18 Days of McCartney Day 8- Band on the Run; Wings Tours and preformances

Read about Wings History here.

"You could develop the most incredible Beatle or McCartney act and blow it by not keeping up with the times. Then it's going to be 'Oh, they're a very nice nostalgic group' and I don't want that."-Paul McCartney

Paul, always The Beatle who enjoyed preforming, wasn't hesitate to go back on the road with his new band. After releasing their first album, Wild Life,  Wings, with members Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, and Henry McCullough, started their University Tour. It was in early February 1972 that Wings gathered at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) for five days [2 February -7 February] to rehearse for their first tour. A Tour not like any others, for they wouldn't be playing at big arenas like Wembley Stadium, they'd travel by van and show up unannounced at Universities and colleges and set up their equipment either in the school auditorium or on their campus. Playing at the followings schools;

Laine, McCullough, McCartney

• Nottingham University, Nottingham England; 9 February
• University of York, York England; 10 February
• Hull University Weset Refectory, Kingstonn Upon Hull England; 11 February
• Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne England; 13 February
• Lancaster University, Lancaster England; 14 February
• Leeds University, Leeds England; 16 February
• Shefffield University, Sheffield England; 17 February
• University of Salford, Salford England; 18 February
• Birmingham University, Birmingham England; 21 February
• Swansea University, Swansea Wales; 22 February
• Oxford University, Oxford England; 23 February

                                                                    Check out the average Set-list for the tour here

The concert prices were no more than 50p per person. The first wanting to be held at Ashby-de-la-Zouch who didn't have a venue which lead to Wings to play Nottingham, where 800 students and staff greeted the five. It was decided to play these unannounced concerts due to Paul not having toured since 1966 and the fear of having stage fright (like John Lennon had with his concert in Toronto), also critics. Wild Life had not received the reviews Wings had hoped for and Paul wanted to shelter his wife, who wasn't a performer or musician, from harsh reviews and even stage fright. In fact, when Wings played Leeds University Linda had panicked leading Paul to stop the show and offer her encouragement. These surprise shows did lead to some problems, for the band would sometimes show up in their van to a town where there were no schools or small venues.

The following 9 July, Wings had expanded their tours to a bigger venue and audience at the Chateau Fallon in France starting their Wings Over Europe Tour. From here they decided to continue to the following locations;

•  Juan-les-Pins, Juan-les-Pins France; 12 July
• Theatre Antique, Arles France; 13 July
• a show was schedule in Lyon on 14 July, which was canceled.

  

  Henry McCullough at the back of The Wings Over Europe bus

• Olympia, Paris France; 16 July
• Zirkus-Krone-Bau, Munich Germany; 18 July
• Offenbach-Halle, Frankfurt Germany; 19 July
• Kongress-Halle, Zurich Switzerland; 21 July
• Pavilion, Montreux Switzerland; 22 July
• K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen Denmark; 1 August
• Messuhalli, Helsinki Finland; 4 August
• Idreats, Turku Finland; 5 August
• Grona Lund, Stockholm Sweden; 7 August
• Idrestashalle, Orebro Sweeden; 8 August
• Njaardhallen, Oslo Norway; 9 August
• Skandinavien Halle, Gothenburg Sweden; 10 August
• Olympen, Lund Sweden; 11 August
• Fyns Forum, Odense Denmark; 12 August
• Vejiby-Risskov Hallen, Aarhus Denmark; 14 August
• Rheinhalle, Dusseldorf Germany; 16 August
• De Doelen, Rotterdam Netherlands; 17 August
• Evenementenhal Martinihal, Groningen Netherlands; 19 August
• Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Netherlands; 20 August
• World Forum Convention Center, The Hague Belgium; 21 August
• Cinema Roma, Antwerp Belgium; 22 August
• Deutschlandhalle, Berlin Germany; 24 August

                                                                           Check out the average Set-list for the tour here

During the tour the McCartney's were busted for marijuana on their arrival in Sweden. This wasn't the only incident that the McCartney's ran into with drug  busts, not too long afterwards they'd be busted for having five cannabis plants. Wings would then help, with a once again unannounced performance to benefit Release, a British organization for those suffering with drug problems. Wings would later have an appearance at the end of a television film, James Paul McCartney, a documentary of Paul's life going through his childhood in Liverpool, videos of Paul dancing, Wing's James Bond theme "Live and Let Die", and Wings preforming The Beatles classic "Yesterday". The following video is "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance" from the James Paul McCartney program;

By spring of 1973, Wings had released their second album Red Rose Speedway and with great success from their previous tour, where extra security was needed to drag fans off the stage, the band decided to promote their album and their new single for the James Bond film, "Live and Let Die" with Wings 1973 UK Tour. It was Brinsley Schwarz who supported Wings throughout the tour after asking Paul and Linda to preform after their London Hard Rock Cafe performance for the Release benefit concert. The tour started on 11 May 1973;

• Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol England; 11 May
• New Theatre, Oxford England; 12 May
• Capitol Cinema and Theatre, Cardiff Wales; 13 May
• Winter Gardens, Bournemouth England; 15 May
• Hardrock, Mancester England; 16 and 17 May
• Liverpool Empire Theatre, Liverpool England; 18 May two performances
• Leeds University, Leeds England; 19 May
• Guild Hall, Preston England; 21 May
• Odeon Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne; 22 May
• Odeon Cinema, Edinburgh Scotland; 23 May two performances
• Green's Playhouse, Glasgow Scotland; 24 May
• Hammersmith Odeon, London England; 25 and 26 May
• City Hall, Sheffield England; 4 July
• Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham; 6 July
• Odeon, Leicester England; 9 July
• City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne; 10 July

                                                                               Check out the average Set-list for the tour here

Following McCartney-McCartney-Laine's album, Band on the Run in 1973, the band had released Venus and Mars in 1975 and were working on Wings At The Speed of Sound (that would be released during the tour) which means another tour; Wing's most recognizable tour perhaps, Wings Over the World, with the new line up; Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, and Joe English. Accompanying them on the tour were brass section; Tony Dorsey, Howie Casey, Steve Howard and Thaddeus Richard.  The tour would take place from 9 September, 1975 to 21 October, 1976  with sixty-six tours; sixteen in the UK alone, ten in Europe, thirty-one in North America, and nine in Australia. The tour was highly publicized having an audience of around a million suspect overall. It would be McCartney's first time performing in America since The Beatles last concert in 1966.


United Kingdom;

• Gaumont, Southampton England; 9 Semptember
• Hippodrome, Bristol England; 10 September
• Capitol Theatre, Cardiff Wales; 11 Septmember
• Free Trade Hall, Mancester England; 12 Septmeber
• Hippodrome, Birmingham England; 13 September
• Empire Theatre, Liverpool England; 15 Septmember
• City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne England; 16 September
• Hammersmith Odeon, London England; 17 September
• Usher Hall, Edinburgh England; 20 September
• Apollo Centre, Glasgow Scotland; 21 September
• Capitol Theatre, Aberdeen; 22 September
• Caird Hall, Dundee Scotland; 23 September

The start of the tour started off not so easily for Wings, for instance at their first concert in Southampton, didn't have a prepared space for the PA system and a new one was quickly built and throughout the show would rest against the rear stall seats. Other times many trips to bring their equipment into the venues were very time consuming. With minor problems, such as hotel bookings and some concerts had loud speakers that blocked some audiences views, in which case Paul, Jimmy, and Denny would strut the stage and go out of their way to give those in the "bad" seat a better look. Also, the long process of moving and hauling equipment day to day the group and their fantastic roadies made it all possible and get the band set up for sound checks- usually around 5pm- and onto play another great concert, usually lasting from two to two and a half hours.

Australia;

• Entertainment Centre, Perth Australia; 1 November
• Apollo Stadium, Adelaide Australia; 4 November
• Hordern Pavillion, Sydney Australia; 5 and 7 November
• Festival Hall, Brisbane Australia; 10 and 11 November
• Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne; 13 and 14 November

 The stage performance for the World Tour was lead by Paul McCartney on piano, acoustic guitar (for their "little sit down") , bass; Linda McCartney on Keyboards and tambourine; Denny Laine on guitars, bass,snare drum and 12-string guitar; Jimmy McCulloch on guitar; and Joe English on drums.

Europe;

• Folketeatret, Copenhagen Denmark; 20 and 21 March
• Deautschlandhalle, Berlin Germany; 23 March
• Ahoy Sportpaleis, Rotterdam Netherlands; 25 March
• Pavillon de Paris, Paris Franch; 26 March

Although now the band formally known as Wings had taken on the name Paul McCartney and Wings didn't show that in their performances. Although Paul did take the most lead vocals during the shows with songs like "Venus and Mars/Rockshow" , "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Call Me Back" and with his Beatles hits "Blackbird" and "Yesterday", Denny Laine had also taken his own stage time singing "Go Now" and "Spirits of Ancient Egypt". Jimmy was given his share of stage time with "Medicine Jar". Linda had her limelight while sitting with the band and singing back up vocals, it was Joe English who didn't sing during the performances but didn't go unnoticed for his flawless drumming. Billboard writer, Jim Fishel, reported the tour as a taste of Beatlemania, using the word "blooming" in McCartney's future. He went on to describe the wonderful drumming of Joe English, who was always on cue and was what kept the band together. Dallas Iconoclast 's, Gary McDonald, said that the best was yet to come for the band. It was impossible for someone to complain after seeing a concert by them.

North America;
            Also, known as Wings over America

• Tarrant County Convention Hall, Forth Worth Texas United States; 3 May
• the Summit, Houston, Texas United States; 4 May
• Olympia, Detroit, Michigan, United States; 7 May
• Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario Canada; 8 and 9 May
• Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, Ohio United States; 10 May
• Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 12 and 14 May
• Capital Centre, Landover, Maryland United States; 15 and 16 May
• Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia United States; 18 and 19 May
• Nassua Coliseum, Uniondale, New York United States; 21 May 
• Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts United States; 22 May
• Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York United States; 24 and 25 May
• Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio Untied; 27 May
• Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Missouri United States; 29 May
• Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois Untied; 31 May, 1 and 2 June
• Civic Center, St. Paul, Minesota United States; 4 June
• McNichols Arena, Denver Colorado, United States; 7 June
• Kingdome, Seattle, Washington Untied States; 10 June
• Cow Palace, Daly City, California United States, 13 and 14 June
• San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California United States; 16 June
• Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona Untied States; 18 June
• The Forum, Inglewood, California; 21, 22, 23 June

During their stay in America they had a customized plane reading "Wings Over America" on the exterior. On board the plane the band had a living room, table tennis, dartboard, and even a table football. It was on this tour that Paul McCartney and Wings had broke the record for the largest indoor concert attendance of all time at the Kingdome, Seattle with 67,000 fans! The tour in America had brought such success that the band would release an album with their Wings Over The World Set-list through their various venues in America; this album would be known as Wings Over America. The McCartney were a little nervous at first arrival in America, for it was Paul's first time playing there in a decade. Linda was quoted with Hunter Davies saying;

"I'd love to put the critics up there on stage and see them do better. You lose a few years of your life on stage. You live on your adrenalin. When it's over I want to crash out and go and live in Scotland for a while. We've got to do America to prove we can do it."

 Europe

• Stadthalle, Vienna Austria; 19 September
• Dom Sportova, Zagreb Yugoslavia; 21 Septmember
• Sala Kongresowa Warsaw Poland; 23 September
• Piazza San Marco, Venice Italy; 25 September
• Olympiahalle, Munich Germany; 27 Septmeber

"We weren't sure before but now we're convinced- Paul McCartney isn't human after all. Any man who can do what Paul does with his music has got to be an exalted Wizard."- William Barber, The Long Island Press reporter

The Wings Over America Tour had been a great success with only three more shows to go. The shows had even attracted celebrities such as The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, actor Jack Nicholson, and even Ringo made an appearance walking onstage careering a bouquet of flowers. Wings didn't just bring in an audience of all kind but with their tour in Europe had help saved the city of Venice, where at this point of time was being lost and decaying. It was city politicians s who turned to musicians such as Ravi Shankar, and during this time had saw Wings as a way to raise awareness. Wings agreed to help and had even paid for the event themselves as the put on one of their  historic shows for a 30,000 audience.

Wings Over Wembley

• Empire Pool, London England; 19, 20, 21 October

By the end of the World Tour the band had become known as one of the best bands in the world, even the shy Linda was now getting her own following by the end of the Wembley performances having the audience chant her name. The Wings Over The World Tour had come to and end and can go down in history as one of the best tours of all time.

                                                                 Check out the average Set-list for this tour here

The Following video is "Silly Love Songs" performed live at Seattle, Washington. So "If there's anybody who would like to move around a bit, shake your bum." this is for you;

By 1979 Jimmy McCulloch and Joe  English had left the band on their own terms to fulfill other music ambitions, leaving Laurence Juber and Steve Holley to replace them. It was during this time Wings had released their newest album, Back To The Egg, and were ready to set off on a nineteen-date tour, Wings UK Tour 1979.

• Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool England; 23, 24, 25,26 November
• The Apollo, Manchester England; 28 and 29 November
• Gaumonth, Southampton England; 1 December
• New Conference Centre, Brighton England; 2 December
• Lewisham Odeon, London England; 3 Decemeber
• The Rainbow Theatre, London England; 5 December
• Empire Pool, London England; 7,8,9, and 10 December
• Birmingham Odeon, Birmingham England; 12 December
• City Halls, Newcastle upon Tyne England; 14 December
• Odeon, Edinburgh Scotland; 15 and 16 December
• Apollo, Glasgow Scotland; 17 December
• Hammersmith Apollo, London England; 29 December

                                                  Check out the average Set-list for this tour here.

And that concludes the Paul McCartney and Wings tours.
Peace and Chaos to you all or as Paul would say,

"That it is, see you next time Seattle, Canada and America. I Love ya!" -Paul McCartney, Rock Show

18 Days of McCartney Day 7- Wings History

"Simple things count most and that's what Wings is all about"- Denny Seiwell, 28 April, 1973, Record Mirror

 After divorcing The Beatles on 10 April, 1970 and releasing his first solo album, McCartney seven days later, Paul and his wife, Linda, had resigned at their country estate in Scotland where they started Paul's second solo album, in this case a duo with his wife; Ram which was released in May of 1970.

The Beatles break-up lead to many doors in the other Beatles lives as well as McCartney's. Lennon had started his Plastic-Ono Band and had already released his anthem to the world, "Imagine" and was still pushing, along with his wife Yoko Ono, for world peace. George was working on his first album that would be released as a triple album, All Things Must Pass. After The Beatles Ringo admitted that he was lost but soon had started his own solo career with his album Sentimental Journey. With Paul now having released some of his most recognizable works as a solo artist like, "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Another Day"  by 1971 he had decided to start his own band, but instead of how The Beatles ended their career as just a studio band, Paul wanted to go on tour; and that just what he did.

While recording Ram, the McCartney's had interviewed numerous drummers, it was Denny Seiwell who caught their attention when he came in for the audition and was asked to play a simple rock 'n' roll song where Seiwell filled the room with the tones of tom-toms; he was asked to join Paul's potential band and accepted immediately. Along with Seiwell Paul had wanted his wife to play in the band;

"Paul persuaded me to join the band. I would never have had the courage otherwise. It was fun at the beginning. We were playing just for fun, with Paul's group."- Linda McCartney

 That same year Paul had phoned up former Denny and the Diplomats, Moody Blues, Electric String Band, Balls, and Ginger Baker's Airforce member, Denny Laine (born Brian Hans) , whose (prior) best known works would be Moody Blues cover "Go Now" and with the Electric String Band "Say You Don't Mind"- which became big after Colin Blunstone released his version.

"I'd known him in the past and I just rang him and asked him, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'Nothing', so I said, 'Right. Come on then!'"- Paul McCartney , The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970–2001

 Denny had reluctantly joined the group where the two, along with Linda, formed a great friendship speaking warmly about one another.

Denny Laine

"I think I've got some idea of the way he feels about things and I know the kind of pressure he's under because I've been through a lot of the same stuff myself. The longer you go on the tougher it is in lots of ways. People expect more and more of you. For Paul, having been part of the best rock 'n' roll band in history, it must be very heavy. I admire him so much."- Denny Laine, Paul McCartney and Wings by Tony Jasper

 Denny himself being a fantastic, talented musician [and all around great guy, I met him at Beatles Fest in New York on 7 February, 2014], playing guitar, bass, piano, and select percussion, along with his almost raw but soothing vocals. He became a key feature to Wings and never claimed to be known as "Paul's right hand man" in his eyes seeing that Wings was simply not Paul's band but a band;

"You know, Paul with his reputation could of come back and played all the old Beatle numbers associated with him. It would of been easy."- Denny Laine

They were officially announced as a band on 3 August, 1971 with Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Seiwell and Denny Laine. The group didn't have a name for themselves until 13 September, 1971 while Linda was in the hospital giving birth to her and Paul's second child (Linda's third), Stella. Paul had began to pray for the safety of his wife and daughter to be, who's birth had some complications. While praying an image of wings came to his mind and thus the name of his new band. The first album released under the name Wings was Wild Life, released on 7 December. The album didn't receive promising ratings as they had hoped, with Rolling Stone saying "deliberately second-rate." and Roy Carr and Tony Tyler saying "rushed, defensive, badly times, and over-publicized" then added the songwriting as "at an absolute nadir just when he needed a little respect."

"We had our teething troubles as a group and, sure, there were many critics coming along and writing searing stuff in the pop press. I don't mind what they do. I thrive on criticism and it gives me the urge to prove them wrong."- Denny Laine

Guitarist and former member of The Grease Band, Henry McCullough, was given a break on 24 January, 1972 after trying out for the band he was offered to join Wings. From here on the band was on tour, traveling in a van together playing at Universities, not playing one Beatles song to prove that Wings were it's own band.

After McCullough joined the band, Wings released "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" towards the massacre of Bloody Sunday, where fourteen protestors where killed by the British Army. The song was banned on BBC calling it an anti-Unionist political stance, but that didn't stop the single from succeeding, as it hit #16 in UK charts and #1 in Republic of Ireland and Spain. During this time, Wings had also wanted to get the younger generation into music with their release of "Mary Had A Little Lamb"- which reached the Top 10 in the UK.  Following his attempt to record a song for children, another Wings song was banned from the BBC for drug references, this would be "Hi, Hi, Hi". Instead of "Hi, Hi, Hi" being played, the radio allowed it's B-side, "C Moon" to be played- which made it into the Top 5 in the UK. It was in October of 1972 that Wings had released maybe one of their most recognizable songs, "Live and Let Die", written as the theme for James Bond's film with the same title.

Things began looking up for Wings as they changed their name to Paul McCartney and Wings during 1973 while recording Red Rose Speedway, where they received their first US #1 with "My Love".  The group went on a tour across Europe with high success. After this tour however both Seiwell and McCullough left the band leaving it to just the McCartney's and Laine to write one of the most successful albums of all time; Band on the Run. The album went to #1 in both US and UK with three hit singles; "Jet", "Band on the Run", and "Helen Wheels".

With Seiwall and McCullough gone Wings had gone searching for two more band members, that when Jimmy McCulloch and Geoff Britton stepped into the picture during Wings Nashville recording sessions. Jimmy, a musician since age 13 and former member of The Thunderclap Newman Band, who in 1969 had a #1 single with "Something in the Air". He then joined John Mayall, then to Stone the Crows. Geoff Britton, a karate expert, joined the band around the same time as Jimmy. The second Wings Line-up, now with McCullloch and Britton, had started their next album in New Orleans, Venus and Mars.   Britton  had a short postion in Wings and was out of the group during these recordings, that's when Joe English, a New Yorker like Linda, was recommended by trombonist, Tony Dorsey. Prior to  working with Wings, English was well known for his drumming with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Greatful Dead, and Bonnie Bramlett.

Wings began their Wings Over the World Tour, hitting Europe, America, and Australia. During the tours they had recorded Wings at The Speed of Sound, which would be released in 1976, where all members of the band took a lead vocal. From their tour the band released Wings Over America, taking tracks from the bands live performances from New York, Seattle, and even Boston.

Jimmy McCulloch

1977 was a hard time for the band, while on break and during their next album sessions for Virgin Island, Jimmy and Joe had both left the band. Joe joined Chuck Leavel's band and went on to creat his own Christian based Joe English Band. While Jimmy went on to work with the Small Faces and White Line but  the rock 'n' roll lifestyle took the worse when he was found dead on 27 September, 1979 of a heroin overdoes at the age 26.

"Wings settled for years, it would be a shame if anything happens. I can't see anything cracking Wings in the foreseeable future"- Jimmy McCulloch, 1976

Just Denny, Paul, and Linda the trio continued to produce music, including their ballad about a coastal region in Scotland where the McCartney's lived, "Mull of Kintyre". The song became a huge success in Europe, in fact the song became and still is the best selling UK single of all time, beating out the previous holder, The Beatles "She Loves You". The three didn't stop there as they continued to release music and in 1978 they released London Town; it was the first Wings album since Wild Life to not hit #1 in the US, but it did reach #2.

Linda, Paul, and Denny during London Town

After London Town was released the three decided it was time to regain more band members, that when Laurence Juber and Steve Holley joined the band in 1978.  Together the new group of five would release singles such as "Goodnight Tonight" and "Daytime Nighttime Suffering", and many more. Paul, the performer, had now started touring again accompanied by his other four band mates and brass section; Tony Dorsey, Howie Casey, Thaddeus Richard, and Steve Howard. The tour was cut short as Paul was arrested for 7.7 ounces of Marijuana at the New Tokyo Airport where McCartney would spend ten days in jail before being deported. Things weren't the same after that, Paul went on to record McCartney II and Denny released his own album, Japanese Tears. The group did come together to release Cold Cuts in 1981 but coming that April Denny Laine announced that he was leaving Wings.

"I'll be 97 when I play my last number, but then I don't think I'll ever die."- Denny Laine

Denny Laine, Wings symbol, 2000

"The band (Wings) has gone on to become most commercially successful of all Beatles 'solo' projects."- New Musical Express Book of Rock, 1975

Tomorrow of 18 Days of McCartney will be more on Wings with tours and albums.