In 1991, Eric Clapton convinced his friend George Harrison to play 12 dates in Japan with him, December 1-17, marking the second tour of Harrison’s solo career. A few months later, Harrison surprised fans again with his first show in England since the demise of the Beatles. On April 6, 1992, Harrison’s show at the Royal Albert Hall in London would become his final full-length concert.
The last time Harrison had toured before ’91 was in 1974, around the release of his fifth solo album Dark Horse, and though he wasn’t inclined to perform again, he was prompted to play London to support the political group the Natural Law Party, founded on the principles of transcendental meditation and affiliated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
“I want a total change and not just a choice between left and right,” said Harrison in a press release to promote the show. “The system we have now is obsolete and not fulfilling the needs of the people. Times have changed and we need a new approach. The Natural Law Party is turning this election into a wonderful, national celebration and I am with them all the way.”
At first, Harrison was also hesitant about returning to the UK for a show but his doubts were quickly diffused after receiving a warm welcome at the Royal Albert.
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“For years, I always had the press always being bitchy and nasty, and I’d built up this impression that the British don’t like me and my music,” said Harrison of the show. “When I stepped on the Royal Albert Hall, it was unbelievable. I couldn’t control … the audience were just so happy. It was the most incredible buzz.”
The concert also marked Harrison’s first performance in London since 1969. The Beatles first performed at Royal Albert Hall on April 18, 1963. as part of the BBC Swingin’ Sound ’63 program.
[RELATED: The Story Behind the First George Harrison Song to Appear on a Beatles Album]
“It was like one of them things that I could [have] just stood on my head and done anything, and they just loved it,” added Harrison of his Royal Albert show. “So maybe that’s because absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Gary Moore and Joe Walsh opened the night for Harrison, who also recruited Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell into his band. Harrison opened with Beatles’ deep cuts, “I Want to Tell You” and “Taxman,” two of the three tracks he wrote for the band’s ’66 album Revolver, which sandwiched his earlier Hey Jude B-side “Old Brown Shoe.”
Harrison peppered more of his Beatles songs into the set with “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun,” along with “Piggies” and encore opener “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the only two songs Harrison wrote on the White Album. Ringo Starr and Moore joined Harrison on the latter.
Throughout the night, Harrison leveled the set with solo material—”What Is Life,” “My Sweet Lord,” “Got My Mind Set on You,” closer “Devil’s Radio,” and more—before closing the evening on a jam out to Chuck Berry‘s “Roll Over Beethoven,” with his then 13-year-old son Dhani Harrison, Starr, and Walsh.
During the remainder of the 1990s, Harrison would give more one-off performances, including The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, at Madison Square Garden in October 1992, commemorating Bob Dylan‘s three decades as an artist.
In 1997, the former Beatle gave his final performance on the VH1 special Yin & Yang, promoting Ravi Shankar’s album Chants of India, which Harrison produced. On the show, Harrison performed “All Things Must Pass,” the then-unreleased “Any Road” (later released on his posthumous 2002 album Brainwashed), and a cover of Dylan’s “You Belong To Me.”
Setlist: George Harrison and Friends, Albert Hall, London, April 6, 1992
- “I Want to Tell You”
- “Old Brown Shoe”
- “Taxman”
- “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”
- “Something”
- “What Is Life”
- “Piggies”
- “Got My Mind Set on You”
- “Cloud 9”
- “Here Comes the Sun”
- “My Sweet Lord”
- “All Those Years Ago”
- “Cheer Down”
- “Isn’t It a Pity”
- “Devil’s Radio”
- “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
- “Roll Over Beethoven”
Photo: George Harrison at Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City 1992 by Mediapunch/Shutterstock
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