The gigs Linda McCartney hated watching: “Quite pissed off”
Long before cruising to the top of the world of vegetarian cuisine, Linda McCartney was her own behemoth in the rock music industry, and not just because she was married to Paul. She was the resident photographer at the renowned New York Fillmore East throughout the late 1960s, snapping shots of everyone from Aretha Franklin to Bob Dylan, before taking up her own musical position with her husband’s Wings in the 1970s. But all that was a world away from where the McCartneys’ story began when she first rocked up to see the Fab Four in concert.
Although Linda met her future husband properly at a club in London in 1967, it had actually been two years prior when she had first fallen into his orbit. Like most of the world, she was a big fan of The Beatles and had secured herself a ticket to see them live at their iconic Shea Stadium gig on August 15th, 1965. However, she was never one to blend into the crowd – refusing to be drawn in by the manic bedlam of Beatlemania; instead, she was far more interested in hearing the Fab Four for what they truly, sonically, were.
Later recalling his wife’s perspective on the experience, Paul said in the Anthology project: “As she was a real music fan, she was quite pissed off with everyone screaming. I think she enjoyed the experience, but she genuinely wanted to hear the show. That wasn’t the deal, though. Not then.”
In many ways, McCartney’s distaste for the mass hysteria was an omen for the world she would later enter – or, in some fans’ eyes, destroy. By the time she eventually officially married into The Beatles dynasty in 1969, she was blasted for taking Macca off the market and, in their view, leading to the band’s demise.
Amid this onslaught, however, it was the mark of the woman that she was able to keep her cool and then, indeed, go on to contribute significantly to her husband’s musical empire. Only a year later, by the time the couple and their family had moved north to the Scottish islands, she was a driving force of his seminal 1970 solo effort RAM and subsequently marked her territory in what would thereafter become Wings.
However, none of this took away from what must have been a massive shock to the system at the beginning of their relationship. Having your partner fawned over and screamed at not just by one crazed superfan but millions upon millions of them was no doubt bound to have been an isolating experience for Linda, used to being up close and personal with the stars and never one to be taken in by the fans’ hyped spirit.
She may not have fallen quite at The Beatles’ feet in the way the rest of the world did, but in many senses, this was what probably made Linda McCartney stand out and catch her husband’s eye – after all, it wasn’t every day a woman would just look at him in quiet awe without dissolving into a puddle. Away from the screaming and the height of huge shows, she was undeniably the steering force of the Macca ship.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.