CLUB SANDWICH 54

want to talk to Paul/Linda/The Band into the half-hour that we only have available for daily interviews.
            Most requestees are told No.Non, Njet, Nein, Sorry (Fiona can say "what part of 'no' don't you understand?" in 18 languages now).
            If this sounds harsh, tough.
            Seriously, although Paul would quite happily chat the day away to most everyone (being that sort of affable bloke) what is of prime importance is that he's left with a voice for The Show because, no matter how great and lofty the reporter, none is so important as the fan in the worst seat in the house.
            There's also another view, which I heavily subscribe to, and that's that Paul McCartney is no new act. We are not trying to break him in the ears of an unrecognising public; legends don't need hype and promotional stunts to sustain them.
            Besides, the headlines we're
getting on the tour you couldn't stunt
up if you tried
            "King Paul ready to re-conquer the world" - The Daily Mail, London.
            "Better than The Beatles" - Aftonbladet, Stockholm.
            "Simply Yesterday - a history comes alive again" - Volkskrant, Rotterdam.
            "Amazing - no maybe about it" - The Los Angeles Times.
            "Fabulous, he is the ultimate professional" - Jack Nicholson....
            And there's another thing, the stars coming out. Although the McCartney world tour was launched against the stiffest competition - The Stones,The Who, Madonna, all the big acts are or have been out on the road during our globe-trot - it's this show that the Big Names have been yelling for VIP tickets for.
            In Los Angeles, the publicity team almost had a collective coronary when we counted the faces of half of Hollywood crammed into the usually-more-than-spacious VIP room.
            Imagine this conversation (it happened): "Uhh, Paul, there's a few faces round the corner in the vip room who maybe you'd like to see"
            "Who's that?"
            "Ah....Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Don Johnson, Lionel Ritchie, Dave Edmunds, Meryl Streep, Tracey Ullman, Raquel Welch, Kevin Costner, Axl Rose, Mickey Dolenz, Quincy Jones, Dyan Cannon, Chrissie Hyndc.oh, and Michael Jackson's on his way with seven minders".
            In fact, from a publicity point of view it is sometimes frustrating when you have to balance Paul's need and right to privacy against every nerve in your body that is screaming to issue a photograph that you just know would hit the front page.
            Which Fleet Street picture editor, for instance, would not have died to have got snaps of Michael Jackson playing Nintendo machines on the floor with James in Paul and Linda's dressing room? Similarly, which TV station wouldn't have wet itself to have been in on the meet backstage at Wembley when Prince Edward left Macca's room wearing a grin and a Mac Is Back cap?
            On the other hand, there's been', times on the tour when you've wished to Christ that the TV cameras weren't filming because, for a sudden, it felt like it could go horribly wrong.
            Like The Riot of Narita (Airport), Tokyo.
            The uneasiness began two hours before Paul and Linda flew in for this, their first visit to Japan in 10 years. One moment the arrivals hall was just dotted with the usual families, looking expectantly at the Plane Delayed board, and the next it was high school assembly as dozens and dozens and dozens of kids arrived.
            "I thought you said they'd be just a few fans to welcome them", we quizzed of Mr. Hameda, head honcho on the Japanese fan club.
            "Ah, so sorry - 1,500 have been sent back by the riot police", he said, "We shall only have about 1,000 here".
            Quickly, we began telling the totally-unamused cops that they had better put some barriers up for Paul and Linda's arrival. They produced a length of rope.
            "I don't think", said Fiona, "that is quite going to constitute a barrier".
            An hour and a bit later and some of the touring party were starting to wonder whether the Maginot Line would constitute a barrier in the circumstances. "Whose idea was it to invite the fans to welcome him? Is this anything to do with you!", said the more sane among us.
            "We hope you've got this under
control "
            "Yeah, yeah, yeah...no problem".
            Now you know that feeling when the pit of your stomach knots and you wished you'd never said something? Right, so we got that feeling just as soon as Paul and Linda and James and five security left the