then he went past us, and waved goodbye as he usually did.  Our friend in the studio arranged for us to have a little tour of the Studio – as soon as the Scruffs left and all the musicians.  So at 5am we were playing “Here There and Everywhere” on the control room piano.  He showed us all over and explained everything – really interesting.  I noticed that all of George’s instruments still had the tags on the Park Lane Hotel and the Queen Elizabeth II.

August 5^th – I think we slept till around noon today.  It was Saturday but George even worked on those!  When he came in today (6pm) we all sort of made a pathway for him – you could understand better if you could see what I’m talking about, but imagine 8-10 people in a cluster then they see George and immediately form a path and diverge on both sides – well that’s what we did and noticed and was trying to hold his laughter in while saying “hello!” as he went in.  One of the Scruffs gave a big whistle and everybody just about cracked up.  At 7pm he came out (which was unusual) and walked to Piccadilly to go to the movies with Phillip – a technician.  He came back at 8:45 and some Spanish girls were there.  As he came in, one went to go over to him but tripped on some wiring near the construction there, to which George noticed and said, “you’d better watch yourself!”  She got herself untangled and went over to him – stated her name and said she was from Spain.  Then she planted a kiss on his cheek to which George seemed quite delighted, and he said “oh – I’ve never met anybody from Spain!”  At 4:40am George came out, he gave us all long individual stares and said “goodnight.”  We had sent down some wine to them with a card that read “Here’s something to make it sound good all night long.”  Nilsson came out with the bottle, offered us some, and chatted.  He was really nice and thought it was great that we waited so patiently for George. He was a real nice down-to-earth human being.  I liked him a lot.

August 9^th - George has stopped recording for a while.

August 11^th – George expected for lunch at Apple but never showed up.

August 13^th-- George is in the studio again.  My 2 friends unexpectedly walked by and saw him, Nilsson invited them in to listen to the tapes in the studio afterwards!  After that night he stopped using the studio again.  He suddenly left for Portugal alone.  Nobody at Apple knew anything.  Pattie remarked that she hadn’t heard from him – “Oh I hope he’s alright!”  He doesn’t speak a word of French or Portuguese!  By the way, he drove down to Portugal, and in Spain he met up with Gary Wright. 

George in New York (1972)

This photo of Pattie and George is from May 1972.  There aren't any photos that I am aware of George on this trip to New York in June of 1972.

 

George in New York (1972)

 

This story was found in the September 1972 issue of The Harrison Alliance.  It was written by Pattie Chisari

 

On Thursday, June 8 (1972), Mary called me and said that Sharon (president of the Let It Be Chapter) had called her to tell her that she’d received a report that George was in New York.  We made a hurried decision to go, and on Friday, June 9, we arrived.  We went to his hotel, where we were pointedly refused a room.  After finding other accommodations, we went to Apple.  At Apple, Mary was going to ask what had happened to something she’d ordered.  We were waiting in the outside office May Pang, John’s secretary, walked out to talk to someone else.  Mary recognized her and called out her name.  When Mary explained why we were there, May remembered her name from a list of those who’d ordered and invited her and I into the office.

We were standing around (May had disappeared for a few minutes) talking when Mary suddenly sighted David Peel.  David, when he saw that we recognized him, approached us, put his arms around our waists, and kissed us before saying hello.  We took a few pictures of him with Pete Bennett and with May and talked a while before leaving for George’s hotel.

At the hotel, we were sitting in the lobby trying to look inconspicuous (it’s impossible!).  We’d been alternately sitting, standing, and walking around for a couple of hours, and we were standing by the hotel elevators at the front entrance when Mary said to me, “Pattie, that’s George Harrison walking in!”  I dismissed that as nonsense.  George, accompanied by someone whom I can only assume is his chauffeur, walked in and had almost passed us on his way to the desk, when Mary folded her arms and resolutely said, “Hello, Mr. Harrison.”    He stopped, looked at her, said “Hello,” and walked to the desk.  By this time we were standing there with our hearts WIDE open.  I approached George at the desk and put my hand on his arm.  “George,” I said, “We’ve been waiting here for three hours.  We don’t want to scream, we don't want to tear your clothes off, we’d just like to know if you’d mind having your photograph taken.”  He replied, “Well not here,” and we walked back to the elevators.  We talked for a while, I presented him with a photograph of himself taken from television (at which he smiled that beautiful slow wide of his) and we asked about the picture.  At that moment, an elevator opened, and George motioned, “In the elevator.”  We got in, (oh the agony of being with him so close!) and he told us “Okay, you can take it now, as long as it’s quick.”  I snapped the picture while we kept up a bit of banter (for the life of me, I can’t remember what we said), and put my camera away.  George then pressed an elevator button (18^th floor) and when the doors opened, said “Girls, this is your floor.”  I just didn’t understand and he repeated, “This is your floor.”  We said “Goodbye George” and said “Goodbye,” and the elevator doors closed on the most wonderful 15 minutes I’ve ever spent.