Paul McCartney’s Fundraising Concert To Repair Historic City Ended up Doing Even More Damage

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, and that certainly seemed to be the case for Paul McCartney’s fundraising concert to repair a historic European city that ended up doing even more damage to the deteriorating landmark. On September 25, 1976, Paul McCartney and Wings performed in Venice’s Piazza San Marco as part of the band’s immense, 65-date “Wings Over the World” tour.

Just over a decade later, another British band from the U.K. would end up doing more harm than good (structurally speaking, anyway) in the same historic location. Mamma mia.

Paul McCartney’s Fundraising Concert of 1976

Paul McCartney’s Wings became the first rock ‘n’ roll group to perform in Venice, Italy’s historic Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square. Although the performance was part of a long string of dates for the “Wings Over the World” global tour, this particular show was a fundraiser in partnership with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, to help stop the decay of the famous canal town in northern Italy’s Veneto region.

“They told us that our concert would help keep the city going,” McCartney said in a statement following the show, per the New York Times. “So, we said, ‘Fine, take the profits from the show and lift a building up.’ I hope it didn’t cost us too much. But if you can’t trust UNESCO, who can you trust?”

The September run of the “Wings over the World” tour followed an extensive U.S. leg, where the British pop rock group performed from the East to West Coast. Just before taking over St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Wings had stopped in Austria and Yugoslavia. The band was on to Germany two days after their Venice stop. Their set list included hits like “Jet,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” and “Let ‘Em In,” as well as a myriad of McCartney-penned Beatles cuts like “Yesterday,” “Lady Madonna,” “Blackbird,” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face.”

Did The Concert Do Even More Damage?

Depending on who you ask and what publications you read, yes—but not enough to sink Venice into the sea (the natural deterioration of the canal city is doing enough of that of its own accord). However, the Wings concert didn’t exactly leave Piazza San Marco as it found it. According to a Spring 1986 issue of Club Sandwich, “At the time, there was concern that Venice was gradually sinking into the mud, so when one of Wings’ trucks made a crack in the square, the TV cameras homed in on it” (via BeatlesBible).

A finicky accusation, maybe, but given Venice’s cultural and archaeological significance—and the fact that the city specifically avoided rock concerts like Wings’ to protect the city—even a small amount of damage was enough to capture the attention of the press.

Nearly two decades after Wings made history as the first rock group to perform in Venice’s historic city limits, Pink Floyd joined the ranks with their 1989 concert in Venice’s Grand Canal that caused such a disruption and outrage that it ended in a trial for the city council. Indeed, it seems like Venice simply couldn’t catch a break. But hey, what’s rock and roll without a bit of destruction?

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