Date | December 26–29, 1979 |
---|---|
Duration | 4 days |
Venue | Hammersmith Odeon |
Location | London, England |
Type | Benefit concert series |
Organised by | Paul McCartney Kurt Waldheim |
Filmed by | Anthony Richmond |
Participants | The Blockheads The Clash Elvis Costello Ian Dury The Pretenders Matumbi Robert Plant Queen Rockpile The Specials Wings The Who |
Concerts for the People of Kampuchea was a series of concerts featuring Wings, Queen, The Clash, The Pretenders, The Who, Elvis Costello, and many more artists which took place at the Hammersmith Odeon in London during December 1979 to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia. The event was organised by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim, [1] and it involved artists such as McCartney and The Who as well as punk acts like The Clash and the Pretenders. The last of the concerts was the last concert of Wings. An album and EP were released in 1981, and the best of the concerts were released as a film, Concert for Kampuchea .
Rockestra was a McCartney-led supergroup of at least 30 English rockers. The back cover of the LP states the Rockestra performers include:
John Bonham, Billy Bremner, Gary Brooker, Howie Casey, Tony Dorsey, Dave Edmunds, Steve Holley, James Honeyman-Scott, Steve Howard, Kenney Jones, John Paul Jones, Laurence Juber, Denny Laine, Ronnie Lane, Linda McCartney, Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Thadeus Richard, Bruce Thomas, Pete Townshend
Declan Patrick MacManus, known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television presenter. According to Rolling Stone, Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical traditions of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison with the raw energy and sass that were principal ethics of punk", noting the "construction of his songs, which set densely layered wordplay in an ever-expanding repertoire of styles." His first album, My Aim Is True (1977), is widely regarded as one of the best debuts in popular music history. It spawned no hit singles, but contains some of Costello's best-known songs, including the ballad "Alison". Costello's next two albums, This Year's Model (1978) and Armed Forces (1979), recorded with his backing band the Attractions, helped define the new wave genre. From late 1977 until early 1980, each of the eight singles he released reached the UK Top 30. His biggest hit single, "Oliver's Army" (1979), sold more than 500,000 copies in Britain. He has had more modest commercial success in the US, but has earned much critical praise. From 1977 until the early 2000s, Costello's albums regularly ranked high on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll, with This Year's Model and Imperial Bedroom (1982) voted the best album of their respective years. His biggest US hit single, "Veronica" (1989), reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1978.
Back to the Egg is the seventh and final studio album by the British–American rock band Wings, released in June 1979 on Parlophone in the UK and Columbia Records in North America. Co-produced by Chris Thomas, the album reflects band leader Paul McCartney's embracing of contemporary musical trends such as new wave and punk, and marked the arrival of new Wings members Laurence Juber and Steve Holley. Back to the Egg adopts a loose conceptual theme around the idea of a working band, and its creation coincided with a period of considerable activity for the group, which included making a return to touring and work on several television and film projects.
Rock Star: INXS is the first season of the reality television show Rock Star where fifteen contestants competed to become the lead vocalist for the Australian rock band INXS.
Flowers in the Dirt is the eighth solo studio album by Paul McCartney. The album was released on 5 June 1989 on Parlophone, as he was embarking on his first world tour since the Wings Over the World tour in 1975–76. It earned McCartney some of his best reviews for an album of original songs since Tug of War (1982). The album made number one in the United Kingdom and Norway and produced several hit singles. The album artwork was a collaboration between artist Brian Clarke, who painted the canvas and arranged the flowers, and Linda McCartney, who produced the cover photography.
Concerts for the People of Kampuchea is a double album credited to Various Artists and released in March 1981. It contains live performances by Wings, the Who, Queen, Elvis Costello, Pretenders, the Clash, the Specials and other artists from the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, held at London's Hammersmith Odeon in December 1979 to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia. The event was organised by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim.
The Concert for Kampuchea is a musical film from the best of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea. The film was directed by Keith McMillan and was 4 nights of concerts in Hammersmith Odeon to raise money for Cambodia. The event was organized by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim, and it involved well-established artists such as McCartney, The Who and Queen as well as younger punk and new wave acts like The Clash and The Pretenders. The film finishes with the presentation of Wings' Rockestra. Filmed in 1979, Concert for Kampuchea did not receive American theatrical distribution until it was picked up by Miramax in 1988.
On 23 November 1979, Paul McCartney's band Wings began a 19-date concert tour of the United Kingdom to promote their recent album, Back to the Egg.
"Rockestra Theme" is the fourth and final single on Wings' final studio album Back to the Egg.
Heatwave was a rock festival held on August 23, 1980 at Mosport Park north of Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The slogans used to promote the show were variously the "Punk Woodstock", the "New Wave Woodstock", or "The 1980s Big Beat Rock and Roll Party". The festival was noteworthy because of the importance of the headliner bands that played and the timing in the evolution of new wave music, and the size of the crowd.
Oobu Joobu was a radio show created, directed and presented by Paul McCartney. It was described by McCartney as "wide-screen radio", and consisted of McCartney hosting a mix of various demos, live tracks, outtakes, rehearsals, and other unreleased material from his solo career, plus tracks by other artists that served as inspiration for McCartney, all wrapped around behind-the-scenes stories and 'chat'. The program aired in 1995 on the American radio network Westwood One, running for 15 episodes broadcast between May and September. The show's name was inspired by a BBC production of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Cocu.
Sir James Paul McCartney is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame as co-founder of the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, and musical eclecticism, exploring genres ranging from pre–rock and roll pop to classical, ballads, and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon is the most successful in modern music history.
"My Brave Face" is a song by the English musician Paul McCartney, released as a single from his 1989 album, Flowers in the Dirt. Written by McCartney and Elvis Costello, "My Brave Face" is one of the most popular songs from Flowers in the Dirt. It peaked at number 18 in the United Kingdom and at number 25 in the United States. It was McCartney's last top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 until his 2014 collaboration with Kanye West, "Only One", and was the last Billboard top 40 hit by any former Beatle as a solo artist.
War Child Presents Heroes is a 2009 charity album devoted to the War Child charity's aid efforts in war-stricken areas, such as Iraq, Uganda, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. With a theme of "placing faith in the next generation," the concept of the album is to have music legends select a track from their own canon and nominate an artist from the next generation to create a modern reworking of that song.
The History of Rock and Roll is a radio documentary on rock and roll music, originally syndicated in 1969, and again in 1978 and 1981. It is currently distributed as both a 2+1⁄2-minute short feature on internet networks, and a two-hour weekly series hosted by Wink Martindale, distributed to radio stations nationwide. This list below reflects the contents of the more widely heard 1978 version of The History of Rock & Roll.
One on One was a concert tour by English musician Paul McCartney that began on 13 April 2016 and traveled through the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania, ending on 16 December 2017. The tour marked McCartney's first-ever performances in Fresno, South Dakota, and Arkansas. Prior to the announcement of the tour, McCartney revealed two European festival dates for June 2016 at the Pinkpop Festival and Rock Werchter respectively.
The Concert for Linda was a benefit tribute to Linda McCartney, wife of Paul McCartney. It was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 10 April 1999. Linda McCartney died after a long battle with cancer nearly a year earlier, when she was 56. They were married for 29 years.
Got Back is an ongoing concert tour by English musician Paul McCartney. The tour started on 28 April 2022 at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, United States, and is set to end on 19 December 2024 at the O2 Arena in London, England. The tour is McCartney's first following the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the cancellation of a planned European leg of his Freshen Up tour in 2020, which included a planned performance at Glastonbury Festival. McCartney performed at Glastonbury on 25 June 2022, as a conclusion to the first leg of the Got Back tour.