In honour of its 50th anniversary, the rare Paul McCartney documentary Paul McCartney and Wings – One Hand Clapping is getting its first-ever theatrical release. With its '70s videotape footage restored to 4K, it will hit cinemas worldwide starting September 26, with tickets going on sale August 16.
"It's so great to look back on that period and see the little live show we did. We made a pretty good noise actually! It was a great time for the band, we started to have success with Wings, which had been a long time coming," McCartney said. He also filmed an exclusive introduction for the screenings, which will also be ushered in by previously unseen Polaroids from the recording sessions.
Much like the Beatles had done a few years earlier while making Let It Be, Wings invited filmmaker David Litchfield into a four-day session at Abbey Road Studios in 1974. Fresh off the success of 1973's Band on the Run, they played through songs from that album, as well as other Wings hits, works-in-progress, Beatles songs and other covers, and more, with plans to release a live-in-studio album.
After being shelved for decades, the One Hand Clapping film finally saw the light of day in 2010 when it was included in the box set Band on the Run reissue. Earlier this year, McCartney also released the One Hand Clapping album — and a bonus EP entitled The Backyard, on which he played six solo acoustic songs.
Check out a newly released clip from the film below, and you can sign up here for updates on the theatrical release.