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Saturday, December 29, 1979

Concert For The People of Kampuchea

Concert • By Wings

Last updated on July 25, 2023

This was the last concert of Wings. From Wikipedia:

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea was a series of concerts featuring Queen, The Clash, The Pretenders, The Who, Elvis Costello, Wings, and many more artists which took place at the Hammersmith Odeon in London during December 1979 to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia. The event was organized by Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim, and it involved older artists such as McCartney and The Who as well as younger, new wave acts like The Clash and the Pretenders. The last of the concerts was the last concert of Wings. An album and EP were released in 1981, and the best of the concerts were released as a film, Concert for Kampuchea.

As a direct result of personal contact last autumn between the United Nations’ Secretary General, Dr. Kurt Waldheim, and Paul McCartney, four special charity concerts staged at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, from 26—29 December. The proceeds will be directed to the emergency relief work of the U.N. agencies for the civilians in Kampuchea. Wings appeared on Saturday, 29 December in a show which included Billy Connolly, Elvis Costello, Rockpile and the complete Rockestra line-up. A good time was had by all. All the concerts were filmed for television by EMI Films and will be screened early in the spring of 1980.

From Club Sandwich, N°17, 1980

From Wikipedia:

Rockestra was a Paul McCartney-led supergroup of at least thirty English rockers. The credited list appears at the bottom of the back cover of the LP. The name was first given to an assemblage of famous rock stars that were brought together by McCartney for the final Wings album, 1979’s Back to the Egg. The supergroup – which consisted of Wings, John Paul Jones and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, Ronnie Lane of the Faces, Kenney Jones and Pete Townshend of The Who, and Hank Marvin of The Shadows – recorded two McCartney compositions, the instrumental “Rockestra Theme” and “So Glad to See You Here“.

Then, McCartney and Kurt Waldheim re-assembled Rockestra for a series of benefit concerts for the people of Cambodia (also known as Kampuchea), suffering from the reign of Pol Pot. This time, Rockestra consisted of, among others, Wings, John Paul Jones, Bonham, Robert Plant, Rockpile, James Honeyman-Scott and Townshend. Hank Marvin was not available and Gilmour for tax reasons had to decline, as he was with the rest of Pink Floyd in Los Angeles, California, where they had just finished recording The Wall and were in the midst of rehearsing for an upcoming concert tour.

From a 1990 interview reported in the book “Glass Onion: The Beatles In Their Own Words” by Geoffrey Giuliano:

Question: What led to the breakup of Wings?

Paul: The thing that led to the breakup of Wings was a disastrous concert we did for Kampuchea. We thought our performance was dreadful. I’ve listened to the record since and realized it wasn’t so bad, but at the time we hated it so much it put us off being in a band for a couple of years. That’s what led to the breakup.

From the liner notes of “Bespoke Songs, Lost Dogs, Detours & Rendezvous“, Elvis Costello’s compilation, 1998:

I first met Paul McCartney when we opened the show for Wings during the 1979 Concerts for Kampuchea series in London. He was very friendly and good at putting people at ease who might have been a little overwhelmed… him having been in The Beatles, like. He was also singing and playing tremendously.

Elvis Costello
152159376
Pete Townshend (centre) of The Who leaps across the front of the stage while performing with an all star band headed by Paul McCartney (far right) and including members of Wings, The Who and Rockpile, during the Concert for the People of Kampuchea benefit gig at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, 28th December 1979. Also pictured: Laurence Juber (far left), Billy Bremner (third from left), Denny Laine (fourth from left), Dave Edmunds (on right of group of guitarists) and Kenney Jones (on drums, back right) – Credit: Chalkie Davies.
129171602
Paul McCartney (far left) and guitarist Pete Townshend of The Who performing with the Rockestra supergroup at one of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, 29th December 1979 – Credit: Denis O’Regan
From Concerts.fandom.com
From Daily Mirror – Friday 28 December 1979
From Liverpool Echo – Friday 28 December 1979
From The Guardian, December 31, 1979
From Laurence Juber on Twitter: Onstage at Rockestra finale-Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea 12.29.79
L-R: Laurence Juber (Wings), Gary Brooker (Procol Harum) Pete Townshend (The Who), James Honeyman-Scott (The Pretenders), #PaulMcCartney, Denny Laine (Wings), Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello&the Attractions)

From Melody Maker – January 5, 1980
From Melody Maker – January 5, 1980
From Melody Maker – January 5, 1980
From New Musical Express – December 15, 1979
From Melody Maker – December 8, 1979
From Melody Maker – December 15, 1979
From Sounds – December 15, 1979
From Record Mirror – January 12, 1980

Hammersmith Odeon

This was the 28th concert played at Hammersmith Odeon.

A total of 28 concerts have been played there • 1964Dec 24thDec 26thDec 28thDec 29thDec 30thDec 31st1965Jan 1stJan 2ndJan 4thJan 5thJan 6thJan 7thJan 8thJan 9thJan 11thJan 12thJan 13thJan 14thJan 15thJan 16thDec 10th1973May 25thMay 26thMay 27th1975Sep 17thSep 18th1979Sep 14thDec 29th

Setlist for the concert

  1. Waltzing Matilda Snippet

    Written by Traditional

  2. Yesterday

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

  3. Encore

    1. Rockestra Theme

      Written by Paul McCartney

      Paul McCartney : Bass, Piano, Vocals Linda McCartney : Keyboards, Vocals Denny Laine : Guitars Howie Casey : Horns Laurence Juber : Guitars Steve Holley : Drums, Percussion Thaddeus Richard : Horns Tony Ashton : Keyboards Gary Brooker : Keyboards James Honeyman : Scott: guitars Dave Edmunds : Guitars Billy Bremner : Guitars Pete Townshend : Guitars Robert Plant : Guitars, Vocals Bruce Thomas : Bass, Vocals Ronnie Lane : Bass, Vocals John Paul Jones : Bass, Vocals Kenney Jones : Drums, Percussion Tony Carr : Drums, Percussion Morris Pert : Drums, Percussion Speedy Acquaye : Drums, Percussion John Bonham : Drums, Percussion Steve Howard : Horns Tony Dorsey : Horns

      Album Available on Last Flight - Ultimate Archive Collection

      Album Available on Last Flight

      Album Available on Concerts for the People of Kampuchea

    2. Lucille

      Written by Richard Penniman / Little Richard, Albert Collins

      Paul McCartney : Bass, Piano, Vocals Linda McCartney : Keyboards, Vocals Denny Laine : Guitars Howie Casey : Horns Laurence Juber : Guitars Steve Holley : Drums, Percussion Thaddeus Richard : Horns Tony Ashton : Keyboards Gary Brooker : Keyboards James Honeyman : Scott: guitars Dave Edmunds : Guitars Billy Bremner : Guitars Pete Townshend : Guitars Robert Plant : Guitars, Vocals Bruce Thomas : Bass, Vocals Ronnie Lane : Bass, Vocals John Paul Jones : Bass, Vocals Kenney Jones : Drums, Percussion Tony Carr : Drums, Percussion Morris Pert : Drums, Percussion Speedy Acquaye : Drums, Percussion John Bonham : Drums, Percussion Steve Howard : Horns Tony Dorsey : Horns

      Album Available on Last Flight - Ultimate Archive Collection

      Album Available on Last Flight

      Album Available on Concerts for the People of Kampuchea

    3. Let It Be

      Written by Lennon - McCartney

      Paul McCartney : Bass, Piano, Vocals Linda McCartney : Keyboards, Vocals Denny Laine : Guitars Howie Casey : Horns Laurence Juber : Guitars Steve Holley : Drums, Percussion Thaddeus Richard : Horns Tony Ashton : Keyboards Gary Brooker : Keyboards James Honeyman : Scott: guitars Dave Edmunds : Guitars Billy Bremner : Guitars Pete Townshend : Guitars Robert Plant : Guitars, Vocals Bruce Thomas : Bass, Vocals Ronnie Lane : Bass, Vocals John Paul Jones : Bass, Vocals Kenney Jones : Drums, Percussion Tony Carr : Drums, Percussion Morris Pert : Drums, Percussion Speedy Acquaye : Drums, Percussion John Bonham : Drums, Percussion Steve Howard : Horns Tony Dorsey : Horns

      Album Available on Last Flight - Ultimate Archive Collection

      Album Available on Last Flight

      Album Available on Concerts for the People of Kampuchea

    4. Rockestra Theme

      Written by Paul McCartney

      Paul McCartney : Bass, Piano, Vocals Linda McCartney : Keyboards, Vocals Denny Laine : Guitars Howie Casey : Horns Laurence Juber : Guitars Steve Holley : Drums, Percussion Thaddeus Richard : Horns Tony Ashton : Keyboards Gary Brooker : Keyboards James Honeyman : Scott: guitars Dave Edmunds : Guitars Billy Bremner : Guitars Pete Townshend : Guitars Robert Plant : Guitars, Vocals Bruce Thomas : Bass, Vocals Ronnie Lane : Bass, Vocals John Paul Jones : Bass, Vocals Kenney Jones : Drums, Percussion Tony Carr : Drums, Percussion Morris Pert : Drums, Percussion Speedy Acquaye : Drums, Percussion John Bonham : Drums, Percussion Steve Howard : Horns Tony Dorsey : Horns

      Album Available on Last Flight - Ultimate Archive Collection

      Album Available on Last Flight

      Album Available on Concerts for the People of Kampuchea


Going further

Wings Live - On tour in the 70s

This is the first detailed study of Paul McCartney's Wings on tour in the 1970s. It covers every single concert from the University Tour of 1972, ending with the abandoned tour of Japan in January 1980. A wide variety of primary sources have been consulted, including all available audio and video recordings; press reviews; fan recollections; newspaper reports and tour programmes.

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Paul McCartney writing

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[…] work dates back over 40 years. In 1979, McCartney was one of the lead organizers of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, a series of concerts that ran from December 26-29, 1979 and took place at the Hammersmith Odeon in […]


Andrew+Lynch • 2 years ago

The first photo with Paul is captioned Dec 28? Did Wings play on the 28th too?


The PaulMcCartney Project • 2 years ago

Thanks for noticing Andrew, and I'm not sure about the answer !!

The Who played on the 28th. Wings played on the 29th. So says Wikipedia or a trusted source like Eight Arms To Hold You. So is this photo an appearance of Paul and Laurence Juber on the 28th during the Who concert ?? Will try to find more !


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