The call from Harvey Goldsmith, while I was on tour in America with Sniff n the Tears was out of the blue.
Would I come back to the UK to help him look after the Wings UK Tour and set up the rest of the World touring plans for 1980? I was to work along side Paul McCartney, how cool.
I asked the Sniff guys if they would mind me leaving before the end of their tour and they were very kind and gave me their best wishes. Well, here is the story of my time with a Beatle and his band.
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As soon as I arrive back into the UK I have a meeting with Harvey Goldsmith. It seems the WIngs set up is all based around a selection of people and they don't have a conventional tour manager as such. I am introduced to some of the 'inner circle' and they are all based at MPL, in Soho Square W1. This is where I go to also meet Mike Walley, a very personable travel agent, Alan Crowder, head of most day to day activities, Paul the accountant, Trevor Jones and John Hammel, who are a cross between personal assistants and roadies and Billy Francis, one of the Francis brothers that work as personal security guards. They have all been with Paul for quite while.
I was introduced to Paul and Linda at rehearsals up in Liverpool. I have to say it was quite a nervous couple of minutes. I am not easily flustered or over awed by celebrity but meeting a Beatle face to face has to be one of those moments, along with being introduced to Lady Diana a few years later!!!
There was a taxi strike going on in Liverpool at the time and the road outside the venue where we were rehearsing and then performing was blockaded by taxis. Paul and Linda however were driving themselves to and from the venue as they were staying locally with family rather than with the rest of us in the hotel. Well, the cab drivers allowed Paul and Linda and their battered Volvo estate to come and go, which I thought quite touching really.
In the run up to the tour, I got to see one of my favorite artists at this time, Robert Palmer. He played at the Hammersmith Odeon and I was a little disappointed. It's not that the music wasn't great it was just that Robert Palmer himself seemed a little cold, a little aloof from the audience. he didn't really connect or for that matter try to connect with his audience that night.
Another event I went to was at the Albert Hall with Kate Bush. Kate was special guest at the anniversary of the Royal Symphony Orchestra annd I know I'm biased but she was the star of the show.
I kept my programme from this show, well the one with Wings, but I've put it in a gallery at the top of this page.
The letter to Harvey above was written by the sound and lighting production company after a series of meetings that pointed fingers of blame everywhere. I was amazed that between everyone involved, no one was able to fix the practical problem we were having every show, which was a buzz that went through the monitors and PA system. In the end all we could do was hire a generator for the stage and sound gear, to isolate the different power sources of the venues from the sound equipment. It was a strange thing to have to do as generators to date at least had been used only to add power capacity, normally to the lighting systems which were and still are the main consumers of electricity.
The problem eventually created even more problems when MPL decided to fire the production company.
It's a very Merry Christmas card from ML Executives and I went home to visit the family in Oxford at the end of the tour.
I was back in London though for Christmas day and I got a call from Harvey Goldsmith asking me to go around to his house on Boxing Day. He tells me the production company (that has all the stage gear, sound and lighting equipment that is packed on freighters sailing across the Pacific on it's way to Japan for the next leg of the tour), has been fired. I am to go to Japan and help set up the production from scratch and meet up again with Robin McGruder 5 years after working along side him on the 1974 Wishbone Ash US tour. Showco are back in charge of the WIngs Japanese Tour of 1980.......
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