The reason why George Harrison hated touring
For many artists, making music is carried out simply to allow them to tour venues across the world, offering an escape from the sometimes tiresome work in the studio. However, George Harrison was the polar opposite of the rule, and playing to audiences was a problematic part of the process that he attempted to avoid at all costs.
The Beatles famously stopped touring in 1966 when they had outgrown the circuit. to put it simply, the band did not have adequate venues, logistics, and technology to cope with ticket demand. The group’s final tour of the United States was a disaster, and they collectively decided that their time would be better spent in the studio rather than on the road.
While Paul McCartney toured regularly following the demise of The Beatles, Harrison kept his shows to a minimum. In 1971, he stepped on stage as a solo performer for the first time at The Concert For Bangladesh in New York at Madison Square Garden. Three years later, Harrison finally hit the road for a lengthy 45-date tour with Ravi Shankar, which was a disaster and put him off from a repeat incident. With The Travelling Wilburys, they never played a live show despite the public clambering for them to translate their brilliance to the stage.
One of his bandmates in the supergroup was Tom Petty, who spoke to Rolling Stone in 2002 about Harrison’s resistance to tour. Surprisingly, despite being committed to his craft, he never felt inclined to perform or please the masses. “He was never far from music,” Petty insisted. “The last time he came over here, which wasn’t that long ago, he was playing the guitar and singing, singing me new songs that he had written, which were just so beautiful. I said, ‘I wish you would just put a mic up, and let’s tape you just like this.’ He didn’t want to do it — ‘Maybe later.'”
Interestingly, Petty claimed that Harrison had no interest in being a star after leaving The Beatles and once admitted as much. He continued: “But he told me something once like, ‘I never really pursued a solo career. All Things Must Pass was a reaction to leaving the Beatles. I had to do something.’ And when that went so well, he made another one. But he never really had a manager or anybody to report to, and I don’t think he had any interest in touring. He told me many times he was very uncomfortable being the guy up front having to sing all the songs. It was just not his idea of fun.”
Petty added: “I remember him visiting me on tour in Germany. He would come to the side of the stage and look out. But he really didn’t want to go on. He would go, ‘It’s so loud and smoky, and they are acting so crazy. I just feel better back here.'”
Thankfully for Harrison, he was fortunate enough to be in a position where he didn’t need to tour to pay the bills, which allowed him to only do what he wanted. In all likelihood, there are probably plenty more musicians who would have made the same decision if they had Beatle money.
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