Without Equal: Paul McCartney's Journey From Ex-Beatle to Stadium Rock Lifer
Thursday, 12 December 2024
Written by Jeremy Blackmore
Photo: courtesy of Disney.
Washington Coliseum, February 1964: The Beatles are playing their first concert in the US. Paul McCartney steps up to the mic and delivers a rock ‘n’ roll tour de force, raising the roof with a screaming cover of Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally. It’s a truly electrifying moment in Martin Scorsese’s new Disney+ Beatles ’64 documentary, distilling the excitement of that tumultuous year into two minutes of raw energy amid the Fab Four’s conquest of America.
In particular, McCartney’s confidence in that moment is astonishing. Sixty years later, that same man is now in his 80s, but his infectious love of music and performance is undimmed as he brings his triumphant Got Back Tour to the UK with two shows each at Manchester Co-Op Live and London O2 Arena.
Still one of rock’s biggest live acts, McCartney’s epic shows last almost three hours and take audiences on a Magical Mystery Tour through the greatest songbook in history. It represents a joyous, often emotional, chance to spend time with someone who changed the world. But it’s also an opportunity to zoom out on a career that has always remained varied and adventurous in the long shadow cast by The Beatles.
Published this week, Volume 2 of Allan Kozinn and award-winning documentarian Adrian Sinclair’s The McCartney Legacy: Volume 2: 1974-80 tells the story of how McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings became the biggest live act in the world and, by the end of the decade, the bestselling group of the 1970s.
It’s a period that set him on the path to the live act he is today and Kozinn, who has interviewed McCartney on several occasions for the New York Times, gives this assessment of why McCartney is still rocking aged 82:
“Let's face it, he’s in his 80s, and is [British] rock’s first billionaire – he doesn’t really have to perform for any reason other than it's in his blood. When you’re a performer, and you've done that all your life, the roar of the crowd becomes addictive, and it’s pretty clear when you watch him perform how much joy and sheer energy he’s taking from the experience.”
McCartney’s transformation from ex-Beatle to stadium rocker, though, began in low-key fashion. Despite commercial success, his early solo work was slammed by the critics, although ‘Ram’, credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, is now rightly regarded as a classic and an influence on many indie musicians. With Wings, he set out to build a new band from the ground-up, embarking on an impromptu, unannounced tour of British universities before touring Europe in a brightly coloured, psychedelic bus. All while the Beatles’ break-up was playing out daily in the music press.
“He turned it around by having a vision of what he wanted and working incredibly hard to achieve it,” Kozinn says. “It might seem logical that, as a former Beatle, Paul would start his solo career with an already formed audience eager to hear what he was up to. But while that's true to a certain extent, it doesn't take into account the John vs. Paul factionalism that was a considerable force in the Beatles world, as well as the fact there were some fans who actually blamed him for the breakup of the Beatles and held it against him.”
“As a result, people watched and listened very closely, and often very critically, to every move Paul made,” he elaborates. “And, for his part, Paul listened to the criticism that came from fans and the press and made little course corrections from album to album. He also listened closely to what was happening more generally in the musical world — including punk and disco in the period we cover in Volume Two — and found ways to incorporate those styles into his own. More importantly, he consistently went in the direction his musical instincts and interests took him, on the theory that if something musical moved him, it would move others as well.”
The release of the seminal album ‘Band on The Run’ in late 1973 was key to McCartney’s resurgence. Several of its songs still feature regularly in his setlist and, as Kozinn notes, it remains the favourite McCartney album for many fans. But in the mid to late 1970s, Kozinn says its significance changed, for Paul, in a nuanced way.
“It had unquestionably re-established him, to many who harboured doubts, as one of rock’s great creators and performers,” he says. “But its success created a challenge for Paul: could he top it? Reading a lot of the press during this period, you would get the impression he did not. But the music, by which I mean everything from the compositions to the sounds, textures and performance styles, on each of his albums was different from what came before, and deliberately so.
“Just as the Beatles didn't repeat themselves from album to album, Paul was also intent on growing and developing. I think one surprise about Paul's music is although it was written and recorded with the hope it would have an instant appeal; the fact is a lot of his music requires time and focus. And I really believe just as ‘Ram’ was excoriated by many critics in its day, but is now regarded as a masterpiece, albums like ‘Wings at the Speed of Sound’ and ‘Back to the Egg’ will come to be seen as extraordinary pieces of work.”
Wings went through regular personnel changes iterations in nine years, never allowing the band to settle, with Paul, wife Linda and former Moody Blue Denny Laine the only constants. The band played their final gig, a benefit for the People of Kampuchea, at the Hammersmith Odeon in December 1979. After a devastating 1980 that began with a drugs bust and ended with Lennon’s murder, McCartney eventually called time on the band before emerging as a solo artist with acclaimed album ‘Tug Of War’ in 1982.
His current band have been playing with him for more than 20 years — 35 years if you include keyboardist and musical director Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens, who was part of the 1989-93 line-up. The band is completed by Americans Rusty Anderson (guitar), Brian Ray (guitar and bass), and Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums. It’s the longest McCartney has played with anyone, even the Beatles.
Kozinn says it took McCartney nearly a decade to realise his original idea of having a real band — a group of equals, as the Beatles were — was just not on the cards if one member had been a Beatle and was regarded as one of the world's greatest songwriters.
“He tried to make that work with Wings,” he observes. “But while he encouraged other members to contribute songs and mould the group’s personality, he knew what he wanted when it came to arrangements and solos, and he insisted the others play exactly as he dictated. Which is not, ideally, how a band of equals works. I think by the time he disbanded Wings he had come to realise this.
“So, when he decided to tour again in 1989, he took an entirely different approach, auditioning and hiring the best players he could find, and establishing everyone’s roles very clearly: he’s the front man, they’re the band. He’s surrounded himself with excellent players who back him with note-perfect performances of his recordings.”
Early Wings setlists did not include any Beatles songs, bar Paul’s cover of Long Tall Sally. By the time of Wings’ marathon world tour in 1975/6 though, McCartney had started to embrace his past, playing a handful each night. His current setlist is now Beatles heavy, while including several Wings classics and a few tracks from his recent solo albums. These days he even features a track from the pre-Beatles Quarrymen and emotional tributes to Linda, John Lennon and George Harrison.
Kozinn believes the success of ‘Band on the Run’ had a lot to do with the gradual shift in his setlist: “Once that album restored him to the position he had been accustomed to, as one of rock's great composers and performers, he felt free to reassert his ownership of the songs he wrote during the Beatles years.”
Songs to look out for during Paul McCartney’s UK shows
A Hard Day’s Night / Can’t Buy Me Love
Two smash hits from the Beatles’ first movie in 1964, the year they conquered America. McCartney has been alternating between these two classics to open the show on his current tour.
Get Back
Peter Jackson’s recent three-part documentary series of the same name offered the chance to see McCartney conjure this 1969 chart-topper up out of thin air before performing it with the Beatles live on the Apple rooftop. A bluesy rocker guaranteed to get audiences moving.
I’ve Got A Feeling
Another Beatles rocker performed on the Apple rooftop. Peter Jackson’s cutting-edge software has allowed him to separate Lennon’s vocal so McCartney can ‘duet’ with him every night in concert. Expect to experience some chills when Lennon appears on the big screen during this number.
Now And Then
Another emotional moment. Jackson’s software also allowed him to isolate Lennon’s vocals from a composing demo recorded on cassette in the late 1970s. This enabled McCartney and Ringo Starr, with some guitar work from Harrison, to complete the song and score the Beatles a number one single last year.
Live And Let Die
One of eight Wings songs in the current setlist, McCartney’s epic, explosive James Bond theme comes complete with pyrotechnics as the show moves into its final act.
Hey Jude
Now a standard, chanted by sports fans around the world, McCartney closes out the main part of the show with this 1968 Beatles hit, calling on the audience to join in a mass sing-a-long: na-na-na-na etc.
Abbey Road medley – Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End
The Beatles’ swansong, 1969’s ‘Abbey Road’, ends with a medley that beautifully summarises their gift to the world. It’s also a fitting close to McCartney’s set
Some possible surprises…
Maybe some Mull of Kintyre? This 1977 love song to Scotland was a smash hit for Wings in December 1977, topping the charts for nine weeks. Not part of his current setlist, but McCartney has previously played the song during UK performances in December, complete with Scottish Pipe Band.
Ringo, meanwhile, has been spotted in the UK this week for the launch of his new country album (due next month). He has joined his old Beatles bandmate on stage on a number of occasions in recent years. Could another cameo be on the cards? Rolling Stone Ron Wood was also at Starr’s album launch and has also joined McCartney on stage several times recently.
The McCartney Legacy is published by Dey Street Books, while Beatles '64 is streaming exclusively on Disney+
Paul McCartney Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sat December 14 2024 - MANCHESTER Co-op Live
Sun December 15 2024 - MANCHESTER Co-op Live
Wed December 18 2024 - LONDON O2 Arena
Thu December 19 2024 - LONDON O2 Arena
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