Wings First America (BMW033 A/B)
Tarrant Convention Center, Fort Worth, TX – May 3rd, 1976
Disc 1: Intro, Venus & Mars/Rock Show/Jet, Let Me Roll It, Spirits Of Ancient Egypt, Medicine Jar, Maybe I’m Amazed, Call Me Back Again, Lady Madonna, The Long And Winding Road, Live And Let Die, Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me), Richard Corey, Bluebird, I’ve Just Seen A Face, Blackbird, Yesterday
Disc 2: You Gave Me The Answer, Magneto And Titanium Man, My Love, Listen To What The Man Said, Let ‘Em In, Time To Hide, Silly Love Songs, Beware My Love, band introductions, Letting Go, Band On The Run, Hi Hi Hi, Soily
After Wings’ initial release Wild Life in 1971, it took the band five years to finally tour the US. Wings First America, the latest release on the Beatle and Beatle-related BMW label, documents the first night of this tour. This show is a good, competent yet ultimately cold performance.
Paul and the band use their usual intros to the different songs with no elaboration or fun that characterizes later performances, although it is curious to hear Bugs Bunny introduce “You Gave Me The Answer”. Things begin to loosen up a bit with the acoustic set. The Beatle songs draw the biggest reaction from the lively Dallas crowd with the biggest of all for the expected “Yesterday”.
This tape was previously released in 1999 on the Heartbreakers label as The American Return Of Wings (HB-926-1/2). That release used a higher generation tape source and ran too fast. Wings First America does indeed run at the correct speed and sounds very nice. The label did use some equalization on the tape, perhaps to fatten it out by boosting the bass.
There is evidence of some mastering on the tape with slight high-end distortion, but nothing as heavy handed as this label used for past titles which is known for the “metallic” sound ruining what otherwise might be interesting releases. It was said the press filled the first three rows and received very positive reviews at the time. The Boston, Toronto and New York stops on this tour are better performances and should be investigated first. But this Fort Worth show is still good and an important piece of McCartney’s history.
