Stage photo from Clapton’s wedding party
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| Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd. |
Pattie Boyd and Eric Clapton were married in Tucson, Arizona on the 27th of March 1979. A couple of months later, on May 19th, they held a wedding reception at their home in Hurtwood Edge, in England. A huge number of celebrity guests turned up, including Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. A properly equipped stage had been set up in the garden, should any of the musicians present fancy a jam session. During the course of the evening, it has been reported that all three ex-Beatles were on stage at the same time, belting out old favourites.
The news went around the world that the Beatles had reformed at Clapton’s wedding party, and had performed, among other songs, “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.
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| Lonnie Donegan with three Beatles. |
Both Clapton and Boyd have since said that John Lennon later called them, asking why he hadn’t been invited, as he certainly would have attended.
Many years later, photos taken during the event started appearing, including a few of the three ex-Beatles posing with one of their heroes from their youth, skiffe legend Lonnie Donegan. But so far, all the photos have been of the guests standing or sitting around in the garden. That is, until forty years after the event, on June 15th, 2019, when Ringo’s son, Zak Starkey posted this photo:
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It shows Zak himself on the guitar, Jim Capaldi playing drums, and Paul McCartney on bass guitar. Let’s hope some more photos like this one turns up!
Poor Paul having to play a right-handed bass?
Since he grew up that way, I think he probably handled it ok.
Was George there with Olivia? If so, very gracious of her to attend the wedding of his first wife.
I always fancied the idea of Macca doing something with Keef. I know they sort of collaborated on 'We Love You' but it would be great if they did something together….
Just waiting for a pic of Paul…George…& Ringo on stage together. The story was that lots of photos were taken during the jam session…and so far…this is the only one to surface.
Maybe that's what the Threetle reunion sessions of the mid-90's needed, a few drinks to make things less awkward. Although I know Ringo was on the wagon by then
Although Paul's bass is a right-handed model, if you look down near his left hand, you can see the fatter strings are at the top – so it's strung for a left-hander.
If it's true that John Lennon contacted Pattie and Eric and asked why he had not been invited, then it's feasible to ponder that John would join George, Ringo and Paul, if only for a photo.
It's equally painful to think how close it came for all 4 Fabular-types to be in the same place at once. For me, it all comes back to 8th December 1980. The things that we, as fans, lost are so tragic. I've long had this fantasy of being outside the Dakota the day before and managing to kidnap John and get him over to England, preferably Liverpool and making sure that that horrid individual was arrested and put away. Clearly, the fine details of such a caper have not been worked out yet. Anyway, whatever the fans have been denied over the last 39 years is absolutely nothing compared to what Yoko, Sean, Julian and Paul, George and Ringo have lost.
i have seen a Top of the Pops rerun from December 1980 with the DJ Richard Skinner introducing the Imagine video and saying saying that Paul had told him that John should not have even been in New York on that day, he had booked studio time with Paul in London.