There have always been very few naturals in the music industry. Although there are some people who react to being onstage like it’s second nature, no one gets in front of thousands of people to sing without going through a bit of nerves. And when looking at how Paul McCartney reacted to some of his first shows, he was certain that he had picked the wrong business to be in.
Then again, Macca was always the most charismatic of The Beatles whenever they went onstage. George Harrison was always the ‘Quiet One’, and it was hard for Ringo Starr to have the same energy as the frontline from behind a drumkit, but McCartney always felt like the most approachable onstage, as if he was just as excited as everyone in the audience for having the opportunity to play for them.
But it can get pretty tiring going through the same kind of robotic stage banter every time you play a show, and the Fab Four were practically forcing those smiles by the end of their touring days. McCartney might have a better handle on what he does on tour these days, but judging by how many times the band had to put up with screaming that drowned out the music, it’s no secret that he would have been tired of talking after a while.
That’s not to say that he couldn’t keep things professional. The band’s regiment in Hamburg had practically forced them to entertain a crowd at any cost, so even if the audience couldn’t hear a note of what they were playing, Macca knew he could leave them with a smile on their face most of the time. But Hamburg didn’t exactly absolve them from the pre-show jitters that happened later.
If anything, they were allowed to screw up a bit more in their salad days. They were playing to no one but themselves and could do anything from crack jokes to have a smoke while they were onstage, so when Brian Epstein brought in the matching suits and made them look more professional, McCartney remembered being mortified going out before a crowd at a concert for the NME.
The whole thing might have felt like a formality, but McCartney could hardly bring himself to get to the lip of the stage, saying, “They used to have a thing called the NME Poll Winners Party, where the owner of the NME would get us, the Stones, all the top acts, to come and perform for nothing! So I remember being on the steps of Wembley Town Hall, literally getting ill with nerves, and thinking, ‘I’ve got to give this business up, this is no good.’”
While the entire world is grateful to see McCartney continue over the years, that didn’t mean there weren’t some screwups that happened later down the line. The formation of Wings was always going to be a bit stressful, so those first nervous gigs were practically preparing Macca for those moments when Linda would forget how a song went when she got up to play.
But that’s the beauty of what a band is all about. It’s hard enough trying to get everything to sound right before the people file in, but the mark of any great musician is taking all of that nervous energy and channelling it into giving the best performance that audience is ever going to see.
