Wings Over Yugoslavia

 September 21, 1976 

Party for Denny's New Single

 September 9, 1976

McGear Interivew (1974)

 McGear Interview

The Write Thing

January/February 1975

    You shouldn't buy Mike McGear's new album McGear because it was done by Paul's brother, or produced by Paul, or half-written by Paul, or even played on by Paul. You should get it because it's a damn good album, maybe one of three bests of the year. 

    Mike's voice is very deep, very British, and very, very good. The production is tight with beautiful background instrumentation and the kind of songs that stay in your mind. It was supposed to be promoted heavily by Warner Brothers, but I haven't seen any publicity on it around here, where most stores have only one copy hidden under M in the rock section, not exactly overexposing him.

     Mike was on a coast-to-coast American promotional stint to plug the album. John Awarski from Cleveland, Ohio, took photographs of him there and sent us this interview by Janet Macoska.

 Q:  The "Liverpool Lou" record was that Scaffold or was that you?

 Mike:  That was Scaffold. Yes, I did the lead on it, just the lead singing.

 Q: On the other side, "Ten Years After on Strawberry Jam" (written by Paul and Linda), it's sorta like the Beatles... 

Mike:  It's not. That comes from my heritage, you see. It comes from all our heritage.

 Q Is that you doing the voices?

 Mike:  We were all doing it, but it may be that I had the strongest influence on it because we were talking about the old days. We had had a few drinks. I must admit, I'm sorry about that, and we were feeling a bit relaxed, and we started to talk, talking about this character, a very old, amazing man named Tommy Houston, who came out of Liverpool. He was back before the big pop evolution and the Beatles and all those groups. He was well before that. That "Strawberry Jam" was just talking about his experience in life and how he started it all. One of the bits was back to Hamburg. 

Q: A lot of people did think that was about the Beatles.

 Mike:  Sure. But what I could do in that context with a few drinks down me... I know all of that backwards, you see, because I had a brother that went there. So I could say all these things, and they could all be based on facts. That's why it was a bit more interesting. 

Q: Okay, I want to talk about your album too. Could you tell us a little bit about what we should expect?

 Mike:  Well, what to expect is insanity-complete insanity for a start. It's sort of straight pop, and my first sort of straight pop album. There's one track on it called "Norton", which I've allowed my heritage to creep through. It's sort of a comedy one. It's got a little sketch in the middle. That's the only one on it, though. The rest is straight pop. (Corrects himself.) Sorry. In that very statement, it's wrong because straight pop would have one song done in different ways. That's all groups do. It's the same feeling on every track. And I, because I like variety, this is exactly what life is about now. We'll go out of this posh hotel and we'll fall over a dustbin because that's down there too. That's what life's about. You can walk through a door and there can be somebody who hits you in the face. I like life to change, so my album has a lot of changes on it. Suddenly, you go from a very Andy Williams ballad, as it were, into a heavy Lou Reed rocker.

 Q: Did you have this idea in your head before you went into the studio to do it? I mean, you must have talked it over.

 Mike:  Yes, we did, but I mean, no, that evolved. We originally were going to do a lot of songs. The only one that's been captured of another person's is Bryan Ferry's one, "Sea Breezes", and that in concept is completely different from Bryan's version. His one was on a Roxy Music album. It was quite mad. 

Q:  He probably would enjoy that too, because he has a knack for taking other people's things and doing them in his own style.

 Mike:  Oh yes, well, when he heard mine, the first thing he said when I met him was, "Let us shake hands, and I love your version of my song." He's a friend now.

 Q. How did you and Paul work together? Was this the first time that you ever wrote songs together?

 Mike:  No, we wrote other things together before, but not seriously. We've always done things sort of lightheartedly with no structure, just like fooling around, mockin' around. So we haven't worked seriously together. 

Q: Were you happy with the finished product?

Mike:  Very. Amazingly, I haven't even heard it in a while, cause I've been talking too much about it on the radio and to people. I'm very proud of it. It goes on. That's my only criteria in life of a record, is if it goes on a turntable, then that'll do. There are only a few records that go on my turntable, and that, (McGear), thank God, is one of them. 

Q:  Do you have plans to come back and do some kind of tour, either with Scaffold or by yourself?

 Mike: Now I am. When I came to this country, I was just going to do a promo tour and go home, thank you. I've been listening and being drawn into America, and you sort of, (in an Irish brogue) get in me heart. You shock me. It's quite amazing. And so with that reaction, I can come back. Anybody who talks to me, I'll talk to them. Now, people have come in saying, "How do you do?" and talking instead of the things they were doing last time. They certainly weren't talking to me. They were talking at me.

 Q:  Is your children's book that you wrote and illustrated, Roger Bear available over here?

 Mike:  It's not been released over here. They were thinking of releasing it in my album, but they suddenly thought, "Oh God, it's going to confuse and take away from the album". It's going to be an awkward thing to relate to both of them at the same time, whereas the lovely thing about it is that I'm relating to both of them anyway. The only problem is the people can't get the product over here. (He pulls out a copy of Roger Bear to show us) Spike Milligan, John Lennon, and Bowie-three different people who have read that thing and got off on it. It takes a lot of time to color it in. Look at those colorings there.

 Q:  Did you do that?

 Mike: Yes, I did. 

Q: you stayed in the lines and everything. 

Mike:  Oh God. Well, you wait till you start doing it. It's very hard, but it's great fun. 

The single "Leave It, written by Paul, is one of the album's best too, was supposed to receive a lot of airplay, but I haven't heard it on the radio here, and it hasn't made any of the charts yet. But it deserves to be a big hit. Be sure to look for it or the album.

Wings Covers America (San Diego 1976)

 

Wings Cover America

By Jim Guthrie

Daily-Times Advocate

June 27, 1976

    There he was all alone on the stage singing "Yesterday", and there I was in the last row with 14,000 people between us, trying to get the binoculars away from my wife. I'd had the binoculars when he started the song; they had basically been in my possession from the beginning of Paul McCartney's concert at the San Diego Sports Arena, which isn't exactly true. It wasn't just Paul McCartney's concert, it was one stop in the Wings Over America tour, and it was significant.

     The group was addressed in the billing, which indicated a certain symbolism and understanding by one of pop music's most eminent superstars of the idioms' integral relationship between the individual and those around him. McCartney's name alone would have been enough to guarantee the tour's success, but by itself it wouldn't have reflected what, in purely musical terms, the tour was all about. Where the man was now musically.

     There's a place in pop music for the solo performer, and time could be taken here to list a dozen or so names, any one of which, when placed upon a marquee, would be enough to sell out any auditorium in the country as fast as Wings sold out the Sports Arena. But after a while, every new Carole King or John Denver song sounds too much like the old ones, etc. etc.

     The reigning solo performer at present is Elton John, but he really isn't a soloist in a variety of senses. His music needs Bernie Taupin's lyrics, and that just isn't old Elton up there in those funny glasses, banging away at the piano. There are some very talented musicians backing him up.

     To be continually innovative and appealing, pop music requires an interplay of ideas. It has to be a cooperative effort to be truly great. Sure, Elvis was the single most important influence in pop music, but he was a style, an instrument through which the music of others flowed. He needed those others, just as they certainly needed him. And a guy named Dylan has been pretty important in pop music, too. But if he hadn't augmented himself with The Band, it's doubtful he could have gained superstar status as a performer. 

    The most important group in pop music has been the Beatles, but its members were human, and musically the Beatles broke up because John, Paul, George, and Ringo wanted to say their own musical things. They wanted to become Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr on their own terms, and they did for a couple of albums, a couple of years, but then what they were saying on their own wasn't all that important, or even all that entertaining. It became significant for its curiosity value, but tended to be disappointing musically. 

    McCartney, however, relearned the importance of interplay and cooperative effort, and so here it was six years after the breakup, and here was Paul, basically the lead singer in a new group, filling hall after hall, night after night, with both a single and an album number one on the charts. Of course, McCartney is more than a lead singer, and that is why I was trying to get the binoculars back. Through them, I had followed the trajectory of frisbees before the lights went out, and the four horn players mounted the stage in their glow-in-the-dark Wings T-shirts, followed by the five members of Wings themselves, illuminated by that shaft of shocking red spotlight. 

    I'd inspected the crowd carefully, noting a large part of it was made up of people as old as I was, and thus as old as McCartney. I searched in vain for braless teeny boppers boogying carefree in the aisles. While there was a younger element in attendance, I spied them looking curiously at my age group through the doorway of the crowded bar in the lobby, as we fortified ourselves with beer, scotch, and brandy before climbing to our seats. a burly guard informed us we were required to finish our drinks at the bar. We weren't allowed to take them out. Obviously, those kids staring in at us with those funny cigarettes in their hands needed to be protected from the likes of us.

     I had been afraid of having to deal with a bunch of pimply-faced weirdos trying to steal my seat. I had even prepared a speech about the fact that I had more of a right than they had to be there, because in part McCartney was, after all, of my generation, and why didn't they buzz off and come back when Pink Floyd was in town?

     But there wasn't any hassle. Everybody got along just fine, and the only tension between the generations occurred when a pre-teenage girl in the row in front of me looked at me funny while I tapped my feet during "Lady Madonna". We wound up smiling at each other, and later I noticed we were both clapping in time to "Band on the Run."

     But now he was singing "Yesterday", perhaps the watershed song in pop music. The song that made the kind of music that produced it respectable and listened to by all segments of the public. After "Yesterday", pop music became a sociological influence, not just a category. And although he had more to do with "Yesterday" than anyone else, the song isn't known as just a McCartney song; it's a Beatles song, and I'm sure he wouldn't have it any other way. 

    Still, one night stands out in my memory when a musician friend of mine was playing "Yesterday"on his flute. He stopped and said, "You know, McCartney is a musical genius," and then he went back to proving it, so I regretted that I had given the binoculars to my wife. I guess I wanted to be able to say what she did when he finished the song. "I've always wanted to see him sing that, and now I can say that I have." But at least I could hear him in the 18th row of section 20 C, and I was glad I was there. 

    However, "Yesterday" wasn't the high point of the concert.  Hearing it was nice enough, but somehow only in a nostalgic way. What made the concert memorable was the new McCartney sound. The sound of five musicians playing together as Wings.

     Wings is still developing as a group, and it may never reach the Beatles' status or preeminence. Probably no group ever will, but I can't wait for its next tour. By that time, I'm sure the Sports Arena won't be nearly big enough to hold all the people of all ages waiting. Wings will be closer to getting it all together then, and the people in the back row will need higher powered binoculars.

McCartney and Wings: A Soaring Sound of Celebration (Chicago 1976)

 

McCartney and Wings:  A Soaring Sound of Celebration

By Lynn Van Matre

Chicago Tribune

June 2, 1976

    Paul McCartney and Wings touched down in Chicago Monday night at the stadium, coming on in a swirl of fog, a flash of light, and a burst from a bubble machine, and leaving two hours later, tasting triumph. 

    The group's three-day tour here ends Wednesday night. The reception accorded to McCartney, who hasn't played Chicago since his Beatles days a decade ago, was nothing less than expected, of course. But the concert was far better than I anticipated. A bang-up celebration of rock and roll that included several old Beatles songs and some fairly striking and well-done special effects.

     For McCartney, now 33, the road from the Beatles to his current flight with Wings has been, as the song goes, a long and winding one. When the Beatles broke up, he was already at work on his first solo album, "McCartney", a Paul and Linda fair released in 1970, with Mr. McCartney handling all the songs and instruments and Mrs. McCartney chiming in on background vocals. 

    It was soon followed by the best-selling "Ram" album, then came "Wildlife" with Denny Laine on guitars and Denny Seiwell on drums, in addition to the McCartneys. And in 1973, Wings toured Britain for the first time. Later, the band produced several more albums, "Band on the Run", "Venus and Mars", and the latest Wings release, " At the Speed of Sound ". By this time, the Wings lineup had evolved into the current crew: Paul on his famous left-handed bass, lead vocals, and keyboards, Linda McCartney on keyboards, Joe English on drums, and Laine and Jimmy McCulloch on guitars, with a four-man horn section added for the United States tour. 

    So much for the academics. Monday night at the stadium, all that musical history came to life with McCartney's set, including songs from nearly every album and a few tunes from years back. The crowd anticipated a bit of the Beatles and went wild. "Well", McCartney said, "I don't think this is from that far back", but the band swung into "Lady Madonna" and for the first time during the evening, the audience started stamping and clapping along. Clowning a bit at the keyboard, McCartney waited for the applause to die down, then started in on "The Long and Winding Road", a beautiful old Beatles number, while the crowd breathed a collective sigh. Memories, you know.

     But the Beatles are gone, and for my money, McCartney has emerged as the best of the bunch. While many of his pleasant-enough recorded songs have been criticized for their unfortunate tendency to go in one ear and out the other, his live performance of them is something else. Again on stage, the tunes took on a real rock-and-roll edge, and his showmanship was competent and compelling enough. If he has a tendency to mug and camp it up a bit, posing at the piano, well, it goes over big. And what did you expect? 

    Besides the rock and roll, the set also featured a nifty change of pace in the way of an acoustic interlude with McCulloch, Laine, and Paul playing acoustic guitars and Linda chiming in on a couple of songs, including "Drink to Me", "Blue Bird", and an old Paul Simon tune, "Richard Cory". Then the band disappeared, except for Paul, who sang "Blackbird" from those long ago days, and "Let's see if you remember this one," he mused. By that time, though, the crowd had already recognized the opening chords of "Yesterday."

     The acoustic break followed Wings' big visual thriller of the evening, a rendition of "Live and Let Die", accompanied by a burst of flame from fire pots on stage, laser beams, and strobe lights -- gimmicky, yes, but smashing in effect. The song was introduced by Linda, whom McCartney referred to as "my friend and Mrs."  Up until then, she stayed pretty much in the background. 

    Linda, of course, has come in for a good deal of flak from the critics for her less-than-virtuoso playing and being generally all around unnecessary in the scheme of things. Monday night, she fit in well enough, although she still seems ill at ease when she's not behind the keyboards. When Paul traded his bass once again for keyboards, and Linda stood down front at the mic for "My Love", she looked uncomfortable, like a woman in search of something to do with her hands.

     The capacity crowd, of course, had no such problem. As the concert drew to an end, closing with "Band on the Run", an accompanying grainy film of that particular album cover, a bunch of people, including Wings, looking as though they were in the midst of a jailbreak, the audience turned deafening, matches were struck, sparklers were hauled out, Bicks flicked, and then finally McCartney and the band came back for more, choosing to end at last with "Hi, hi, hi", and the unrecorded song "Soily." It had been a long, long set, overly so, perhaps by some standards, but then McCartney has been a long time coming.

Music in Mid-America (Kansas City 1976)

 

Wings Carry Fans to Seventh Heaven

By Bill Turque

Kansas City Star

May 30, 1976

    It was the ex-Beatle, Paul McCartney, both for what he was and still is for many, who packed more than 18,000 excited fans into Kemper Arena for last night's Wings concert.

     "Once a Beatles, always a Beatle," said Kathy Dent, 27 of Kansas City, expressing a widely shared sentiment. Diane Canterbury, 19, of Wellsville, Kansas, got her first Beatles record when she was in first grade. Wings or no wings, she said. She will always be hooked on the charismatic McCartney. "I love Paul McCartney for what he was, is, and will be," she said, beaming. "He's got Beatles sound and Wings sound, and he's put it all together."

     Some would have plunked down their money (unscalped tickets ran from $7.75 to $9.75 for the concert) even if McCartney had never warbled a single "yeah, yeah, yeah."  Brad Nichols, 20 of Wichita, said he thinks the Wings band is a better vehicle for McCartney's talent. "I think he shows his talents much better now. I like Wings. They're a good group," Nichols said.

     "I think most people are coming to see him tonight for the group he has got and the songs he has," said Bob Wages, 27th of Kansas City North. 

    Still, when McCartney and his entourage swept into Kemper in a fleet of chauffeured limousines, a couple of hours before showtime, the screams and cheers of fans brought back a fleeting burst of old Beatlemania. 

    "I love it, it's 10 years ago!" shrieked one frizzy-haired man, as the limousine filed straight into the arena. "He's magical to me", said Joyce Maslow, 23 of Omaha. "He makes me feel so good inside. He's one of God's chosen people. I used to cry when the Beatles were on television. Paul was always my favorite."

     The audience included others who were caught in a time warp of sorts. One grandmother was taking her 10-year-old granddaughter to the concert because the girl's father had been a member of a local group that played Beatles music exclusively. From Lincoln, Nebraska, a couple who have handed down their old Beatles records to their two young sons have been following the tour from city to city, hawking Wings T-shirts. 

    Lines started forming outside Kemper nearly three hours before the 8pm concert, with cars, chartered buses, and campers jamming the arena's parking lot. Ticket scalpers did a brisk business yesterday, with prices ranging from $15 to $80 depending on the location of the seats. Security for the concert was tight, with 85 brawny blue-shirted security men provided by a local firm.  Twenty-four police officers also were used for the event, but with the exception of a few frisbees, the crowd was generally mellow, well-behaved, and in a good mood to enjoy the first visit of a Beatle to Kansas City in a dozen years.

Music in Mid-America

By Robert W. Butler

Kansas City Star

May 30, 1976

     Before last night's Wing concert at Kemper, I had a long list of things I felt were wrong with silly love songs. 10 minutes into the show, I couldn't remember a one. 

    Paul McCartney and the band put on what must go down as one of the best concerts ever seen in this town. From the first number, "Venus and Mars", all 18,000 in the Arena knew this was something special. 

    For more than two hours (This is being written 90 minutes into the show, and the performers show no sign of letting up), the Kansas City crowd heard what must be one of the world's best live rock bands whip through an avalanche of songs ranging from the heyday of the Beatles to McCartney's latest LP.

     Some of McCartney's recent songs have been criticized for an overabundance of sentimentality, but this live show is a joyous kick-out-the-jam rock fest, and offers so many good tunes presented virtually nonstop that even two hours seems to pass by in minutes.

     Everybody in the band carries this weight. McCartney, of course, was the star of the show, and between tunes he mugged at the audience, flashing the V sign, and waved at those aiming cameras at him. Denny Laine wielded a double-neck guitar, and it was a sign of the band's professionalism that he snapped a string on the first tune and kept on playing as a roadie fitted him with a new one. He never missed a note. Joe English proved himself to be one of the most energetic drummers around, and Jimmy McCalloch, guitarist, offered some hefty lead solos on some of the tunes. 

    Linda McCartney, Paul's wife,  who has had to bear more than her share of criticism, may not have exhibited all the instrumental prowess of the four men, but she acquitted herself well as a second-string keyboardist, providing some eerie sounds on the synthesizer on tunes such as "Spirits of Ancient Egypt" and playing the organ on most of the tunes. She also sang backup vocals.

     Another star was a band stage setup, a series of platforms that lit up like a stained glass window and featured what appeared to be a laser gun. That last bit of hardware got a workout during a rendition of "Live and Let Die", when it shot thin beams of green light the length of the Kemper Arena. 

    The show offered songs from all phases of McCartney's career. "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Lady Madonna", and "The Long and Winding Road" were cheered as McCartney presented his own personal golden oldies. After an hour of hard rocking, the members of the band pulled out their chairs and sat down for some acoustic picking, offering "Picasso's last words", "Richard Cory", "Blue Bird", and "I've just seen a face". One by one, they left the stage until McCartney, alone in the spotlight, began strumming the opening chords to "Yesterday." There was a burst of applause that quickly died down, and soon not a sound could be heard from the audience as 18,000 persons shared a memory.

Giving Audiences What They Want (Boston 1976)

 

Giving Audiences What They Want

By Ernie Stantosuosso

The Boston Globe

May 24, 1976

    Linda McCartney yawned backstage, an obvious indication that the long and winding tour was taking its toll. Husband Paul, however, was relatively ebullient, intermittently puckish, and pleased with the reception given him and Wings by a capacity crowd of 15,509 Saturday night in Boston Garden.

     "There's a thing about being in journalism," he said, "and that is to assume people going to our concerts to hear just Paul McCartney and Beatles songs. However, you find out the day after, the crowd is talking about Wings, Denny, and Jimmy playing, and so on. Denny's the nut who got me to do the Beatles songs on the tour."

        The currently 31 concert, 20-city swing ending June 22 marks the first of any consequence for McCartney in the United States since he last performed with the Beatles in 1966. The left-handed bassist had previously made a handful of sotta voice appearances to try out the Wings. The consequences, it turned out, were disconcerting to local police. 

    "We used to turn up on campuses and ask the officials, 'Do you want us to play?'" Continued McCartney, "But it really proved to be a drawback, and the police would come up to us and point out that it wasn't safe to play to a small group when 20,000 others outside were trying to get in."

     The Wings Over America concert is a collage of Paul's boogie-rock and romantic balladry the latter often indicated as being too treacly. McCartney has incorporated into this format a light show and flashing smoke bombs. Yes, he was aware he wasn't pioneering these extra flourishes, but he wasn't constrained to apologies, either. 

    "The basis of our show," he continued, "was a Led Zeppelin concert we saw in London. So we felt we had to take it to the United States level."

     Paul can be counted as one of the minority who liked the George Harrison concert in December 1974. ("He had to contend with several problems, and he also lost his voice before the tour started.")

     The Wings' chief replying to a question concerning the identities of the first names in the song "Let 'Em In" from the group's latest Capitol album: Wings at the Speed of Sound, confirmed in passing that the long-standing rift between himself and former collaborator John Lennon has been healed.

    "Why 'sister Susie' is what Linda is called in Jamaica," he began. "John is Linda's brother, and I also have a friend John Lennon. Michael is my brother. Don and Phil are the Everly Brothers, and Uncle Ernie is from Tommy."

     Throughout the interview, Linda and Paul were to make frequent sportive references to the interviewer as 'Uncle Ernie'. ("Liza Minnelli's favorite song by me is 'Maybe I'm Amazed'. Get that down Uncle Ernie"). 

     One of the songs performed from the John, Paul, and Ringo era was "Lady Madonna". It was inserted early in the 29 selection show that continued for two and 1/4 hours on Saturday. "It's really the first song of the evening for me," said McCartney. "I'm giving the audience what they want. "

    Aside from the often pallid, pseudo-cryptic lyrics affecting much of Paul's writing, he apparently did give them what they wanted. They screamed for five minutes as Wings tuned up upon the darkened stage, and when McCartney commenced the vocal to the concert overture, "Venus and Mars", the cataclysm erupted anew, lit matches, a few wantonly hurled firecrackers, and the thunderous din of humanity compromised the welcome. Then came the throbbing tempo of "Rock Show" segued into "Jet".  "Let Me Roll It" with its looping stride was enhanced by the catchy riffing of Laine and McCulloch.

     Dedicating the song to his family in the audience, his wife, Joanne, hails from Salem, Denny sang "Spirits of Ancient Egypt", after which McCulloch articulated the caveat of "Medicine Jar." The evening's visual highlight came during "Live and Let Die", punctuated by flashing smoke bombs and fusillades of laser lights that turned the stage into a no-man 's-land. The acoustic set included "Picasso's Last Words", "Richard Cory", and the nostalgia-evoking "Yesterday." The group's latest hit single, " "Silly Love Songs," was included along with McCartney's ricky ticky dedication to Fred Astaire, "You Gave Me the Answer."

     The song list was of marathon length: "Time to Hide", "Beware My Love," "Must Do Something About It (sung by Joe), "Magneto and Titanium Man", "Letting Go," "Band on the Run" and after the crowd had chanted, "We want Paul!" for 10 minutes, the frantically accelerated encore, "Hi, Hi, Hi".

     It was a concert where no one was shortchanged, although the going rate outside for scalped tickets was $20. One could purchase a Wings t-shirt on the sidewalk for $3 before the show. College student Betsy Tormay observed, "Though the Beatles were not as good as Wings, I'd still like to see them get back together."

     As the Garden emptied following the concert, McCartney crystallized the reason his band is appearing in public. "We're in it to keep doing it," he said.

Injury Clips Wings (1976)

 Injury Clips Wings: McCartney Tour Delayed

No author listed

The News of Cumberland County

April 2, 1976

    Paul McCartney and Wings have postponed their American tour because of an injury to one of the group's members. Guitarist Jimmy McCulloch suffered a broken hand when he slipped in a bathroom. The injury came following the conclusion of the group's European tour.

     The American tour, entitled "Wings Over America", was to have encompassed 20 cities and 31 performances. The tour will be herland the debut of Wings in America, and also be McCartney's first personal appearance on a US concert stage in almost 10 years. 

    The ex-Beatle and his group were to have played Spectrum on May 12 and 14th. A spokesman for the group said Tuesday that the tour was being rescheduled to begin in May, but could not say whether the Spectrum dates for the group would be changed.

     Wings over America is the culmination of many months of planning and is the fourth and final leg of the Wings World Tour, which began in England in late 1975 and proceeded to Australia and Europe. Wings will be performing a set lasting between two and two and one half hours with no intermission. New sound and light apparatus, as well as special staging, have been designed especially for the tour.

     Wings will be arriving in the United States directly from Paris, where the group concluded its triumphant European tour on March 26. During the third leg of the World Tour, Wings performed to sold-out houses in Denmark, Holland, and Berlin, Germany. Wings consists of Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Danny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, and Joe English. The four-member brass section that accompanied Wings in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the European segment of the Wings World Tour will perform on the American tour.

     The band will be performing material from all prior Paul McCartney and Wings albums, as well as songs that have been associated with Paul McCartney throughout his career. Also included will be selections from Wings' latest release, Wings at the Speed of Sound, the album, which has recently been released on the Capitol label, includes songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney as well as Jimmy McCulloch and Denny Laine, who will also perform their compositions during the course of the concert tour. 

    The album was certified gold immediately upon its release in the US. The brass section on the tour consists of leader, Tony Dorsey (trombone), who also arranged the horn section on Wings at the Speed of Sound, Steve Howard (trumpet, and fuglehorn), who has been featured on albums with Labelle, and has worked with Alan Tossant. Thaddeus, Richard (flute, sax) has worked with Johnny Taylor and Tony Dorsey over the last few years, and Liverpudlian  Howie Casey (Tenor sax) has backed such music luminaries as Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Wilson Pickett, T Rex, and John Entwistle.

Wings over Holland

March 25, 1976
 

Sily Love Songs at Checkpoint Charlie in 1976

 

March 23, 1976 - Berlin, Germany 

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. 

Beware My Love Sessions

 Wings sessions for the song "Beware My Love" January 1976 

Maybe I'm Amazed (1976)

 

With the Got Back Tour 2025 coming to an end, I have enjoyed seeing everyone who has attended concerts review on YouTube and Social Media.   It has been fun to see fans experience the show in different cities.    

I thought it would be just as fun to go back almost 50 years and see how one fan experienced seeing Paul with Wings at various U.S. cities on the Wings Across America Tour.    I notice a LOT of similar things in her accounts and today with one big exception. 

Maybe I'm Amazed

By  Kathy Meyer

With a Little Help From My Friends

Issue #15 --  July 1976

    Trying to write down a coherent account of what happened to me in the last couple of months is bordering on the impossible, because as I sit here at the typewriter and attempt to put everything into perspective, I can't help stopping repeatedly to convince myself that it all really happened. 

    Upon hearing the schedule for Paul's tour, I quickly made arrangements to see him all three times that he was to be in New York, only to find out that the tour was postponed. When the new schedule was released, I tried unsuccessfully to get some answers from the ticket office at the Garden (for the last time. Miss. We don't have any word on the Paul McCartney tour! Nothing! Click.) "Lovely", I thought.

     And then suddenly they were all sold out. "Lovely", I thought again, with tears of anger in my eyes. I felt frustrated and cheated. I decided to just forget about all the hassles I was going to run into by trying to scalp for the New York shows and concentrated on the Philly shows. 

    This was the beginning of my incredible luck in getting tickets. Two very nice girls who didn't know me from Adam were kind enough to get me a ticket each for both nights. While further south, my great friend Pauline secured me a ticket for the second DC show. (At this point, I was going to say yes to anyone who offered me any tickets.  Alaska?  I'll take it! How much?)  After a minor trauma in Philly with a hotel room (I figured $20 tops per night, and brought $40 to cover it, expecting to bring home some change, $34 for one lousy night!)  I was all set. I ran up to my room and ordered three rum and Cokes.

     After being told by every nice person in Philly which (wrong) bus to take to the Spectrum, I was finally there. I met a lot of really nice people outside, and soon sold the mezzanine ticket I had for a 12th row center one. 

    When Paul came out, I didn't move, I didn't blink an eye. I just sat there, and then it all hit me at once. I jumped, I screamed, I cried, I laughed, I cried and cried and laughed some more. I couldn't believe the feeling that came over me. Here was the last Beatle. The only one I never have seen in concert. Here was Paul McCartney.

     As the show continued, I thought of how ridiculous it would be to see him only a few times. I suddenly vaguely minded even the idea of Paul doing a show without me there. So right then and there, I decided to follow him as far as any money would take me, which wasn't far, but who cares I was going!

     The second show was even better, the one in DC, better yet, although for the DC show, Paul rushed through it a bit. Because it was general admission, there was no way for the guards to control the audience, and there were tons of frantic people trying to get to Paul, discounting the 10 or so odd people under them.  Well, oblivion does strange things to normal, sane people.

     Back home again, and I found it fairly easy to find tickets for the New York shows, provided one had a rather large bank account. Several of the offers I got for tickets came from people I met in Philly and it turned out that I did get my tickets from a guy from New Jersey that I met there.  Two 12th  row seats for the last night at the garden. $75 for the show, doubled the night of the concert. I got to Jersey faster than hell and got the tickets.  The Garden 12th row !!

    Philly was the first time that I'd ever seen Paul close up as he drove in the second night. And it was amazing that I was so thrilled to see him. I knew that I would go crazy, but I really had a hard time containing myself. It was just so exciting for me, and I was fortunate enough to see him in New York as well. Although it was only a fleeting glimpse as he went by, it was, for me, a great, great thrill.

     I had to miss the show in Uniondale because I'd spent too much money on the Garden Show, and this was also the case for the first New York show. But I didn't mind. I went and stayed outside and just waited for the finale. From the minute Paul stepped out onto the stage, the place was wild. It actually shook from so much emotion. When a New York audience loves you, they want you to know it. And Paul knew it and loved it. What a ham. 

    Then it was back home again to tell my parents that I was, you know, leaving for a little while. I was kind of going to follow Paul for a little bit. And very surprisingly, they were really cool about it. The only question they had about it was, how was I going to, you know, fund this sort of thing? Well, I told them I'd figure it out.

     On Friday, June 4, I was off to Denver for the show on the seventh at the McNichols Sports Arena. My cousin and I set out early in the morning, and it was one big party for us the whole time, except for the flat tire we got on the first day. We got to Denver via the Worlds of Fun in Missouri, which is kind of like Disneyland. We spent all day Sunday riding roller coasters. 

    There was quite a difference in the show on Monday night; they were jamming more. Paul was a lot looser and seemed thoroughly relaxed. The audience loved this. I'd heard about the "mellow mountain people", and if this is the case, then most of the people in the place were imports, like us. The whistling never ceased, and the place was rocking. And needless to say, Paul didn't mind it all one bit, dancing around, jumping, making noise. He was like a little kid. It was too much.

     It's important to note that through all the concerts I saw, Paul's voice never faltered. He was always in top form, smooth and beautiful. It was incredible to listen to him go from a rocker like "Magneto" into "My Love." There was no cracking whatsoever. One of my very favorite songs every concert was "Maybe I'm Amazed." That song, without fail, makes me cry every night. I just love the way he sings it. He was so into it. His voice is just so perfect. 

    The next shows were in San Francisco, and were some of the best that we saw. They were very thrilling and a lot of fun. The weather was really nice, and this was in direct contrast from DC, where it was rainy and generally lousy and I had to sit out in the rain. Because DC and San Francisco both were general admission, and then went into the hall, smashed, wet, and anxious. Well, many people got sick in DC. San Francisco was great, though. Everyone was very together and friendly. I was really enjoying myself. 

    The Cow Palace had a stampede that first night and then again on the second night. In particular, after "Yesterday", everyone started to stamp their feet, and the sound was deafening. They put in bleachers for the sides, and no one sat in them. Everyone was up for the entire show. It was fabulous. Everyone had so much energy. 

    It got so wild that Paul didn't come out for an encore the second night. Just as he was turning in to the mic to introduce the horn section, some girl who was trying to get up on stage to give him a gift, knocked the mic right into Paul's mouth. It quite obviously upset him. He was taken completely by surprise. He was shaken there for a bit. His mouth was bleeding. He had to grab a towel for that. But true to form, he turned right back to the audience and gave us a giant grin, and went into the intros and then "Letting Go", which he did so seductively that, you know...

    I miss "Soily", though, what a song! That baseline in that one is incredible! Paul is the most underrated bassist in the whole world. Let's hope this tour has put him in his proper place as the best bassist in the world, a title he richly deserves. It has been said that Paul's face has, to an extent, been to his detriment because he has been overlooked as far as his musical capabilities go. And this is tragic, since he is so great at what he does.

     Tucson was the strangest concert I've ever been to in my whole life. To this day, I still cannot understand what the hell happened in there. First of all, I hated the concert hall. There are bright lights blazing on us for the whole show. Since the outside walk around (where you go to the bathroom, get food, and find your gate) was not separated by a wall from the actual rotunda, it was a drag for anyone who was not on the floor. This made everything seem pretty impersonal, and it really bothered me.

     When Paul came on, though all seemed to change. Everything was all right, and we were all set for the show. I've been wondering what would happen here, because it was his birthday, and Paul put an end to all my anxieties. As soon as he finished "Jet", he stepped up to the mic, said "hello and welcome", and then said "and happy birthday too". I collapsed. What a typical McCartney statement, not making really much sense, but everybody knew what he meant. And a big cheer went up. Denny stepped up then and said a big happy birthday to him, and started to sing it, at which point we all joined in. The song never got finished, though.  Paul was too excited, and he started right on to "Let Me Roll It". He was so cute. 

    Later on, Denny declared "Time to Hide" as Paul's birthday song, and another huge cheer went up in the crowd. It was so much fun, I felt like I was sharing his party with him, and what a feeling to spend his birthday with him.

     Now comes the strange part. After "Band On the Run", quite a few people got up to leave. I was just staring at them in total bewilderment. And by a few people, I mean several 100. I couldn't believe it. I heard one guy say that he really thought the show was great. "Oh boy, what a show!"  Didn't he know? I thought. And then when they all came back, there was a crush of people running to get back in to hear the encore. It was just too much. Then after "Hi Hi Hi" many more started to leave. Really, a lot of people started leaving. Several 1000, I would say, they just didn't think there was any chance of him coming back. It was so weird at this point, and no offense intended to the people of Tucson, I started thinking, "Well, no wonder JoJo left this place. Where the hell are these people going?"  And then they came back, and everyone started to scream and run back again. What a comedy! It was too funny to believe, but it really happened, and I was stunned.

     It was a great show, though, and it was so special because it was Paul's birthday, and there was just a really good feeling in the air.

     LA was next, and the Englewood Forum really outdid themselves. When we got there, the news teams were already there, interviewing people. The tickets were going for unbelievable prices, and the newsmen were freaking out about it. I was going to tell the guy that I came all the way from New York to see Paul, but I knew that would get me on TV, and I'd had experience with that at the first New York Beatlefest, and it scared the hell right out of me. You don't realize your true idiotic potential until something like that happens. (Why did you come here today? Uhhhhh?) It was awful, and I stayed as far away from cameras as possible. 

    They had a giant balloon on top of the Forum to welcome Wings, and they had marching bands there who circled the arena many times for each show. They even had huge spotlights that, when it got dark, were positioned so that they made a W. It was really very nice. 

    There were tons of famous people there, too. They had a big star entrance and everything. It got rather sickening, though, the cops put up a blockade so that we, the fans, couldn't get by. And they made us go through a couple of side entrances where the lines stretched and stretched. Several people missed the first songs because the lines were so long that they couldn't get everyone in on time, and they were already going to be starting well after showtime. And this even includes the half hour that Paul provides for his typical lateness. 

    Also, most of these stars, most of whom no one recognized, were rather rude and crass and turned me right off. Then there were the real recognizables, Sally Struthers, Michael Douglas, Rod Stewart, David Jansen, Leslie Uggams, Jack Nicholson, to name but a few. The real treat came inside. The first night, Kim and I, and don't ask me about my luck, managed to get David Bowie's seat right next to where Paul was. What luck! It seems that David Bowie either had to leave town or never got back, and so he never picked up his tickets. And some guy from the Forum came by and asked us if we needed tickets. And it was as simple as that. He took us by the star entrance, and we laughed at the drunk women and their minks trying to stumble out of rented limos. We paid him cost, and then we were led right in. So we got past the mobs.

      When we got in, Kim went to get us a beer, and as I looked around, there were several 1000 people starting to descend upon one little area. After a few seconds, this little man comes bounding out. It was Ringo!!  I don't know what happened. I started to scream, but it didn't matter. Everyone else was too. It was fantastic. He sat right across from us. I was just standing there, stunned, and no one was there for me to grab. Poor Kim, when she came back, I stood up for the longest time. Everyone else had already settled down a bit. I just kept waving to him. And finally, the girl he was with saw me and nudged him. He looked over to me, smiled, and gave me a great big wave. That was it. For me, I was totally satisfied. I had really gotten just about everything, and couldn't have been happier. 

    Next, right next to us, came Elton John, looking disgusting. He was shorter than you would imagine, fat, and very pale-looking. And guess who was with him? It was Cher! We just laughed and laughed. What a scene. The whole place was jumping around at the sight of someone. Paul must have heard it. He came dashing out. No one was going to steal his show. I really think he might have felt that way. He's so insecure sometimes, even after his fabulous reception.

     I should say here that at the San Francisco show, no one sat behind the stage because it was general admission, and so everyone was crowded down on the floor. Paul, when he went to the piano and sang "Maybe I'm Amazed," looked up and seemed a little sad for a minute because he saw no one there, like there was a mass exodus or something. But then a big smile came across his face, like he knew where they all were. It was so sweet. It's one of the cutest moments of the whole tour. I kept wanting to tell him he'd sold out the place. What are you worrying about? Everyone is here anyway.

     So many memories are getting in the way of the story here. At the end of the first show, Rich got up on stage, to Paul's surprise, and gave him a giant bunch of flowers. They hugged and then walked out arm in arm. It was a high point for me.

     Strangely enough, that was to be the last show for us. The tickets were just too expensive, and we still had to get home. I was very, very sad that I didn't get into the finale, extremely sad. Then I thought about all the good luck I had and how selfish I was becoming.

     We hung out both nights, got smashed out of our brains trying to rationalize it all. It's okay. We saw the best shows anyway, and then we left. We were on our way back home. It was the best trip of my whole life, and I won't forget one single minute of it, not ever. Paul's supposed to be putting out a live album of this tour by Christmas. But knowing Paul, I have to ask him, which Christmas is it going to be? 

EMI Welcomes Wings

 

Australian Rehearsal

 October 31, 1975

So Easy to Get High On Wings (Glasgow 1975)

 So Easy to Get High on Wings

By Douglas Graham

Daily Record

September 22, 1975

    Kilted Wings blasted out their encore of "High, High, High" at Glasgow's Apollo last night, and how the fans loved it. They were left on a musical high after two hours of the magnificent Paul McCartney road show. What a difference even since they were last here. They're so much together, so gut full of talent, and incredibly, they sound just the same as on their albums. So often, working bands are only a watered-down version of their records. McCartney plays piano, guitar, and sings all the time, urging the band on, yet he still finds time to spotlight Denny Laine and little Scot Jimmy McCulloch. But you should have heard the cheers when Paul was left alone on stage and sang the wistful " Blackbird " and "Yesterday." McCartney, the magician, has achieved a superb musical mix.

Yesterday-- Great ---Today--- Brilliant (Wings over Bristol 1975)

 

Yesterday --  Great -- Today -- Brilliant

No Writer Listed

Torbay Express

September 13, 1975

    The Beatles might be dead, but they are not forgotten -- at least not by Paul McCartney. Those Torbay fans who, like me, are loyal made the trip to Bristol's Hippodrome this week to catch Wings only West Country gig as part of their first British tour in two and a half years, must agree that McCartney was everything and more a former Beatle should be.

     Looking ageless, his timing, singing, guitar, and keyboard playing were faultless, and the numbers he gave us during the two-hour performance were well chosen. McCartney took us into the Beatles' glory days with "Long and Winding Road", "Lady Madonna," and "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night," and "I've just seen a face" which all came over in that unmistakable style of his. But you couldn't help but wish George, John, and Ringo were up there playing as well. The highlight of his trip down memory lane was when McCartney took up an acoustic guitar and, with the stage to himself, sang "Yesterday".

     But, although it was nice to hear those old sounds, McCartney has shown himself to be a wealth of talent since the breakup of the Beatles in 1970, and it was his music with Wings that he wanted to play most. And what we wanted to hear most.

     The Band on the Run album featured prominently throughout the act with the live sounds of "Jet", "Let Me Roll It", and the title track, which brought the concert to a climax, receiving rapturous applause and cheering from 3000 strong fans.

     Despite its personal problems over the past few years, Wings seems to have found where it's at with founder member and former Moody Blue Denny Laine and young Jimmy McCulloch (Thunderclap Newman) on guitars. drummer Joe English and Linda McCartney, showing that she can play keyboards and sing despite what the critics have said, each had a share of the limelight. With Laine again, taking us back a few years with "Go Now" and McCullouch's "Medicine Jar" from the latest Wings album, Venus and Mars, illustrated the amazing ability he has to make a guitar work.

     The new album also got an airing, and a few of the Wings hit singles. By the end of the session, the fans just wanted to rock in the aisles, and so when the end came, it was something many found difficult to come to terms with. 

    After five minutes of chanting for more, McCartney looking far from exhausted, returned for an encore with "Hi Hi Hi."

     For one young American girl, though, it was just another of his concerts to be crossed off the list. She had come all the way to Britain just to follow his tour, as she had done in 1973, which made the pilgrimage from Torbay look like a short bus ride.