The University of Nottingham

Paul McCartney’s debut Wings gig is etched on the memories of many alumni, as you can see on pages 12&13. But how about the man himself? Does he remember that impromptu concert in the Portland Ballroom at midday on Wednesday 9 February 1972?

Why did you end up at Nottingham?

We decided we’d just go on the road with no plans; no hotels booked, no gigs booked a complete blank canvas. So we set off with the band, the family, the dogs, the babies – up the motorway. We headed north and saw a sign that said Ashby de la Zouch so we got off the motorway there and asked where the nearest uni was. This became the idea that the only place we could maybe find a captive audience would be somewhere like a uni, so we were directed to Nottingham Uni and that’s how we found it.

It was the first time we had tried that idea. I’m really glad we did.  It’s a completely off-the-wall idea for someone who had been in The Beatles, to go and completely start from scratch again and, you know, looking back at it I was like, why did we do it? And it’s still like that, but it was great and it was a great memory. We had some laughs – you can imagine some of the hotels we managed to scrape into! We would literally get there about 7pm at night, and there wasn’t the greatest selection left by that time of night!  But it was really fun and great bonding experience for the band.

What do you remember about the gig?

I remember having 11 numbers to play and having to repeat a few, pretending they were special requests from the students.

What would you say to all those fans that packed in to watch the gig and still treasure the memories of that very special lunchtime?

It was really great they were there to share it with us – we were extremely thankful that anyone showed up for us. It’s a great memory so it’s nice they can share that very nice off-the-wall experience with us. It must have been good fun. I can imagine it would have been great if I’d been at uni and a band like us showed up. It must have also been nice to see Wings in their infancy! I think it was the first time we’d publicly played.

When do you plan on returning?
A good question and I’ll give it considerable thought.