Amsterdam • Sunday, August 20, 1972

About

This was one of the five concerts, from the “Wings Over Europe” tour, professionally recorded, using the 16-track Rolling Stones’ mobile unit, by engineer Alan Parsons, assisted by Jeremy Gee and Graham Fleming.

We filmed a few of the concerts, I think, just for archive purposes really. ‘We should film one of these; kind of thing. And The Rolling Stones had this mobile recording van – you know, there were a couple of outfits that could record you on the road. But we knew theirs was a good one so that came along to record a few of the dates. And I think we had the idea for ‘Bruce McMouse’ around the same time too, maybe because the families were on the tour with us. It’s likely that we would say, ‘Let’s film them and if we do the animation thing we’re dreaming of, these can be the live performances in it’.

Paul McCartney – From “Wings Over Europe” book – Words written in February 2018

Those five concerts were:

• Groningen • Saturday, August 19, 1972
• Amsterdam • Sunday, August 20, 1972
• The Hague • Monday, August 21, 1972
• Antwerp • Tuesday, August 22, 1972
• Berlin • Thursday, August 24, 1972

After a lot of disappoints and much confusion, Pat Miller and I were off to see Wings in Holland.  We were not sure if we had tickets or not.  We had called Holland a few times and got different answers every time.  We wanted to go to all of the concerts in Holland, that being Breda, Groningen, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.  After several calls to the Dutch Tourist Office, it seemed that Paul kept changing his mind and cancelled out on a few (Breda included).  With the little money we had, it seemed that Amsterdam would be all we would make.  So, on August 19, Pat and I were lucky and got a KLM flight (stand-by) to Amsterdam.  We were really happy that we got that flight because if we didn’t, a boat that left that midnight was the last resort and that didn’t please us too much!  Everything was so sudden that I left with just a knapsack on my back and we were off.  We were in the Netherlands by 9:30 p.m. and headed for the Dutch Information Center.  They found Pat and I the cheapest dormitory on Kriserstraat, right on the docks (it was beautiful there) for only $2.00 per night, breakfast included.  The next day, we must have walked all over the city, every place from Ann Frank’s house to Rembrandt’s.  But, our first stop was the Concertgebouw.  Stopping to ask some of the natives for directions, we came upon a group of young people who told us the concert was the night before.  Pat and I just couldn’t get over it, we believe it so much.  He had changed dates so many times right and left, why not Amsterdam as well?  It wasn’t until we had our tickets in our hands that we were happy.  You might say we floated across the city for 7 ½ hours.  We looked all over for his hotel, including Dam Square because we thought that would be the most likely place, but no such luck.  So we walked around the canals, took a boat trip and just enjoyed the beautiful city.  The concert was at 7 pm on August 20^th so we got to the Concert Gerbou at 5:30 pm.  Around 6, we saw a little white bus coming towards us to Paul, Linda and the rest of the group, plus Mary, Heather and Stella.  Pat and I were the only visible fans around.  A few technicians were scattered nearby as they were using the Stones Mobile.  Paul came out in his white jacket holding Stella.  Mary was holding onto Denny Laine and Heather to Linda.  He came right towards us, gave a big smile and said “hello girls” to which Linda turned around and smiled.  By this time, we were both getting a bit spastic!  Pat was totally shocked because her relationship with Paul wasn’t exactly the best (She was one of the “baddies” known for throwing a chocolate mousse in Paul’s face).   Was just so happy because he made it just so personal talking to us.  Well after the concert they all came out to listen to the playbacks in the mobile.  By this time a crowd had assembled but nothing like what I had experienced in Frankfurt.  He came out of the hall, giving the “thumbs up” sign, smiling and wearing sunglasses.  The whole family went into the mobile after him.  We could hear the playbacks from outside.  One of my friends managed to get inside and another of my friends followed.  They were two English girls that had been standing outside his home for all the years that he has lived there.  One of them went over to Paul, who was sitting in a chair listening to the playbacks.  She went over to him to say that she was not going to hang around the house anymore.  Paul seemed very pleased, took her hand and said that it was for the best.  Linda shed a few tears as they left.  It was really a very touching thing, the best way to end off the evening.  Paul must have been very happy, knowing that they had come this far to see him, and then to get in his van and say something like that.  Linda kept saying that she didn’t mind them coming in after a concert like this and talking and they seemed pleased that they had enjoyed themselves at the concert.  In 45 minutes the group came out and went into the white van.  Everybody cheered and Paul gave the “thumbs up” sign again.  The notable bus was absent.  Pat and I got to the airport and slept there for the night.  That was some experience.  I’d never done it before!  But it was great fun and by this time we were on Cloud 9.  I didn’t realize so many people sleep out at airports but half of the departure lounge was full of people.  I’ve got many memories from that night including banging a vending machine at 3 am (we were hungry and had no money) then cleaning my feet in the bathroom and then trying to sleep while some janitor vacuumed the airport floor.  But the best memory was the Concertgebouw! 

Kris Martell (NYC) – From “McCartney’s Lovers and Friends” fanzine, January 1973 – From Meet the Beatles for Real: August 1972

Last updated on August 19, 2022