Linda Hits a Sour Note (1976)

 

Linda Hits a Sour Note

By Peter Senn

Daily Mirror

May 31, 1976

     Jealousy has reared its ugly head in that most harmonious of relationships, the marriage between ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his lovely wife Linda.

     Linda, who believes avidly that everyone needs love to keep going, was decidedly unromantic when Paul left her table at a party in New York to chat to Jackie Onassis, who was sitting at a table next to theirs. The party was at Madison Square Garden after the mammoth concert that marked McCartney's return to the New York stage.

     Jackie, 46-year-old widow of President Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis, was there with merchant banker Skip Stein when Paul joined them. Linda, in a great show of feminine fury, rose from the table too, and stalked off to talk to friends elsewhere.

     Unfortunately, they asked her the wrong question. What was it like sitting that close to Jackie? Snapped back, Linda. "Jackie? All she's ever done was marry a brilliant man, and I mean Kennedy." Concurred, another woman, even more bitchily, "Come, come, you must admit, she throws spectacular funerals."

     Jackie was oblivious to all the chatter. She spoke briefly to Paul, and then concentrated all her attention back to Stein, knees closed and eyes locked. The new romance is going down big in the United States, and so are the ex-Beatles. Ringo Starr is there, and so is John Lennon. The only one missing is George Harrison.

McCartney and Wings Fly Into the Garden (New York City 1976)

 

McCartney and Wings Fly Into the Garden

By Ernest Leogrande

Daily News 

May 25, 1976

    The sustained yells that greeted Paul McCartney's entrance on the stage of Madison Square Garden last night were so deafening that they sounded as if the audience had been assembled on stage and the cheers were being fed through the amplifiers set up for McCartney's band. The enthusiasm was understandable and predictable. 

    Last night marked the man's first live performance in New York City in a decade, and the yells were like echoes of the time before, when McCartney was a member of the Beatles playing Shea Stadium. McCartney and his band, Wings, play the Garden again tonight as part of a United States tour, the final leg of an international round of concerts that began with Europe and Australia last year.

     Wings includes Jimmy McCulloch and Denny Laine, guitarists, Joe English, drummer, and a member whom McCartney introduced as "a girl from New York State, my missus: Linda."  Mrs. McCartney plays keyboards and assists her husband with a bit of harmony. The couple's three daughters are part of the international troupe, but strictly in the background. 

    England's best-known southpaw switched from his left-handed electric bass guitar to piano to acoustic guitar and then back to electric as he and the band, backed by a four-horn section, ran through a selection of songs from his own albums and a few oldies from the Beatles days.

     He was once on the outs with John Lennon, with whom he wrote the Beatles' most notable songs, but they have patched it up, and his recapping of songs from the Beatles era, like "Lady Madonna", "Long and Winding Road", and " Yesterday, " was greeted with wildly sentimental audience response. 

    Some slides, a bit of film footage of the band as "Band on the Run", and a laser show were added attractions. There was a bit of hubbub before the concert as Jacqueline Onassis took a seat, but as soon as the lights went down and McCartney entered, it was his show. He played for two hours, 15 minutes, and quite obviously reveled in his reception, remarking at one point, "You're making us feel very at home, I must say."

One to One Rehearsal

 

The Garden Rocks with George

 

The Garden Rocks with George, Ravi 

By Patricia O'Haire

Daily News (New York, NY)

December 21, 1974

    The music was good, and the musicians were fine. For once, the sound system actually worked well at Madison Square Garden Thursday night for the first of the three benefit concerts given by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. The other performances took place yesterday at four and again at 9pm.

     So why did the concert seem so uninspired? Blame the evening's major star, George Harrison, himself. Former Beatle Harrison was undoubtedly the attraction that lured most of the 20,000-plus fans to the Garden, but for a good portion of the evening, the other musicians on stage outplayed Harrison, outsang Harrison, and far outperformed Harrison.

     Too bad because Harrison could very easily be the most interesting of the four lads from Liverpool who did so much to shake up the music world a decade or so ago. He is the one who seems to be walking down the most open road, the one most agreeable to new musical ideas, the one who doesn't seem to be afraid of doing something different. And incredibly, he is also the one who doesn't mind sharing the spotlight with other artists.

     That worked to his disadvantage Thursday night. He opened the show half an hour late with "Something", and right away, it was obvious that he was not in top form. His voice cracked several times. He sounded tired, and he strained to reach the higher notes and didn't make them. His guitar playing sounded almost indifferent compared to the suburbs strumming of Robben Ford in the background.

     After a few other numbers, including "In My Life", written by "two old friends of mine" (John Lennon and Paul McCartney, whom he didn't name), he introduced Billy Preston for one number then brought out the 16-piece Indian Orchestra led by Ravi Shankar. They were excellent.

     The group has recorded an album entitled The Shankar Family and Friends, and most of the numbers they performed were from that album. Joined by some of Harrison's musicians, saxophonist Tom Scott and percussionist Emil Richards, the band managed a quite unusual blend of styles that might possibly be defined as raga jazz, especially the last number "Dispute and Violence". It was very easy to take.

     Later, the Harrison group returned to reprise some of his better-known songs and some he wrote for a new album. Finally, the group seemed to get everything together, and the musical excitement began to build. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" got it started, and it reached a peak when the very fine keyboard man, Billy Preston took over the stage to play, sing, dance around, and get everyone moving. For the time he and Harrison did a few dance steps together on stage, the audience was on its feet screaming with joy. "My sweet Lord" put a fitting cap on the evening.

Glory Days

 

March 31, 2023 - Paul and Nancy at Madison Square Garden for a Bruce Springsteen concert. 

George returns to Madison Square Garden

 October 16, 1992

"I like the clowns and the little dogs"

 

March 29, 1977 -

John, Yoko and Sean (and Mick Jagger?!?!) go to the circus at Madison Square Garden.    The news clip from this is super cute.  I've always wondered about Mick Jagger sitting behind them.   Did he go to the circus with the Lennons?   Did he just happen to also be at the circus and see John and Yoko and went over to them?   It just seems a little strange that out of all of the people to be at a circus in New York City happens to be a guy that John and Yoko did a television concert performance with in London called  "Rock n Roll Circus."  

Backstage photo