Click to play Beatles-McCartney Greatest
1972 Wings Tour Bus and Hard Rock Cafe presents: The Magical History Tour of London.
Celebrate on Paul’s 1972 Wings Tour Bus the fab London locations in the life and the times of Paul McCartney. Locations include; Abbey Road, Paul’s house, The Apple Boutique, 57 Wimpole St, The Beatles Apple HQ and more…
“I met George on a bus, I first saw John on a bus, George auditioned on a bus. Penny Lane was the bus depot. If I was visiting John I could go from my place in Forthlin Road to Penny Lane change and go up to his place in Menlove Avenue. I just like buses.” – Paul McCartney
In the Summer of ‘72, the Summer Of Wings Paul chose 20 year old open-top seaside special double-decker WNO 481 as his 1972 Wings Tour Bus and took it rockin’ and rollin’ across Europe after the glory days of The Beatles. With Paul, Linda, Heather, Mary and Stella McCartney, Wings band-members; Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, Henry McCullough, wives and girl-friends all on board this family and band adventure the bus was hotly pursued by the world’s press for over 7,500 miles across Europe. By the end of the Wings Over Europe Tour, Paul, once-a-Beatle-forever-a Beatle, had added to his spectacular CV Paul McCartney and Wings and 1972 Wings Tour Bus landed the title The Most Famous Bus In The World.
With a new documentary Paul McCartney: Man On The Run about to be released this is an amazing opportunity to get up close and personal with the story of Linda and Paul’s enduring love and an artist finding his own voice after being in the most historic music group ever and which marked the start of one of the most incredibly creative periods of Paul’s life which spawned a vital and legendary body of work that continues to impact people and culture in every corner of the globe.
Hard Rock Cafe – Old Park Lane
Click to play Paul McCartney & Wings Greatest
“You can’t claim to be a Hard Rock Cafe without adding in the music, can you? The first live performance there was Paul McCartney making his public (UK) debut with Wings. Something as epic as a Beatle debuting his new band was something only Hard Rock Cafe could host.” – Hard Rock Cafe
The birthplace of the first ever Hard Rock Cafe. On 18th March 1973 just weeks after the successful completion of the Wings Over Europe tour and stepping off 1972 Wings Tour Bus Paul McCartney and Wings were the very first band to rock at the first Hard Rock. The iconic T-shirt was born and so was the largest rock ’n’ roll memorabilia collection. You can see a piano, handwritten lyrics and a pair of John Lennon’s glasses for free at the Hard Rock Cafe on Old Park Lane. It’s part of the exhibition in the Vault, packed full of rock memorabilia from across the decades.
150 Old Park Ln, London W1K 1QZ
Abbey Road and Studios
Click to play Beatles-McCartney Greatest
The most famous zebra crossing – crosswalk in the world. Abbey Road was The Beatle’s 11th album. In order to capture the image for the cover, the London police blocked off the road for just 10 minutes. The Beatles’ photographer, Ian Macmillan, stood on a stepladder and took only 6 photos! Ultimately, Paul McCartney chose the photo that would cover the album. Today, you can still visit the crosswalk and take an Abbey Road picture of your own. Just watch out for oncoming traffic. Abbey Road Studios is considered the hallowed ground of recorded music that gave the world The Beatles and 190 of their 210 songs. On the walls outside the studio you’ll find graffiti honoring the band, filled with song lyrics and words of love left by fans.
“There are so many great memories at Abbey Road. It was so exciting. I wouldn’t swap that for anything… the people that we worked with were fantastic. You know — if these walls could sing.” – Paul McCartney
3 ABBEY ROAD, ST JOHN’S WOOD, LONDON NW8 9AY
Paul McCartney’s House
Paul McCartney bought 7 Cavendish Avenue in 1963. Its location was perfect: just a few blocks away from Abbey Road Studios. He bought the house from a doctor named Desmond O’Neill for £40,000, and moved in about a year after he bought it. He needed to add a large gate and an intercom system for security. The home was quickly discovered by the fans with groups of them hanging around the gate hoping to get a glimpse of Paul and his Beatle brothers.
7 Cavendish Ave, London NW8 9JG
Marylebone Station
Click to play A Hard Day’s Night from 1964
Marylebone Station was the location of the opening scenes of The Beatles’ first feature length film, “A Hard Day’s Night. Hordes of screaming teenage girls pursued John, Paul, George and Ringo through the station at the height of Beatlemania..
Melcombe Pl, London NW1 6JJ
The Apple Boutique
Click to play Hello, Goodbye from 1967
“A beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things.” – Paul McCartney
In 1967 The Beatles opened The Apple Boutique. When it opened Paul said that is was “a beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things.” A design collective named The Fool designed the interior of the boutique and created a massive psychedelic mural to decorate the exterior. The shop was open from December 1967 to July 1968. In the rooms above the shop bands like Badfinger and Focal Point signed to the Apple label worked on songs in the style of The Brill Building in New York, more famously known as Tin Pan Alley.
94 BAKER ST, MARYLEBONE, LONDON W1U 6FZ, UK
The Beatles Apple HQ
Click to play Get Back from 1969
30th January 1969 The Beatles performed their last concert on the roof of Apple HQ at 3 Savile Row. As the show went on the police were called due to noise complaints. As the group was packing up to go, Lennon famously said, “I would like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we’ve passed the audition.”
3 Savile Row, London W1S 3PB
Hard Rock Cafe – Piccadilly Circus
Click to play Paul McCartney & Wings Greatest
COMBINING THE ECLECTIC VIBE OF PICCADILLY CIRCUS WITH THE ROCK AND ROLL LIFESTYLE OF THE HARD ROCK BRAND, HARD ROCK CAFE PICCADILLY CIRCUS, AS HARD ROCK’S FLAGSHIP PROPERTY, PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE BUILDING’S PRESTIGIOUS HERITAGE AND UNBEATABLE WEST END LOCATION. WALK IN AND BE WOWED BY THE WALLS ADORNED WITH AUTHENTIC, ONE-OF-A-KIND MEMORABILIA FROM DECADES OF MUSIC HISTORY, FEATURING ITEMS FROM BRITISH MUSIC LEGENDS AND INTERNATIONAL STARS ALIKE.
Building 225, Piccadilly Criterion Building, St. James’s, London W1J 9HR
FULL VIDEO WITH PHOTO’S
THE PHOTO ALBUM
17th October 2023: Your Ticket To Ride with us on the open-top deck of Paul McCartney’s 1972 Wings Tour Bus to some of London’s best known Beatles-McCartney locations. We start at the famous Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly and our first stop is at Hard Rock Cafe Old Park Lane, Abbey Road, Paul’s house in St John’s Wood, Marylebone Station, 94 Baker St The Apple Boutique and on to The Beatles Apple HQ at 3 Savile Row and finally back to Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly. A beautiful sunny day full of Beatles- McCartney memories to cherish with amazing views from the best seat in the house. Big thanks to our wonderful Beatles Secretary Freda Kelly who enthralled us with wonderful stories of her time with The Beatles. Thanks for the autographed photos of you with The FAB FOUR and hope to see you again soon. Complete with a Beatles-McCartney compilation soundtrack.
Soundbites from Sir Paul himself and some amazing photo’s.
00:01: “If we’re gonna be in Europe in the summer going to places like the south of France it’s just silly to be in some little box all day gasping for air so we came up with this idea to have an open deck, upper deck kind of thing. We’ve got some mattresses up there so we can just cruise along, fantastic, lie around & get the sun.” – Paul McCartney
11:24: “I met George on a bus, I first saw John on a bus, George auditioned on a bus. Penny Lane was the bus depot. If I was visiting John I could go from my place in Forthlin Road to Penny Lane change and go up to his place in Menlove Avenue. I just like buses.” – Paul McCartney
2023 American Songwriter announces :
New Paul McCartney Documentary Announced, ‘Man On The Run’
A new documentary has been announced that will chronicle Paul McCartney’s career throughout the ’70s. MPL and Polygram Entertainment, the film and television division of Universal Music Group, are behind the project.
The film makes use of never before seen archive footage of McCartney in the aftermath of The Beatles’ break-up, his marriage with Linda McCartney, and the inspiration behind his second band effort, Wings. More contemporary interviews with key players will also be included.
A description of the film reads, “The documentary chronicles the arc of Paul’s peerless solo career: From the one-man-band lo-fi recording prototype of his self-titled solo debut to the pastoral bliss of RAM, to the formation of Wings and its classic albums, including Band On The Run, Venus And Mars, At The Speed Of Sound, Wings Over America, London Town and more.
“The result is an intimate and personal behind-the-scenes account of how Paul progressed from The Beatles’ 1966 retirement from live concerts to the Wings tours that would set the standard for 1970s arena rock shows,” the description continues.
While McCartney’s work alongside The Beatles has been documented in more ways than we can count, Paul McCartney: Man on the Run will showcase the second leg of his career and the creation of timeless classics like “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Another Day,” “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey,” “Hi, Hi, Hi,” “My Love,” “Live And Let Die,” “Band On The Run,” “Jet,” “Junior’s Farm,” “Listen To What The Man Said,” “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ‘Em In.”
The film is directed by Morgan Neville, known for his work on Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain and Won’t You Be My Neighbor.
“As a lifelong obsessive of all things McCartney, I’ve always felt that the 1970s were the great under-examined part of his story,” Neville said of the project. “I’m thrilled to have the chance to explore and reappraise this crucial moment in a great artist’s life and work.”
Anthony added, “At its heart, this is a story of Linda and Paul’s enduring love and an artist finding his own voice after being in the most historic music group ever. Our film traces one of the most incredibly creative periods of Paul’s life which spawned a vital and legendary body of work that continues to impact people and culture in every corner of the globe.”
Produced by Tremelo Productions.