Why Paul McCartney Rejected George Harrison’s Offer To Play at His History-Making Benefit Concert

On August 1, 1971, George Harrison organized and pulled off something that would forever change live entertainment. On that date, Harrison performed the Concert for Bangladesh, which he organized solely for philanthropic purposes. It was the first concert of its kind. Organized and executed for the East Pakistani refugees (now Bangladesh) fleeing from the Bangladesh Liberation War, it is a milestone event in music history, and it set the framework for every single benefit concert that came after it.

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Fellow musicians who supported Harrison and performed at the show included Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, and Leon Russell. Harrison’s former bandmate, Paul McCartney, was offered a performing slot at the show. However, he politely denied the opportunity due to an ongoing contract dispute between all four of The Beatles.

The Dispute That Stopped McCartney From Accepting George Harrison’s Offer

Following The Beatles’ breakup, John, Paul, George, and Ringo were in a legal dispute over dissolving their partnership. McCartney sued the rest of the group, Apple Corps, as well as manager Allen Klein, so he could break ties and go on his merry musical way alone. Eventually, in 1974, their partnership was dissolved, but they were in the thick of it when Harrison invited him to play at the benefit concert.

“George invited me, and I must say [my reason for declining] was more than just visa problems,” McCartney told Rolling Stone. “At the time there was the whole Apple thing. When the Beatles broke up, at first I thought, ‘Right, broken up, no more messing with any of that.’ George came up and asked if I wanted to play Bangla Desh and I thought, blimey, what’s the point? We’re just broken up and we’re joining up again? It just seemed a bit crazy.”

“There were a lot of things that went down then, most of which I’ve forgotten now. I really felt annoyed – ‘I’m not going to do that if he won’t bloody let me out of my contract.’Something like that,” added Paul McCartney. “For years, there had been problems as to why the other three felt they couldn’t just rip up our partnership agreement.”

Harrison also approached Lennon, and initially, he accepted the offer. Although, when Harrison made it clear that Yoko Ono could not perform, he decided to bow out. Ultimately, without McCartney, the show still went down in history for a multitude of different reasons.

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