In the summer of

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

's newly formed band,

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

, set out on a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, in a double decker bus, WNO 481.

Promotion

Coming on the heels of a tour of English universities, the Wings Over Europe Tour was intended to promote recent singles "

Give Ireland Back to the Irish "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 ...

" and "

Mary Had a Little Lamb "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin, first published by American writer Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622. Background The nursery rhyme was ...

", as well as provide live recordings to be included on a future album. The second objective did not come to fruition for a long time, the album ''

Red Rose Speedway ''Red Rose Speedway'' is the second studio album by the British–American rock band Wings, although credited to "Paul McCartney and Wings". The album was released by Beatles-owned label Apple Records in April 1973, preceded by its lead single, ...

'' was released in Spring of the next year without any of the concert material. Only the 21 August performance of "The Mess" at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

was officially released, as a B-side to the single " My Love". The live version of new song "Best Friend" was intended to be released as part of ''

Cold Cuts Lunch meats—also known as cold cuts, luncheon meats, cooked meats, sliced meats, cold meats, sandwich meats, and deli meats—are precooked or cured meats that are sliced and served cold or hot. They are typically served in sandwiches or on ...

'' compilation album, but the album was abandoned permanently. In 2012 a live track consisting of "Eat at Home" and "Smile Away" recorded in Groningen was released as an iTunes exclusive to the reissue of Paul and Linda McCartney's ''

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

''. Only in 2018, a newly compiled live album ''

Wings Over Europe ''Wings Over Europe'' is a PC combat flight simulator game set during the Cold War era where the USSR has attacked NATO forces in West Germany. The US release of the game is called ''Wings Over Europe: Cold War Gone Hot'', however, the tag lin ...

'' was released in the limited edition boxset '' Wings 1971-73'' in the

Paul McCartney Archive Collection The Paul McCartney Archive Collection is an ongoing project to remaster and reissue Paul McCartney's solo catalogue, including various albums released with Wings. These editions feature deluxe packaging and bonus rare tracks. Thus far, there have ...

., while "Best Friend" and "1882" were also released as part of ''Red Rose Speedway'' reissue.

Touring

The band, with the McCartney children and their

road crew The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This catc ...

, loaded up in a brightly coloured double decker bus for the tour of the continent. The tour proceeded largely without incident, but on 10 August in Gothenburg, Sweden, Paul and Linda McCartney were fined

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1,200 for possession of marijuana. Paul joked that the incident would “make good publicity” for the tour, in comments reported around the world at the time (e.g. Miami Herald, 12 August 1972). The Daily Telegraph (12 August 1972) quoted "a member of the group" as saying that this was an "excellent advertisement... Our name flies now all over the world". Wings' line up for the tour was Paul and Linda McCartney,

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

Henry McCullough Henry Campbell Liken McCullough (21 July 1943 – 14 June 2016) was a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was best known for his work as a member of Spooky Tooth, The Grease Band and Paul McCartney and Wings. He also perf ...

, and

Denny Seiwell Denny Seiwell (born July 10, 1943) is an American drummer and a founding member of Wings. He also drummed for Billy Joel and Liza Minnelli and played in the scores for the films ''Waterworld'', '' Grease II'', and ''Vertical Limit''. His d ...

Tour dates

Set list

References

{{Paul McCartney Wings (band) concert tours 1972 concert tours