- published: 21 Mar 2016
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Wings, Paul and Linda McCartney's post-Beatles band, which included Ex Moody Blues Denny Laine, embarked on a number of concert tours, varying in scale from their initial "DIY" tour of British universities to the epic Wings Over the World tour.
Shortly after forming Wings, the McCartneys took the band on an impromptu tour of the United Kingdom's universities in early 1972, showing up unannounced and performing for whoever happened to be on campus. The band's intended first stop on the tour, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, refused to allow them to play, so the band moved on to the more receptive Nottingham University. Admission to the first show was £0.50, proceeds being split up equally among the band members.
The last Concert for the People of Kampuchea on December 29, 1979, which was the final date of Wings' fifth tour, was Wings' final gig.
However, Wings achieved notoriety for its aborted sixth tour, a January 1980 tour of Japan, which was cancelled before it even started when Paul McCartney was arrested for possession of marijuana while entering Japan on 16 January 1980 and was eventually deported on 25 January after nine days in prison, without Wings ever performing. Wings never again attempted a tour prior to its breakup in 1981.
Coordinates: 47°23′37″N 0°41′21″E / 47.3936°N 0.6892°E / 47.3936; 0.6892
Tours (pronounced: [tuʁ]) is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.
It stands on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection (as perceived by some speakers) of its local spoken French, and the Battle of Tours in 732. It is also the site of the Paris–Tours road bicycle race. Tours is the largest city in the Centre region of France, although it is not the regional capital, which is the region's second-largest city, Orléans. In 2006, the city itself had 142,000 inhabitants and the metropolitan area had 306,974.
In Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire during the first century AD, the city was named "Caesarodunum" ("hill of Caesar"). The name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first "Civitas Turonum" then "Tours". It was at this time that the amphitheatre of Tours, one of the five largest in the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lugdunum towards 380–388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine and Brittany. One of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela,made Tours a major centre during the Middle Ages.