Denny Laine of Wings performing Band On The Run

Sportsmen's Tavern

326 Amherst St.

Buffalo NY 14207

716-874-7734 

Monday May 1 @ 7pm

Doors @ 5

$30

The Complete “Band On The Run” starring Denny Laine of Wings

Denny Laine celebrates the 40th anniversary of the "Wings Over America" tour with a live on stage performance of their greatest album, "Band on the Run" --complete and unabridged! Within a year of its release, Band On the Run" had sold over six million copies worldwide, having spawned three U.S. Top Ten hits-"Helen Wheels", "Jet", and the title track. The singles alone occupied the U.S. chart for 45 weeks, while the album stayed on the charts for over 2 years. "Band On The Run" was in the Top 30 of the Billboard 200 as recently as 2010, when a remastered version of the album was released. 

This special evening celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Wings Over America tour. The sold out U.S. leg of the "Wings Over the World " tour helped carry the' "Silly Love Songs" single and "Wings at the Speed of Sound" album to number one on their respective charts. From the tour came the film "Rock Show" and the number one triple album set "Wings over America".

By far the most successful album involving any of the Beatles following their breakup, "Band on the Run" was created by Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Linda McCartney. The other members of Wings quit the group just prior to the departure to Lagos, Nigeria to begin sessions for the album, but out of adversity came advantage.  With Paul McCartney on vocals, piano, drums, guitar, bass, and keys, and Denny Laine contributing vocals, keys, acoustic, electric and bass guitars, and Linda on keys and vocals, Band On the Run transcended the era to become an album whose deep cuts such as "Let Me Roll It",  "Picasso's Last Words", and "Mrs. Vanderbilt"  and "Bluebird" are better remembered-and played more often on classic rock radio-than most hits of the era. 

Expect other Wings hits such as "Live and Let Die",  and "Time to Hide" as well as Denny's legendary lead vocal on the Moody Blues classic "Go Now" to round out this special anniversary show.

Denny Laine of the Moody Blues and Wings

At the height of the British Invasion, Denny Laine was one of the most recognizable voices on the entire British music scene. As the lead singer on the Moody Blues' recording of "Go Now" -- a worldwide multi-million seller -- he stood out in a large pack, and did so splendidly. His soulful, agonized lead vocal performance, coupled with Mike Pinder's chiming piano, proved irresistable on the radio. But by 1966, Denny Laine felt the need to move in a new musical direction. 

Denny Laine was born Brian Hines and grew up in Birmingham, England. As a boy he took up the guitar, and while he loved Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Scotty Moore, jazz legend Django Reinhardt loomed larger. His first band of any significance was Denny and the Diplomats, formed in Birmingham in the early '60s. The group's line-up also included future Move and Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan and guitarist-singer Roy Wood. By 1964 Laine had abandoned Denny & the Diplomats and -- with four members of the city's other top bands -- formed the group that became the Moody Blues. Laine's tenure with the band was highlighted by one monster hit ("Go Now"), a brace of superb R&B-styled sides ("From The Bottom of My Heart," "Lose Your Money," etc.), and a string of great R & B covers including "Time Is On My Side" and a rollicking version of James Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy”. They toured with the Beatles in the UK and in America with the Animals and Peter & Gordon. When Laine exited the group, to be replaced by Justin Hayward, the reconstituted Moody Blues adopted an increasingly adventurous sound that ended up making them the premiere progressive rock band of the late '60s.

Ironically, Laine himself went in a similar direction with his next major project, the Denny Laine String Band, an electric psychedelic outfit that featured an amplified violin and cello, remarkably similar in many ways to the configuration that the Electric Light Orchestra would adopt more successfully three years later. The Electric String Band attracted good press and enthusiastic concert reviews-including those for a memorable show opening for Jimi Hendrix at Brian Epstein’s Saville Theatre. It was here that many - including The Beatles and Peter Asher, sitting in the Royal Box - heard Laine's single "Say You Don't Mind' for the first time. It wouldn't be the last, as the Zombies' Colin Bunstone took the song into the UK Top 10 in 1972. 

Laine's next major gig was as a member of Ginger Baker's Air Force, a big-band rock outfit that was a partial offshoot of Blind Faith. The group attracted enormous amounts of press attention on both sides of the Atlantic, played some good shows in England, and then embarked on an American tour. Laine was the band's lead guitarist and principal vocalist, alongside Steve Winwood, and even had a featured blues spot in their sets. Denny's impassioned lead vocal effort on "Man of Constant Sorrow" was the highlight of there 1970 LP.

Laine was next heard from in 1971, when Paul McCartney announced that he was forming his first permanent band since exiting the Beatles. The group, christened Wings, was McCartney (joined by his wife Linda McCartney) on bass, guitar, piano, and vocals, with Laine at the core on guitar, bass, and vocals. Wings started off with a Top Ten US  album called Wild Life, which began a continuous run on the US charts that lasted until the group disbanded in 1980. Red Rose Speedway followed  and reached the pinnacle of the US chart, starting a string of 5 straight number one albums for Wings. Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, and the unprecedented triple album set Wings Over America all reached number one; the streak was broken when (gasp!) London Town merely reached number 2 in 1978. 

Beginning with Red Rose Speedway, and the TV special that was broadcast worldwide with its release, Wings began winning the hearts of listeners and the minds of critics. By 1976, with Wings At The Speed of Sound, they'd become one of the top-selling acts of the decade, and the tour that followed was a success of monumental proportions. Wings was, along with ABBA and Led Zeppelin, one of those money acts that seemed to generate tens of millions of ticket sales around the world and reams of press copy with every note they played and utterance that they pronounced. Denny wrote and sang lead on "Time To Hide" (from Wings at the Speed of Sound), "No Words" (from Band On the Run) "Deliver Your Children" (from London Town) and "Again and Again" (from Back To the Egg) . Paul handed him the lead vocal  on the McCartney songs "Picasso's Last Words" from Band On the Run and the single "I Lie Around", and McCartney and Laine co wrote the UK's best selling single at the time, 1977's "Mull of Kintyre", which spent a staggering 17 weeks at number one. 

On stage, Denny played bass, guitar, piano and was given at least two  lead spots each night. Early Wings shows featured "Say You Don't Mind" and "Go Now", and eventually Laine would feature "Go Now", "Time to Hide", "Picasso's Last Words", and "Richard Cory" on the massive Wings World Tour of 1975-1976, culminating in the release of Wings Over America from the US 1976 dates. 

Wings came apart at the dawn of the 1980s, as a planned tours of Japan-and soon to follow, the US-were canceled after Paul McCartney was arrested with cannabis in his bag at the Tokyo airport. Laine returned to solo work, and has released no fewer than 10 solo records since then. His work continues to grow in stature, with his 1967 single Say You Don’t Mind” becoming a cult classic long after the Zombies’ Colin Blunstone took the song for a ride into the UK Top Ten. A DVD of Ginger Baker's Air Force was released in 2011, and of course the Wings catalog has been mined extensively for tribute albums , McCartney’s current tours, and reissues such as a three DVD set. The most popular of these, the “Wingspan” TV special, DVD, and double CD, sold in the millions and have kept the songs alive and better known than ever before.  Laine has played enough interesting and inspired music to make him a recognizable name to two generations of rock & roll fans, and one of the more deservedly enduring alumni from the original British Invasion.

Coming to see the show from out of town? Please visit our friends at the Adams Mark Hotel.

http://www.adamsmark.com/

Please call 716-845-5100 to get a special Sportsmen’s Tavern Rate for Concert Series Ticket Holders.

Or try the Best Western on Delaware Avenue

http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/US/NY/Buffalo-hotels/BEST-WESTERN-On-The-Avenue/Hotel-Overview.do?propertyCode=33035&cm_mmc=PTI-_-local-_-feed-_-33035

716-886-8333

Please Note that the artists have a 3 hour window to complete the show. This does not meant the performance will be 3 hours in length.

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