I was in Japan preparing the tour for 10 days before the band and crew flew in.
I was at Narita airport, reading ‘Midnight Express’ while waiting for everyone to arrive, clutching a bunch of copies of the itinerary I had created for the tour. For the very first time, here is the itinerary for you to take a look at, none of it was followed, everyone except Paul went home 3 days later.....
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Click to enlarge
This itinerary has never seen the light of day. It was never acted upon and most people I'm guessing that got given a copy probably left it in their hotel rooms as the majority of the crew only stayed in for Tokyo 48 hours before being shipped back from where they came from.
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This from Robin Magruder my Showco pal I worked along side putting this Japanese tour together. He sent this to me late in 2013
Hey Richard:
Wow – what a great surprise to hear from you. Sounds like you’re still staying busy – well played old sport. We’re doing fairly well with our Crossroads Audio venture, now in our 12th year. We have a fairly large regional inventory including Meyer and JBL speakers and various digital consoles. In addition to corporate/religious/concert/special event work, we cover multiple stages at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Hangout festivals and a bunch of other traditional and electronic music festivals - plus an occasional smallish odd tour. Mssr. McCartney is playing Bonnaroo in late spring, so I may go visit John Hammel, Barrie Marshall, Pab, Keith and Springo, if they’re still around.
Amazing and amusing memorabilia from Wishbone Ash 1974 and McCartney Japan. I still have that same Wings Japan tour jacket. Do you remember that we were ordered by Udo-san not to wear those jackets or any other Wings tour swag in public after Linda & Paul’s little peccadillo at the airport (in case any offended Japanese citizens decided to vent their tragic loss-of-face upon our tender gaijin heads….)? Ahh, and I’ll never forget sweet ******** and her friend snagging us in the street before we even managed to get through the door at Byblos. Did I ever share with you my embarrassingly awkward follow up story? Maybe over a wee dram the next time we meet…
Mike Walley, the MPL travel agent ended up being the busiest person on the crew after Paul was put in jail. The whole entourage had been booked 21 day non-refundable airline tickets by Mike's Travel Agency. Mike spent the next two days writing new tickets, one way for everyone on the tour. I asked him to book me home via Singapore and Kuala Lumpar as it wasn't going to cost anymore than a direct flight. I asked Trevor if he'd take my suitcase home with him and I bought a brand new 'boom box" and a rucksack and just set off without booking anything else except for a taxi to the airport.
Wow what a tour...
The only time I have ever been quoted in a daily newspaper "Tour manager Richard Ames said at the hotel last night, We just don't know what's going to happen" Diplomatic though don't you think ?!
Below my famous tour jacket. Probably one of the rarest tour jackets out there as the tour was cancelled and not one show was performed.
