'When Wings ended their European Tour at the Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany on the 24th August 1972,
Paul McCartney had achieved his aim in honing the band into a tight unit ready to play their first official UK Tour.
During 1972 Wings were still productive in the studio releasing three non-album singles:
In 1973, Paul was even more productive releasing the Red Rose Speedway & Band on the Run on LP & 3 x 7"singles, two of them containing non album material:
Supposedly at the request of his record company in 1973 the band was renamed Paul McCartney & Wings, so the gigging public would know who was in the band!
'Red Rose Speedway' was released a week before Paul & Wings embarked on their debut UK Tour opening on the 11th May at Bristol Hippodrome.
Initially the tour ran for fifteen dates although a further 4 concerts in Sheffield, Birmingham, Leicester and Newcastle were added to the tour in July.
Paul McCartney had achieved his aim in honing the band into a tight unit ready to play their first official UK Tour.
During 1972 Wings were still productive in the studio releasing three non-album singles:
- 25th February - Give Ireland Back To The Irish / Give Ireland Back To The Irish (Version)
- 12th May - Mary Had A Little Lamb / Little Woman Love
- 1st December - Hi Hi Hi / C Moon
In 1973, Paul was even more productive releasing the Red Rose Speedway & Band on the Run on LP & 3 x 7"singles, two of them containing non album material:
- 23rd March - My Love / The Mess (Live)
- 4th May - Red Rose Speedway LP
- 1st June - Live And Let Die / I Lie Around
- 26th October - Helen Wheels / Country Dreamer
- 7th December - Band On The Run LP
Supposedly at the request of his record company in 1973 the band was renamed Paul McCartney & Wings, so the gigging public would know who was in the band!
'Red Rose Speedway' was released a week before Paul & Wings embarked on their debut UK Tour opening on the 11th May at Bristol Hippodrome.
Initially the tour ran for fifteen dates although a further 4 concerts in Sheffield, Birmingham, Leicester and Newcastle were added to the tour in July.
Now, 1973 is a lot different to 2019 in a number of ways, especially buying concert tickets for major artists including Paul McCartney.
Forty-six years ago there were no mobile phones, no internet or social media, if you wanted to make a telephone call in our household you'd usually announce it, "Is it okay to phone...", "Yes, but don't be on long" was the usual reply. Time was money!
The only information you could obtain about upcoming concerts was either through local media, in our case the Manchester Evening News or Granada TV - Music magazines, I bought NME & Sounds - the local venue box office or ticket outlets including Paperchase in Manchester.
Travel seemed out of the question, even the Hard Rock in Stretford seemed to be on the other side of the World:-). Proved by the fact we had to get a taxi after Paul's gig, it was the only way we could find our way home!
But that's what was so good about gigs in 1973, most fans attended local concerts and even for major artists there was plenty of concerts around.
Take for instance in 1972/73 David Bowie embarked on his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane tour performing 182 UK shows, yes UK shows, sometimes double headers, between 29 January 1972 - 3 July 1973.
The reason I mention Bowie is because when I strolled into Paperchase to buy Paul McCartney & Wings tickets for the Hard Rock, there stuck on the counter was a hand-written note to say tickets were on sale for his 7th June 1973 Aladdin Sane gig at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester (Paul McCartney and Wings were to play there in 1975) one of two shows that night. This was the norm and the beauty of 1973.
The first night of Paul's 2 gigs at the Hard Rock in Stretford had already sold out so tickets for Paul's 2nd night and David Bowie's '2nd house' at the Free Trade Hall were soon within my sweaty palms!
Forty-six years ago there were no mobile phones, no internet or social media, if you wanted to make a telephone call in our household you'd usually announce it, "Is it okay to phone...", "Yes, but don't be on long" was the usual reply. Time was money!
The only information you could obtain about upcoming concerts was either through local media, in our case the Manchester Evening News or Granada TV - Music magazines, I bought NME & Sounds - the local venue box office or ticket outlets including Paperchase in Manchester.
Travel seemed out of the question, even the Hard Rock in Stretford seemed to be on the other side of the World:-). Proved by the fact we had to get a taxi after Paul's gig, it was the only way we could find our way home!
But that's what was so good about gigs in 1973, most fans attended local concerts and even for major artists there was plenty of concerts around.
Take for instance in 1972/73 David Bowie embarked on his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane tour performing 182 UK shows, yes UK shows, sometimes double headers, between 29 January 1972 - 3 July 1973.
The reason I mention Bowie is because when I strolled into Paperchase to buy Paul McCartney & Wings tickets for the Hard Rock, there stuck on the counter was a hand-written note to say tickets were on sale for his 7th June 1973 Aladdin Sane gig at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester (Paul McCartney and Wings were to play there in 1975) one of two shows that night. This was the norm and the beauty of 1973.
The first night of Paul's 2 gigs at the Hard Rock in Stretford had already sold out so tickets for Paul's 2nd night and David Bowie's '2nd house' at the Free Trade Hall were soon within my sweaty palms!
The Hard Rock Theatre, Greatstone Road, Stretford
The Hard Rock Theatre situated on Greatstone Road, Stretford opened in 1972.
All the greats appeared there including Led Zeppelin, Chuck Berry and David Bowie, on Wednesday, 16th & Thursday, 17th May 1973, Paul McCartney and Wings supported by Brinsley Schwarz took to the stage and performed the unreleased rocker 'Soily'.
The fourteen song set retained 7 songs from the 1972 European tour, Soily, Wild Life, Seaside Woman, Maybe I'm Amazed, Say You Don't Mind, The Mess and Long Tall Sally.
The remainder of the set consisted of 3 tracks from Red Rose Speedway, Big Barn Bed, When the Night, and My Love. The 7" single C Moon, the B-side of Mary Had A Little Lamb, Little Woman Love performed as a medley with C Moon, the unreleased single Live and Let Die plus a second song for Denny Laine, the Moody Blues classic Go Now,
You can hear the full set below.
All the greats appeared there including Led Zeppelin, Chuck Berry and David Bowie, on Wednesday, 16th & Thursday, 17th May 1973, Paul McCartney and Wings supported by Brinsley Schwarz took to the stage and performed the unreleased rocker 'Soily'.
The fourteen song set retained 7 songs from the 1972 European tour, Soily, Wild Life, Seaside Woman, Maybe I'm Amazed, Say You Don't Mind, The Mess and Long Tall Sally.
The remainder of the set consisted of 3 tracks from Red Rose Speedway, Big Barn Bed, When the Night, and My Love. The 7" single C Moon, the B-side of Mary Had A Little Lamb, Little Woman Love performed as a medley with C Moon, the unreleased single Live and Let Die plus a second song for Denny Laine, the Moody Blues classic Go Now,
You can hear the full set below.
WINGS UK TOUR 1973 |
TOUR DATES 1973:
11th May - Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol 12th May - New Theatre, Oxford 13th May - Capitol Theatre, Cardiff 15th May - Winter Gardens Theatre, Bournemouth 16th May - Hard Rock Theatre, Stretford 17th May - Hard Rock Theatre, Stretford 18th May - Empire Theatre, Liverpool 19th May - Leeds University, Leeds 21st May - Guild Hall, Preston 22nd May - Odeon Cinema, Newcastle Upon Tyne 23rd May - Odeon Cinema, Edinburgh 24th May - Green's Playhouse, Glasgow 25th May - Hammersmith Odeon, London 26th May - Hammersmith Odeon, London 27th May - Hammersmith Odeon, London 4th July - City Hall, Sheffield 6th July - Odeon Cinema, Birmingham 9th July - Odeon Cinema, Leicester 10th July - City Hall, Newcastle |
The nineteen date Paul McCartney & Wings debut UK Tour began on the 11th May at Bristol Hippodrome ending after 3 nights at London's Hammersmith Odeon on the 27th May before three additional dates were added in July in Sheffield (4th), Birmingham (6th) and Newcastle (10th).
LINE UP: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell. SET LIST: Soily, Big Barn Bed, When the Night, Wild Life, Seaside Woman, Little Woman Love/C Moon, Live and Let Die, Maybe I'm Amazed, My Love, Go Now, Say You Don't Mind, The Mess, Hi, Hi, Hi, Long Tall Sally As with the 1972 Wings Over Europe tour, a number of songs still remained unreleased: Soily - was introduced into the set list in 1972. A live version of the song recorded during their first World tour 1975/76 in Denver was released as the b-side of Maybe I'm Amazed
Seaside Woman - Linda McCartney - released five years after the recording, in 1977 Live and Let Die - The new James Bond theme released on the 1st June 1973 |
The set list stayed the same for the duration of the tour.
On the back of the recently released Red Rose Speedway album was a plug for Paul McCartney's new Fun Club. I subscribed to the club the following day.
A move that would come in very handy for Wings' next UK Tour in 1975...
On the back of the recently released Red Rose Speedway album was a plug for Paul McCartney's new Fun Club. I subscribed to the club the following day.
A move that would come in very handy for Wings' next UK Tour in 1975...