Tour by Wings | |
Associated album | Wild Life |
---|---|
Start date | 9 February 1972 |
End date | 23 February 1972 |
Legs | 1 |
No. of shows | 11 |
Wings concert chronology |
Wings University Tour was an impromptu UK concert tour by Paul McCartney & Wings in 1972, shortly after the band's formation and initial album release, Wild Life . Wings' lineup for the tour was Paul and Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Henry McCullough, and Denny Seiwell.
McCartney had formed Wings for the purpose of having a band to go on the road with again, and he wasted no time in doing just that. During the waning years of the Beatles, notably during the Get Back sessions, he had suggested they return to live performances by showing up unannounced at pubs and playing for the patrons, but the idea was never seriously considered by the other Beatles. From 2 to 7 February 1972, Wings held rehearsals for the tour at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). [1] The rehearsals were filmed by Tyncho Films, and titled by McCartney as The ICA Rehearsal, and features footage of: "The Mess", "Wild Life", "Bip Bop", "Blue Moon of Kentucky", "Maybellene", "Seaside Woman", "My Love", "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" and "Lucille". [1] A short excerpt of the footage was included in the TV documentary Wings Over the World . [1] [2]
McCartney took the band on an impromptu tour of the United Kingdom's universities. Beginning on 9 February [3] Wings would arrive—often unannounced—at destinations McCartney would later refer to in the 2001 documentary Wingspan as venues which simply "sounded [interesting]" to the band, and would subsequently perform live for whoever happened to be on campus on the date of their arrival. He would later reflect on the mechanisms and motives of this tour as being a phase in the construction of the band he had formed, stating: "For me, it was like building the whole thing from square one." [4]
The band's intended first stop on the tour, Ashby de la Zouch, had no suitable venue, so the band moved on to the more receptive Nottingham, with Paul performing his first paying concert since 1966. [2] [5] Admission to the first show which was held at 12 noon in the Portland Building Ballroom was GBP 0.40, proceeds being split up equally among the band members. At Hull, the word circulated fast, and a full hall of about 800 welcomed Wings at 50p per head. At Leeds (50p) the gig had a generator on standby as a precaution against the powercuts due to the miners strike.
Date | City | Country | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
9 February 1972 | Nottingham | England | University of Nottingham |
10 February 1972 | York | University of York | |
11 February 1972 | Kingston upon Hull | Hull University - West Refectory | |
13 February 1972 | Newcastle upon Tyne | Havelock Hall | |
14 February 1972 | Lancaster | Lancaster University | |
16 February 1972 | Leeds | Leeds Town Hall | |
17 February 1972 | Sheffield | Sheffield University | |
18 February 1972 | Salford | Salford University | |
21 February 1972 | Birmingham | Deb Hall | |
22 February 1972 | Swansea | Wales | Swansea University |
23 February 1972 | Oxford | England | Oxford University |
Paul McCartney and Wings, often billed simply as Wings, were an English-American rock band formed in 1971 in London by former Beatles bassist and singer Paul McCartney, his wife Linda McCartney on keyboards, session drummer Denny Seiwell, and former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings were noted for their commercial successes, musical eclecticism and frequent personnel changes; going through three lead guitarists and four drummers. However, the core trio of the McCartneys and Laine remained intact throughout the group's existence.
Wild Life is the debut studio album by the British-American rock band Wings and the third studio album by Paul McCartney after the breakup of the Beatles. The album was mainly recorded in seven sessions between 24 July and 4 September 1971, at EMI Studios by McCartney, his wife Linda, session drummer Denny Seiwell, whom they had worked with on the McCartneys' previous album Ram, and guitarist Denny Laine, formerly of the English rock band the Moody Blues. It was released by Apple Records on 7 December in the UK and US, to lukewarm critical and commercial reaction.
Red Rose Speedway is the second studio album by the English-American rock band Wings, although credited to "Paul McCartney and Wings". It was released through Apple Records on 5 May 1973, preceded by its lead single, the ballad "My Love". By including McCartney's name in the artist credit, the single and album broke with the tradition of Wings' previous records. The change was made in the belief that the public's unfamiliarity with the band had been responsible for the weak commercial performance of the group's 1971 debut album Wild Life.
Wings at the Speed of Sound is the fifth studio album by the British–American rock band Wings, released on 26 March 1976. Issued at the height of the band's popularity, it reached the top spot on the US album chart—the band's fourth consecutive album to do so—and peaked at number 2 on the UK album chart. Both singles from the album also reached the top 5 of the UK and US singles charts, with "Silly Love Songs" reaching number 1 in the US.
London Town is the sixth studio album by the British–American rock group Wings. It was released in March 1978, two years after its predecessor, Wings at the Speed of Sound. The album had a long and tumultuous gestation during which the band's tour plans for 1977 were cancelled, due to Linda McCartney becoming pregnant with her and Paul McCartney's fourth child and two members of Wings having departed, leaving the band as a trio comprising Paul, Linda and Denny Laine. Recording sessions were held intermittently over a period of a year, mainly at Abbey Road Studios in London and aboard a luxury yacht in the Virgin Islands.
Brian Frederick Hines, known professionally as Denny Laine, was an English musician who co-founded two major rock bands: the Moody Blues and Wings. Laine played guitar in the Moody Blues from 1964 to 1966, and he sang their hit cover version of "Go Now". While the Moody Blues were on tour with the Beatles in 1965, Laine befriended Paul McCartney, who later asked him to join his band Wings.
Wings Greatest is a 1978 compilation album by the British–American rock band Wings. It was the band's last release through Capitol in the US. The album is notable as being the first official retrospective release from Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career.
"Mull of Kintyre" is a song by the British-American rock band Wings. It was written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine in tribute to the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute in the south-west of Scotland and its headland, the Mull of Kintyre, where McCartney has owned High Park Farm since 1966.
"Silly Love Songs" is a song by the British–American rock band Wings that was written by Paul and Linda McCartney. The song first appeared in March 1976 on the album Wings at the Speed of Sound, then it was released as a single backed with "Cook of the House" on 1 April in the US, and 30 April in the UK. The song, which features disco overtones, was written in response to music critics accusing McCartney of predominantly writing "silly love songs" and "sentimental slush"; however, McCartney has since clarified that the song was actually directed to John Lennon who accused him of writing such songs.
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.
"Give Ireland Back to the Irish" is the debut single by the British–American rock band Wings that was released in February 1972. It was written by Paul McCartney and his wife Linda in response to the events of Bloody Sunday, on 30 January that year, when British troops in Northern Ireland shot dead thirteen civil rights protestors. Keen to voice their outrage at the killings, Wings recorded the track two days later at EMI Studios in London. It was the band's first song to include Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough.
"Junior's Farm" is a song written by Paul McCartney and performed by Paul McCartney and Wings. It was issued as a non-album single by Apple Records in October 1974; it peaked at No. 3 in the United States and No. 16 in the United Kingdom.
"Getting Closer" is a rock song from the British rock band Wings, Paul McCartney's post-Beatles band. The song was released on the album Back to the Egg.
In the summer of 1972, Paul McCartney's newly formed band, Wings, set out on a concert tour of Europe, in a double decker bus, WNO 481.
The Wings Over the World tour was a series of concerts in 1975 and 1976 by the British–American rock band Wings performed in Britain, Australia, Europe, the United States and Canada. The North American leg constituted band leader Paul McCartney's first live performances there since the Beatles' final tour, in 1966, and the only time Wings would perform live in the US and Canada. The world tour was well-attended and critically acclaimed, and resulted in a triple live album, Wings over America, which Capitol Records released in December 1976. In addition, the tour was documented in the television film Wings Over the World (1979) and a cinema release, Rockshow (1980).
During the spring and early summer of 1973, Paul McCartney's band Wings performed on a twelve-city concert tour of the United Kingdom.
"Seaside Woman" is a 1977 single by Wings released under the pseudonym Suzy and the Red Stripes. It charted at number 59 in the US and in the UK at number 90 in 1986.
"Magneto and Titanium Man" is a 1975 song by Wings. It is the B-side of the "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" single.
Wings Over the World is a 1979 television music documentary film featuring the rock band Wings. It consists of concert performances from their acclaimed Wings Over the World tour of 1975-1976, together with behind-the-scenes footage. Also included is a short excerpt of Wings rehearsing at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts before their 1972 UK university tour. Problems with the audio from the 1976 live performances delayed the film's release until 16 March 1979 in the United States and 8 April 1979 in the United Kingdom, by which time, band members Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English had left the group and been replaced.