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).

The set list for much of the tour featured material from Wings' bestselling studios albums Band on the Run (1973), Venus and Mars (1975) and Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976), as well as some of McCartney's compositions from the Beatles era, including "Yesterday", "Lady Madonna" and "The Long and Winding Road". The inclusion of the latter songs proved especially popular and marked the first time that McCartney had performed material from the Beatles' catalogue in concert since their break-up, as he had previously vowed against playing any songs from that era. Aside from McCartney, the line-up of Wings included his wife Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English, together with a four-piece horn section led by Howie Casey.

History In contrast to Wings' low-profile 1972 tours and a 1973 tour of UK theatres, Wings Over the World was a highly publicised concert tour that took place mostly in arenas and stadiums, and in the American stages of this tour the band's entourage and equipment were transported to each successive venue in five 32-ton trucks.McCartney: Songwriter p. 119 Around 1 million people attended the 66 shows, which were staged in six legs: Britain (September 1975); Australia (November 1975); Europe (March 1976); North America (May–June 1976); a return to Europe (September 1976); and three final concerts in London at Wembley's Empire Pool (October 1976). A tour of Japan was planned, but it was cancelled by that country's authorities due to McCartney's 1972 Swedish marijuana arrest.

The world tour followed the release of Wings' bestselling album Venus and Mars (1975), while the follow-up album, Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976), was completed after the band's Australian concerts. Both Venus and Mars and Band on the Run (1973) were well represented in the setlist for the two 1975 legs. Songs from Speed of Sound were then introduced into the set in March 1976, and McCartney is known to have remarked: "Everything I have done since The Beatles split has been leading up to this."McCartney: Songwriter p. 120

In order to demonstrate that Wings was not merely a McCartney showcase, Denny Laine sang lead vocals on several songs, including "Go Now", reprising his vocal from the Moody Blues' 1965 hit, and Simon & Garfunkel's song "Richard Cory". Jimmy McCulloch also sang lead, on his Venus and Mars composition "Medicine Jar". Of particular interest to fans and music critics, McCartney decided to perform five of his songs from the Beatles, thereby overcoming an earlier disinclination to do any at all. Performances of "Yesterday" and "The Long and Winding Road" used muted horn arrangements in place of their original strings. In the case of the latter song, the new arrangement emphasised McCartney's objections to the version released on Let It Be in 1970, where, according to McCartney, American producer Phil Spector had added orchestral and choral parts to the Beatles' 1969 recording without his approval.

Wings' line-up for this tour was Paul McCartney (vocals, bass, piano, acoustic guitar), Linda McCartney (keyboards, backing vocals), Denny Laine (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion), Jimmy McCulloch (electric and acoustic guitars, bass, vocals) and Joe English (drums, percussion, backing vocals). They were joined by brass and woodwind players Howie Casey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard and Tony Dorsey. A documentary film of the tour, titled Wings Over the World, aired on US television in November 1979.

Wings over America

More than 600,000 people attended Wings' 31 shows in the United States and Canada, held between 3 May and 23 June 1976. In order to reduce the stress of moving their young family around the country during the course of the tour, the McCartneys rented houses in New York City, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles. Each night, they would fly in a specially chartered BAC One-Eleven to the closest of the four properties.

The beginning of the American leg of the tour was delayed for nearly a month because lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch broke his finger drunkenly destroying a television set in a Paris hotel (though Wings claimed at the time it was a due to a fall in the bath tub). At one of the Los Angeles shows, McCartney's former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr joined him on stage and handed him a bouquet of flowers.

Many of the concerts were professionally recorded. The best performances would later be compiled, after studio overdubs, for release as the triple album Wings over America in December 1976. In addition, a concert film combining footage from the Seattle, New York and Los Angeles shows was released in cinemas in 1980, as Rockshow, by Miramax Films.

Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueGreat Britain9 September 1975SouthamptonEnglandGaumont Theatre10 September 1975BristolBristol Hippodrome11 September 1975CardiffWalesCapitol Theatre12 September 1975ManchesterEnglandFree Trade Hall13 September 1975BirminghamBirmingham Hippodrome15 September 1975LiverpoolLiverpool Empire Theatre16 September 1975NewcastleNewcastle City Hall17 September 1975LondonHammersmith Odeon18 September 197520 September 1975EdinburghScotlandUsher Hall21 September 1975GlasgowThe Apollo22 September 1975AberdeenCapitol Theatre23 September 1975DundeeCaird HallAustralia1 November 1975PerthAustraliaPerth Entertainment Centre4 November 1975AdelaideApollo Stadium5 November 19757 November 1975SydneyHordern Pavilion8 November 197510 November 1975BrisbaneBrisbane Festival Hall11 November 197513 November 1975MelbourneSidney Myer Music Bowl14 November 1975Europe20 March 1976CopenhagenDenmarkFalkoner Teatret21 March 197623 March 1976West BerlinWest GermanyDeutschlandhalle25 March 1976RotterdamNetherlandsSportpaleis26 March 1976ParisFrancePavillon de ParisNorth America3 May 1976Fort WorthUnited StatesTarrant County Convention Center4 May 1976HoustonThe Summit7 May 1976DetroitDetroit Olympia8 May 19769 May 1976TorontoCanadaMaple Leaf Gardens10 May 1976RichfieldUnited StatesRichfield Coliseum12 May 1976PhiladelphiaThe Spectrum14 May 197615 May 1976LandoverCapital Centre16 May 1976 18 May 1976AtlantaOmni Coliseum19 May 197621 May 1976UniondaleNassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum22 May 1976BostonBoston Garden24 May 1976New York CityMadison Square Garden25 May 197627 May 1976CincinnatiRiverfront Coliseum29 May 1976Kansas CityKemper Arena31 May 1976ChicagoChicago Stadium1 June 19762 June 19764 June 1976Saint PaulSt. Paul Civic Center7 June 1976DenverMcNichols Sports Arena10 June 1976SeattleKingdome13 June 1976Daly CityCow Palace14 June 197616 June 1976San DiegoSan Diego Sports Arena18 June 1976TucsonTucson Community Center21 June 1976InglewoodThe Forum22 June 197623 June 1976Europe19 September 1976ViennaAustriaWiener Stadthalle21 September 1976ZagrebYugoslaviaDom Sportova25 September 1976VeniceItalyPiazza San Marco27 September 1976MunichWest GermanyOlympiahalle19 October 1976LondonEnglandEmpire Pool20 October 197621 October 1976

Box office score data +List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, referencesDate(1976)CityVenueAttendanceGross12 MayPhiladelphia, United StatesThe Spectrum37,000 / 37,000$336,00014 May27 MayCincinnati, United StatesRiverfront Coliseum21,360 / 21,360$178,39813 JuneDaly City, United StatesCow Palace29,000 / 29,000$246,50014 June

See also Rockshow

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