If You Can't Trust UNESCO Who Can You Trust? (Venice 1976)

 

If You Can't Trust UNESCO, Who Can You Trust? Says Paul McCartney at a Benefit Concert for Vience

By Alvin Shuster

Times News Service (Venice, Italy)

September 27, 1976

    It was hardly music to sail gondolas by, but it was music enough to enthuse more than 25,000 fans, raise money to help save Venice, and provide St. Mark's Square with an event unique in its long history.

     For the first time, a contemporary rock group, Paul McCartney's Wings, took over the Square for a live concert. Violinists, given to injecting the piazza with a heavy dose of "Three Coins in a Fountain" and other tourist sentiments, went home early Saturday night and abandoned it to the former Beatle and his group.

     McCartney's special effects included smoke, strobe lights, and speakers across the sides of the square, and attached even to the walls of the doge's palace beyond. Famous pop people rarely come to Italy these days, so 1000s of Italians, mostly young but some old, crowded into the Square to applaud with their hands over their heads, and shout "Paolo" at the group's leader, and concluded at the end that it was all "fantastico."

     The purpose of the concert was to help the city by raising funds for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is working to stop decay here, restore works of art and buildings, and prevent the city of canals from sinking.

     The Wings concert yielded about $50,000 for the cause after some costs. UNESCO and the city, for example, paid for the construction of the huge stage and electricity, a total of about $40,000. But the rock group, apart from contributing the talent, paid for transporting the heavy equipment, which arrived in trailer trucks sailed down the canals on ferry boats to the Square. 

    "They told us that our concert would help keep the city going," said Paul afterwards. So he said, "Fine, take the profits from the show and lift a building up. I hope it doesn't cost us too much, but if you can't trust UNESCO, who can you trust?"

     The for the the 34 year old musician incidentally added that the Beatles were definitely a "past thing," and that efforts to revive the group, even for one performance, appeared doomed to failure. "We have just been separated too long," he said. "We are still all friendly. There's no animosity."

     The performance Saturday, which included songs from all the recent albums of Wings, plus a solo by Paul of the Beatles' song "Yesterday", was the climax of a week-long effort by UNESCO to focus public attention on the continuing needs of Venice. Earlier in the week, there were performances in less dramatic surroundings by La Chunga, the Spanish dancer, Ravi Shankar on the sitar, and other musicians. 

    Not a vacant hotel room was to be found in Venice all weekend, and Peter Asdonov, who presided over a UNESCO gala Sunday, watched the chaos in the hotel housing the Wings Saturday night, said it "resembled the stock exchange on the day of collapse."

     "We wanted to alert public opinion to the problems of Venice," said a spokesman for UNESCO. "We all want solutions urgently, and we thought Wings could raise at least a symbolic sum that would go to restoring something." 

    The money from the concert will be turned over to city authorities, who will decide how to spend it after talks with the UNESCO officials. The organization's consultative committee met here last week and decided that it was not satisfied with the pace of work here so far. By all accounts, work is lagging. There has been some progress. The land has apparently stopped sinking, but UNESCO, which is coordinating many of the programs, is now trying to instill new life into the salvage efforts; obviously, the violinists of Venice need no help. The square was cleared overnight, and they were back with the sentiment Sunday afternoon.

Rotogravure in Italy

 September 23, 1976

I guess I didn't realize that Ringo and Paul were in Italy at the same time in 1976.  

Paul in Italy

 

June 21, 2026

No one is certain why-- but Paul was spotting in Italy yesterday.  I hope he and Nancy and going to enjoy some rest and relaxation.  Paul had been hitting it hard the last month promoting his album and need time to relex. 

Venice Preserved! (1976)

 Venice Preserved!

By Rosie Horide

Beat Instrumental

December 1976

    What's the worst job you've ever had? That's the current catchphrase culled from the Derek and Clive live album. But if you asked any of the Showco team that worked for Paul McCartney at his recent gig in Venice, I'm sure they'd cite that gig as their worst job ever. 

    There's no reflection on McCartney or Wings, but the problems were considerable and somewhat unusual. But let's start at the beginning. Paul McCartney and Wings were invited by UNESCO to perform a live concert in the beautiful St. Mark's Square as part of their Save Venice campaign. 

    As everyone should know by now, the city is slowly sinking, and a great deal of money is needed to rescue this beautiful and historic place. So they had a week of artistic functions to raise money and wanted a pop group as the piece de resistance. 

    Mr. Leon Davisco, director of publicity for UNESCO said, "We believe that Paul McCartney's group would be just right for the occasion. Not only are they one of the top groups in the world, but they appeal to people of all ages and tastes. We thought their concert would be a fitting finale for our week."

     Paul himself said, "We were very honored to be asked, and after checking out that we could do it, we said we would be delighted."

     And so it all began. For a start, it was going to be an expensive business. There would obviously be no fee, and although UNESCO paid some of the cost, like setting up the special stage and the band's hotel bills, it would cost the McCartneys a lot too. So they did a few other European gigs on the way to defray some of the costs, which would have been incurred if it had all been done just for one gig. 

    The biggest problem to be surmounted was the fact that no merchandise transport had ever been allowed on the main island of Venice, where the square is. It's never felt so much as the weight of a car, and the band had three truckloads of gear! What's more, with all that water around, how do you get the equipment to the island in the first place? The answer was huge barges which were loaded up with trucks and then sailed to the nearest point to the square. Then the trucks were slowly unloaded, and there came an ominous cracking sound. Five of the square's 1000-year-old paving stones had cracked under the weight!  Of course, the various local dignitaries were horrified. But eventually, and very gradually, the trucks got to the side of the square. 

    The crew had arrived a week before the concert to get things ready, and they needed every minute of that time. First, they had to get a stage erected. It was specially built with a high canopy in case of rain and other safeguards against the elements and risk of electrocution. Then all the equipment for the 4000 watt custom built PA had to be assembled. And as if all the usual problems weren't enough, there was a language problem too. Someone from the Italian record company was on permanent call as an interpreter. 

    At the same time, 2000 seats had to be erected on the square. They were for the people who'd paid 15,000 lire for their tickets (roughly £10), the other members of the audience, 13,000 of them had paid 3000 lire for their tickets (£2).  But eventually, that was all done. The seven laser machines worth half a million dollars had been assembled and placed strategically in buildings around the square. In fact, people arriving on the night before the gig were treated to a run-through of the laser, which had been placed on top of the column in the center of the square, and a bright green shaft of light shone out across Venice. 

    Finally, after a week of hard work and aggravation, the concert took place. Musically, it was splendid. From the audience's point of view, it was chaos. Security, supposedly done by the Italian navy, didn't exist. No one was checking tickets, and the police estimated later that there were about 30,000 people there, not the 15,000 that was supposed to be the limit. In fact, most people would have said there were even more there than that. The audience was strangely subdued, too. Even the sensational laser show with the second encore, where the seven lasers were focused together to form the Wings butterfly logo, which twisted and turned like the real thing, didn't rouse them to much enthusiasm. 

    After the show, McCartney himself was a little subdued. "We really enjoyed doing the concert. Not only was it an honor, but what more beautiful place could there be to stage a rock concert? The audience were a bit quiet, though, weren't they?" He was also a little mystified to find that the garrulous European press, who fought to get into the press conference, were suddenly struck dumb when they saw him, and a lady from a TV show refused to do an interview because she couldn't be in the shot with him, too.

     But he did discuss with us plans to play behind the Iron Curtain. "Band on the Run's just been released in Russia, and we'd love to play there, if we were asked. And if possible. You know, you hear such strange things about the people, but I suspect they're just like us under the skin. It would be great to see them-- rocking commies."

     He admitted that the Venice show had cost him a lot, but said it was worth it. And we were told that the week had raised $50,000 for the fund, most of which had come from his gig. 

    As for future plans, Paul said, "We're currently working on the live album, which we hope to have released before Christmas. We're listening to the 90 hours of tape we've done on the World Tour and selecting the right tracks for a three-album set. Then we have Christmas off and start working on our next album. I write all the time, whether I'm on the road or at home, and there are already a few things ready for the next studio album."

     And what about concerts? "We love performing. So I guess we'll be back on the road again soon, but there'll never be another gig like Venice." A sentiment echoed by the crew who were at that moment racing to get all the equipment packed away before low tide left them stranded. 

Playing in Italy

 

No Full House Yet For The Beatles

No Full House Yet For The Beatles

Associated Press

Liverpool Echo

June 28, 1965

The Rome newspapers today showed mixed reactions to the Beatles' concert there

last night. Il Messaggero said they sang well and had good rhythm. It went on, “No

more than four ugly faces, four long heads of hair, four sublime idiots, four barefoot

bums, but they succeeded in creating a spectacle that one can only admire.” Il Tempo said, “The real show was by the fans, and for this reason, it was not a good show.”

Some Italian newspapers said the Beatles' visit had the elements of a triumph, even without

the capacity audiences the organizers had predicted. Paese Sera, a pro-Communist Rome

Daily, noted that the Adriano Cinema was not air-conditioned. It said, “whoever succeeds

in half filling a cinema in mid-afternoon with a temperature at 37 (98 degrees Fahrenheit)

can well be satisfied.”

The Beatles are coming to the end of their Italian tour with something of a record for them.

They have not played a full house yet, making their Italian debut in Milan last week in the

22,000 seat Vigorelli Velodrome, they attracted 7000 fans. The second performance was

better, with 20,000. Two general performances failed to fill the 25,000-seat Lido Sports

Palace. There at one show, the audience barely reached 5000, including 1000 police on

hand to keep order. They proved unnecessary

In Rome yesterday, at two performances at the Adriano Cinema, there were empty seats in

the 2000-seat theater. The organizers had claimed that all the seats had been sold. The

Adriano Cinema advertised that seats were available for the two final performances today.

 From here, the Beatles go on to Spain. Rome newspapers suggest the high prices were

one of the reasons for the lack of spectators. Seats for the Rome performances ranged

from 11s 60d to £ 4. The cheapest and most expensive seats were selling best, the

cheapest to teenagers, the expensive ones to such Beatles fans as actor Marcello

Mastroianni and actress Ursula Andress, who attended last night's show. The heat wave

may have kept the crowds down.

Crazy car ride

 June 23, 1965

On stage in Italy

 

Leaving the van

 This photo took my breath away....

Backstage in Italy

 

George in Italy

February 26, 1988-

Hold on -- were George and Paul both in Italy at the same time?  I posted photos yesterday of Paul in Italy on February 27.   Now I discover that George was in Italy on February 26.   I may need to dig a little bit more into this information.  
 

All The Best in Italy

 February 27, 1988

Fans in the balcony

Here come the Beatles - a Book Review

I ordered the book Here Come the Beatles:  Stories of a Generation by Skira (is that the author?) because I found online that it has a chapter about the Beatles fan clubs. 

I was pretty impressed when the book arrived.  It is a hardback coffee table sized book.   The cover is the Beatles on playing cards, which was used as one of the programs in the U.K. and it comes with a poster of the same image.    When you open it up, you will see that this book is full of beautiful photographs of not just the Beatles but of rare original memorabilia such as movie posters from around the world, dolls, shoes, and a lot of great photos of things most of us will never own and only will see in person if we are lucky.     


Sadly, the photographs are the best part of this book.    Little did I know, but it was written in England and Italian.    One page is in Italian and the next page will say the same thing in English.   This was extremely confusing to me and made the book hard to read.    As if that wasn't enough, I have to say that this book was boring.    It really was about how things in Italy were in the 60's and how according to the author, the Italian teenagers didn't appreciate the Beatles until Sgt. Pepper because they were wrapped up with the local musicians.    Then it goes from 1967 to the basic history of the Beatles with information about what was going on in Italy at the time. 

I had no idea this book was going to be about Italy.    And for a book all about Italy, it really didn't have much to say about the Beatles 1965 tour that went to Italy.   Since the subtitle of the bok was "stories of a generation,"  I thought maybe there would be stories of fans that were at the concert.  Again -- there are great photos and ticket stubs of the concert.

I am not sure who this book was written for.    Italian Beatle fans?    Memorabilia collectors?   Sorry -- but I just can't recommend this book.   However, I am including the Amazon link in case someone would like to get the book for the great photos.

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon where you can purchase this book..   I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/49D9OYl

Don't lean back!

Float down stream

Another group shot backstage in

The Beatles stayed in one place and the people just changed.  For more examples

http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2015/06/more-backstage-photos-from-rome.html

Taking a break in Italy

Behind the scenes

I love this shot from Milan, Italy in 1965 for so many reasons.      It is an interesting shot and one that you never get to see.   The Beatles are wearing the "Shea" suits for one of the few times prior to the actually Shea concert.   I think I spot Mal back there and I start to realize that he and others often got to see the Beatles in concert from this view.   Notice those fans standing on something to get a closer look?  What is stopping them from getting up on the stage?  Isn't that an extremely small stage?

High on the Beatles