Wings UK Tour 1979 rehearsals

Studio:

Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne, UK

About

From Club Sandwich, N°17, 1980:

Eastbourne, on a cold, windy November day doesn’t seem the right setting to find the most successful modern musician in the world. Somehow Paul McCartney’s sensational success story should be permanently set in sunny climes, with palm trees, sunglasses, poolside cocktails and bronzed bodies. The reality couldn’t be more different.

The Sussex seaside resort has been chosen by Paul for a three-week rehearsal stint because it is close to the rambling farm where he and Linda and the kids spend most of their time. And their day starts like any other farmer’s would.

Breakfast, cooked by Linda, who then drives the kids to school, while Paul sets to mucking out the stables where his nine horses are kept. Linda returns to feed her hand-raised Mallard ducks. Still in their wellies and with Paul wearing a schoolboy scarf the superstar duo head for Eastbourne.

Meanwhile Denny, Laurence and Steve have left their Eastbourne hotel for a nearby pub where the competition on the pool table and dartboard has become intense of the past couple of weeks.

Paul and Linda arrive, the game stops, the halves of bitter are knocked back and the group leave for The Hippodrome, empty except for the band’s equipment. They still look like a bunch of friends on a day trip as they stroll along the front, but once on stage Paul takes charge and they launch into their opening number. ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ echoes around the deserted theatre and all of a sudden they are Wings, the band Britain is bursting to see and hear.

The passing pensioners catch the sound outside, pause for a moment then casually stroll on.