Paul McCartney to Unveil Rare Wings Artifacts in Rock Hall Exhibition
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will spotlight Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles chapter this spring with a new exhibition dedicated to Wings, the band he formed in 1971. Opening May 15, the exhibit marks the first museum presentation centered exclusively on the group’s decade-long run and will feature materials drawn from McCartney’s personal archives as well as contributions from former band members and close collaborators.
According to the museum, several of the items have never been publicly displayed. The collection spans instruments used across Wings’ seven studio albums, handwritten lyric sheets, photographs, rare video footage, and behind-the-scenes ephemera that document the band’s evolution from uncertain beginnings to arena-filling success.
McCartney launched Wings alongside his wife Linda McCartney, former Moody Blues member Denny Laine, and drummer Denny Seiwell. The group’s lineup shifted over the years, but its commercial impact proved durable. Albums such as Band on the Run and Venus and Mars cemented Wings as one of the defining acts of the 1970s, producing hits that sustained McCartney’s chart presence long after the Beatles’ dissolution.
The exhibition arrives amid renewed attention to that period of McCartney’s career. In February 2025, he announced Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, a book revisiting the band’s formation and the risks he took in stepping forward after the Beatles. In announcing the project, McCartney reflected candidly on the uncertainty he faced in the early Seventies, describing the move as “starting from scratch” and, at times, questioning whether the decision had been the right one.
“But as we got better I thought, ‘OK, this is really good,’” he said at the time. “We proved Wings could be a really good band.”
The Rock Hall exhibit complements a broader reassessment of Wings’ place in rock history. Long viewed in comparison to the Beatles, the band has increasingly been recognized on its own terms for its studio ambition and large-scale tours. By the mid-Seventies, Wings were performing to stadium-sized crowds worldwide, demonstrating that McCartney could command global audiences outside the Beatles framework.
In addition to the museum display and the recent book announcement, the Wings era will also feature prominently in the forthcoming documentary Paul McCartney: Man on the Run, scheduled for release on Prime Video on Feb. 27. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will host an early screening of the film on Feb. 21 as part of its programming around the exhibition.
