Paul Keeps Wings Aloft Slakes Fans' Beatle Hunger

A motley crowd of 34,000 old Beatle fans and young Wings enthusiasts packed the Olympia for two nights in May when Paul McCartney made his first Detroit appearance in ten years. The last time Detroiters had seen Paul onstage was August 13, 1966, when the Beatles had just released Revolver and were in the middle of their second (and last) American tour. So for at least half of those present at the Wings con-, cert it was an emotional event; even if Paul and his new group bombed (as George Harrison did at his 1974 Olympia show) there was a feeling that it was a historical event. McCartney sprinkled a generous number of Beatles numbers throughout the evening, in. eluding "I've Just Seen A Face", "Lady Madonna", "Blackbird", "The Long and Winding Road", and "Yesterday",, which provoked an especially strong crowd reaction. Paul's imaginative, melodic bass playing was excellent, despite a sliced finger; but for many of the numbers he sat at a huge white piano on a platform and pounded out his songs in a spirited way that won over the audience. When the crowd applauded with more enthusiasm than I usual, he would mug and clown around in his best Paul Beatle manner. Linda was very intent upon her synthesizer, looking up occasionally to add harmonies or thrust her fist up in a "power" salute. (Power to what?)

After the show a limited number of the press was allowed into the dressing room where Paul and Linda perched on a table, holding court while they 4 watched themselves on the TV2 11:30 I news (the enterprising news team had | cut out the first bit of film they'd taken of the show and rushed it back to the station so that it would be in time for the news show). Paul was very animated, urging one CREEM editor "C'mon up here!", when the impulse of a good portion of the room was just to stand back and go gaga. When I found myself shaking Paul's hand and looking at that all too-familiar face (it was like avcaricature come to life) all of my journalistic instincts melted and I found myself babbling "I've seen you twice before here at the Olympia". Paul grinned, "Well, here I am again."* Lester Bangs approached Paul not as a longtime fan, as I had. "Paul, I don't like any of your albums, but I thought the show was great!" he said smilingly. Paul motioned as if to slap him and said "Hey, get this man out of here." The exchange seemed to amuse him, no doubt as a relief from the foolishly grinning ass-kissers who follow him around. "What, you're all from CREEM?" he laughed, as our photographer gyrated on a bench in front of him for pictures. Linda was friendly and low-key, a "Sixties earth mother type" was one opinion. The couple was very protective of each other; when you were talking to Linda you would feel the weight of McCartney's great hazel eyes upon you. She was definitely easier to talk to since she had no aura about her; of course, it's a credit to McCartney that he tried to do awayv with any awe surrounding him and presented a gracious, friendly front to the press. Quite a'difference from the Bowie show, when lucky stiffs were lined up in a locker room while .David strolled along and briefly shook hands. "There's a gentlemanly, class type of feeling to this tour," said one of his PR men. It was, all in all, an evening that had an incredible amount of energy; even as an old Mac fan I had to agree that there was more excitement to the show than to most of his solo albums. At one point Lester nudged me and said, "What song is this?"

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'"Silly Love Songs,"' I said. •

"What album's it off of?"

"The new one."

"I like it!" (The album had been unanimously panned in the office). McCartney is, despite or maybe because of the long years without touring, a musician who seems to get tremendously excited by his audience. It'll be interesting to see what he does with that excitement.

Susan Whitall