Wings in Venice – 25th September 1976
Background
Wings performed a one-off concert in St Mark’s Square for the “World Week for Venice” campaign. Venice has always suffered from the constant threat of flooding and erosion and the campaign was devised by UNESCO to raise money and awareness for the city.
The Venice concert was the third of seven concerts in Wings’ Second Short European Tour, which ended with three nights at Wembley’s Empire Pool in London.
The Moustache
During this third tour, McCartney is sported a moustache – so if you see pictures of Paul with the moustache after The Beatles, you can assume they are from around September 1976 or from March 1974 (before Wings headed off to Junior’s Farm in Tennessee, when he also grew a moustache).
Outdoor Concert
This was the first outdoor performance by the second line-up of Wings. The first Wings line-up had played a few outdoor concerts, such as their opening night at the Amphitheatre of Chateuvallon on the 9th of July 1972.
The following video shows preparations for the gig at St. Mark’s Square. We also see the band taking a ride on a gondola before the concert. Please ignore the stupid video title.
It was alleged by The Sun newspaper that Wings’ heavy tour trucks caused some damage to ancient stone paving flags in the square.
An Unusual Audience
Apart from being a rare outdoor, gig, one British reporter described the make-up of the audience:
They were not a conventional rock audience. Aside from the usual be-demined crowd, there were many, many ordinary Venetians – blue-suited middle-aged men who looked like the directors of Fiat and Olivetti, fat women who’d eaten too much pasta for too long, breath-taking suave couples who looked like they were born to wear the finest clothes and drip with gems, whole family parties from grandma to babe in arms.
Perhaps as a result of the, the audience do seem a little restrained in their response to Wings’ set – this can be heard from bootleg recordings of the concert.
Laser Show
At the end of the concert, the laser effects seemed to raise the spirits of the audience. As the same journalist reported:
…the shafts of red and green laser burned out from the back of the stage towards the tall red brick clock tower at the opposite end of the Piazza. It played games on it ultimately forming the embroidered “W” “Wings” emblem, a spectacular sight and climax which left most of the crowd satisfied at last.
Concert Footage
Some footage of the concert is in circulation, although it is not of pristine quality. In my opinion, Paul’s vocal in Band on the Run falls short of his usual excellent standards – see what you think, and decide for yourself!
“Wings in Venice” Short Film
The best quality footage of the Venice trip is from the short film Wings in Venice, which was released as part of the Archive Collection of Wings at the Speed of Sound in 2011. The beautiful film is set to the song Warm and Beautiful from the album:
Find Out More
You can find out more about Wings’ historic concert at St. Mark’s Square in my brand new book. Wings Live. Here is the link for the shop:
Purchase Here:
https://paulmccartneyafterthebeatles.com/product/wings-live/
