The Long Way Round

Before the stadium anthems and the corporate tours, rock and roll was built on steel ramps, heavy flight cases, and the sweat of invisible men.

In the spring of 1973, Martin Wilson is a twenty-year-old lad from Byker with four pounds to his name, a bad hangover, and hands scarred from carrying gear for bands that never made it. Then a letter slipped under a rehearsal room door changes everything. Suddenly, he is trading the cold working men's clubs of Tyneside for a warehouse in West London, joining the elite American audio crew Showco, and embarking on a journey that will shape the rest of his life: the historic, chaotic, and deeply human 1973 UK tour of Paul McCartney & Wings.

Told from the vantage point of a side-stage flight case, this beautifully crafted memoir is not a book about the "dragons" of celebrity gossip or rock-star excess. It is a profound love letter to the craft, the road, and the families we forge at four in the morning. From a terrifying moment when a roaring Glasgow crowd threatens to bring down a century-old balcony, to a quiet, unforgettable late-night encounter in a Cardiff theatre, Martin captures the rhythm of an era defined by a sonic revolution.

Most of all, it is a story about home, fatherhood, and the silent dignity of a true craftsman—learning to love people through the hard, invisible work of your own two hands.

Readers' Praise:
"A masterfully written look at the golden age of rock from the perspective of the people who actually built the cathedrals of sound."

"Deeply moving, authentic, and evocative. A stunning memoir about music, memory, and the choices that make us who we are."