Paul McCartney’s first post-Beatles gig and the one song he never played live with Wings again

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Paul McCartney’s first post-Beatles gig and the one song he never played live with Wings again

By Ewan Gleadow

Cult Following

March 5, 2025

Early performances following the split of The Beatles were tough for Paul McCartney.

Not only had the songwriter decided against including any material he wrote with John Lennon, but his earliest shows with the newly founded Wings had only a handful of originals ready. Where the band may have found success with Band on the Run and Live and Let Die, the early shows where the band played university stages and smaller venues, were filled with covers. Though McCartney says he was “pretty nervous” to head back on stage without songs from his time in The Beatles, the end result was a mix of singles, early Wings material and covers. Those covers, from Little Richard to Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, formed the earliest live works from Wings.

Speaking on the decision not to include Beatles songs in these shows, McCartney said: “We decided not to do any Beatle material, which was a killer, of course, because it meant we had to do an hour of other material, and we didn’t have it then. I didn’t have something like ‘My Love’ that was sort of mine. I felt like everyone wanted Beatles stuff, so I was pretty nervous on that.”

McCartney would later claim Wings were “always in the shadow” of his previous group, though he and Linda McCartney would find huge success with Wings, which lasted from 1971 to 1981.

In one of the earliest shows the band played, at the Portland Building in Nottingham, England, Wings played a song which would only feature in their live line-up once. A cover of Henry McCullough’s Shuffle Blues was performed once and once only. The eleven song showcase on the 1972 Wings University Tour featured a rough mix of solo material and covers from McCartney. A full setlist can be found below.

Blue Moon of Kentucky

Give Ireland Back to the Irish

Help Me Darling

Thank You Darling

Wild Life

Bip Bop

Shuffle Blues

The Mess

My Love

Lucille

Long Tall Sally

McCartney would reintroduce Beatles songs like Lady Madonna and The Long and Winding Road back into his setlist in 1976. Wings, who by that point were playing stadiums and arenas around the world following the release of Venus and Mars, would also perform songs McCartney had written during his time with The Beatles.

Speaking of the decision to add The Beatles’ songs back to his live shows, McCartney said: “As time went by and the pressure was off, I could nod and wink at the Beatles stuff, so I could now do ‘Yesterday’ on a Wings tour, and it didn’t hurt.

“But until we had enough Wings songs and an identity as a group, I didn’t do any of that, even though the promoters were weeping, ‘Please finish with ‘Yesterday.’ And I’d say, ‘No, we’re not even gonna do it.'”

McCartney went six years without performing any songs by The Beatles. He would introduce Beatles songs  Lady Madonna, The Long and Winding Road, I’ve Just Seen a Face, Blackbird and Yesterday for the first time with Wings on the Wings Over the World tour, on September 6, 1975.