Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea - Hammersmith - Odeon Cinema, December 29th, 1979
This was Wings' final live appearance. Assembled by Paul and United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, this string of concerts (December 26-29, 1979) at London's famous Hammersmith Odeon was meant to help the Cambodian refugees. A who's who of UK rock at the time, the concerts included performances on various nights by the Who, Pretenders, Queen, the Clash, Elvis Costello and the Attractions and many others, with Paul and Wings closing out the final night of shows. Unfortunately, Paul and band were not at their best. Perhaps fatigued by constant "Beatles Reunion" rumors, a late hour of performance and inadequate monitors, not to mention as having to follow Costello, not an advisable move at this high point of his career, Paul was in a rather foul mood, leading to the group turning in an anemic performance. Thankfully, it was decided that the "Rockestra" would make its one and only live appearance at the end of the show, somewhat redeeming the entire exercise.
Wings' set consisted of their normal set, with the exceptions of dropping 'Wonderful Christmastime' and moving 'Let It Be' to the end of the show so that Rockestra could perform it. Paul sang one line of 'Waltzing Matilda' prior to 'Yesterday', and there was a bit of a false start on 'Mull of Kintyre'. Once Wings finished their set, emcee/comedian Billy Connolly introduced Rockestra, who squeezed onto the Odeon stage and rocked out rather nicely (especially given the possibility of disaster with such an enormous group of musicians performing live all at once!).
From Wings and Rockestra's sets, 'Got To Get You Into My Life' (with the horn intro edited out), 'Every Night', 'Coming Up' (both with intro chat removed), 'Lucille', 'Let It Be' (more intro chat excised) and 'Rockestra Theme (Reprise)' were extracted and commercially released in April 1981 on the Atlantic LP Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea. This has never been officially released on CD cut has been pirated extensively, most notably on Vigotone's Last Flight. The same tracks also appear in the film Rock For Kampuchea, screened in the UK on ITV on January 4, 1981. Chris Thomas produced the sound, which was recorded on the RAK and Island mobile units. The film was produced by Bob Mercer of EMI Films Ltd. and directed by Keith Macmillan of Keefco. From this film, a promo film for 'Lucille' was extracted and used for promotion of the LP. Raw footage of a handful of the Kampuchea tracks circulates among video collectors. Unfortunately, the dub in circulation has had the audio from the commercial LP poorly synched to the footage. However, there are some fragments (mostly song introductions) which retain the original inline audio. The desirable clips include the horn introduction to 'Got To Get You Into My Life', the conclusion of 'Getting Closer', a snatch of the end of 'Arrow Through Me' and Paul's acerbic introduction to 'Goodnight Tonight'.
A very good stereo audience tape of the whole show was booted in its entirety as Cold Turkey For Kampuchea. Ram Records reissued part of the Cold Turkey For Kampuchea LP on CD as The Rest Of Kampuchea (RAM 006), trimming the commercially released titles. The non-commercial tracks were also released on disc two of Wings In Memorium Of Japan Tour 1980 (sic) where they were also lifted from vinyl.
Chip Madinger |
