The one concert that changed Paul McCartney and George Harrison forever
All it takes is one concert to transform a music fan’s life, creating a bright passion for the rest of their existence. However, in some cases, it can make audience members leave the venue harbouring dreams of being performers, as transpired with Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
The future Beatles pairing of McCartney and Harrison didn’t even know each other existed at this stage, but their lives had already begun to intertwine without their knowledge. They may not have been friends, yet the pair found themselves in the same building one evening, which altered their trajectory forever.
McCartney was a year older than George Harrison at school, so they didn’t become friends until they were teenagers. Before this moment, they both attended a show by Lonnie Donegan at the Liverpool Empire, which showed them the power of live music.
The concert took place in 1956, shortly after McCartney lost his mother and sought solace in music. Donegan had a hit the year prior with ‘Rock Island Line’, which was adopted by the people of Liverpool and led to a surge in interest in skiffle music. Initially, when The Beatles began making music together as The Quarrymen and shaped by artists similar to Donegan.
Witnessing Donegan in the flesh had a lasting impact on McCartney, enhancing his love for music and making him want to make art of his own. It opened McCartney’s eyes to a thrilling new world and inspired him to pick up a guitar. At the time, McCartney was still grieving the death of his mother, and learning to play an instrument helped give him a sense of belonging during an incredibly dark time.
Paul’s brother, Mike McCartney, later recalled how music helped save his brother, “It was just after my mother’s death that it started. It became an obsession. It took over his whole life. It just came along at that time and became an escape.”
While McCartney and Harrison weren’t together at the show or even knew the other was in attendance, Donegan would later play a pivotal part in the early stages of their relationship.
The beginning of their friendship was a conversation that occurred on the school bus. It became clear they both had a shared love of music, especially Donegan, which inspired McCartney to invite George to his house to explore his book, which contained the chords for their hero’s music. “We learned a couple of chords from it and managed to play ‘Don’t You Rock Me Daddy’ O’,” Harrison later remembered.
In an interview with Disc, Harrison added: “Lonnie and skiffle seemed made for me…it was easy music to play if you knew two or three chords, and you’d have a tea chest as bass and washboard, and you were on your way.”
Furthermore, Harrison named Donegan as the first artist he connected with on a profound level, stating, “I’d been aware of pop singers before him, like Frankie Laine and Johnny Ray, but never really taken much interest in them. I don’t think I thought I was old enough for them. But Lonnie Donegan and skiffle just seemed made for me.”
Before learning the guitar, McCartney played the trumpet, but after seeing Donegan live, he had an ambition to sing, which required him to switch instruments. He later recalled, “Then I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to sing with this thing stuck in my mouth, so I asked my dad if he’d mind if I swapped it for a guitar, which also fascinated me. He didn’t, and I traded my trumpet in for an acoustic guitar, a Zenith, which I still have.”
Although they were still strangers in 1956, Donegan’s masterclass at the Liverpool Empire gave both McCartney and Harrison a clear vision of what an artist should be. Poetically, years later, they’d grace that same stage together, which would only be the start of the journey ahead of global musical dominance. While this may have occurred without Donegan, he played a vital role in uniting Harrison and McCartney.
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