dark horse tour london

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George Harrison’s first solo tour following the breakup of The Beatles began in November 1974, prior to the release of his fifth studio album, ‘Dark Horse.’

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George Harrison ’s first full solo tour following the breakup of The Beatles began in November 1974, prior to the release of his fifth studio album. This was also the first tour of North America by any of the four Beatles and, like his Concert For Bangladesh , this 1974 tour, which began in Canada on November 2, 1974, included Ravi Shankar the Indian master-musician.

Other musicians from the Bangladesh concert that also appeared on the 1974 tour included Billy Preston , who had a couple of solo numbers and was prominently featured on keyboards, drummers Jim Keltner and Andy Newmark, and trumpeter Chuck Findlay. The rest of the band for the ’74 tour was made up of saxophonists Tom Scott and Jim Horn, and guitarist Robben Ford, who all played with Scott in the LA Express, and who all featured on George’s Dark Horse album.

Listen to Dark Horse now .

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The tour became known as the “Dark Horse” tour. George had signed Ravi to his new label of the same name, and he played several songs from the album that was released towards the end of the 26-date run of gigs. However, it was not a happy time for George. He struggled throughout the tour with laryngitis and gargled nightly with a mixture of honey, vinegar, and warm water to try and relieve the symptoms; it was a situation not helped by the fact that he played two shows on many of the dates.

But whatever the limitations caused by his throat infection, which led to the cancellation of the shows in Portland, George and the band’s playing sounded magnificent throughout. George was upset by some of the criticism the tour received, some of that could be put down to incredibly high expectations, and people wanting something they simply were not going to get.

Work on the Dark Horse album began in November 1973 at home in Friar Park. Sessions initially used the same line-up of musicians who appeared on Living In The Material World – Ringo Starr , Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann, and Gary Wright and Nicky Hopkins alternating on keyboards. Recorded at this time were the basic tracks for “Ding Dong, Ding Dong,” an early version of the title track, and “So Sad.” In March 1975, George’s near neighbor Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, and soon-to-be Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood added lead-guitar parts to “Ding Dong.”

George saw Joni Mitchell’s concert at the New Victoria Theatre in London in April 1974. He was impressed with her jazz-rock backing band, the L.A. Express, led by saxophonist and flautist Tom Scott, and so the band were invited to Friar Park the following day. Here, Harrison, Scott, Robben Ford (guitar), Roger Kellaway (keyboards), Max Bennett (bass), and John Guerin (drums) – recorded an instrumental track that became the opening number on the album, “Hari’s on Tour (Express).” They also laid down “Simply Shady” which also appeared on the Dark Horse album; Scott then stayed at Friar Park for a while, overdubbing horns onto “Ding Dong” and the two new tracks.

In late August, George returned to working on the album with Billy Preston, Scott, drummer Andy Newmark, and Willie Weeks on bass – all of whom had signed up to play on the tour. They recorded “Māya Love,” “Far East Man,” and “It Is ‘He’ (Jai Sri Krishna).” In early October. George arrived in LA to begin preparing for the tour, but his voice was already in bad shape. With the necessity of completing the new album, he was under considerable pressure.

George used A&M Studios in Hollywood to rehearse on a sound stage with his tour band. At the same time, he finished off the songs that had been recorded at Friar Park with many of the vocals on Dark Horse that were taped at A&M. During this time, George was diagnosed with laryngitis, and according to Scott, Harrison recorded “Bye Bye, Love” one night, alone in the studio adding Moog synthesizer, drums, electric pianos and electric-guitar parts to his acoustic guitar.

It was also at this stage that “I Don’t Care Anymore” was recorded, which was not on the album but became the b-side in the US of “Dark Horse” and later in the UK, the b-side of “Ding Dong, Ding Dong.” In the end, George discarded the version of “Dark Horse” he recorded in his home studio, and he reworked it, recording with the touring musicians. On December 28, 1974, the album entered the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Reviews of the album upon its release were less than glowing, but over time people have come to appreciate this record on a different level, realizing it was a peek into George’s world at the time as well as one containing some wonderful music. All too often, contemporaneous reviews are hastily cobbled together with the need to react to a publishing deadline.

When George returned home to Friar Park in January 1975, following the tour and release of the album, he told Derek Taylor, “When I got off the plane and back home, I went into the garden, and I was so relieved. That was the nearest I got to a nervous breakdown. I couldn’t even go into the house.” Three months later he was back in Los Angeles to start work on his next album, Extra Texture (Read All About It) .

Dark Horse can be bought here .

joy stinson

December 21, 2022 at 5:38 am

I felt very fortunate to see George on this tour in Atlanta, my first time to see a Beatle but his voice was very bad and he should have had Ravi open the show not in the middle and he definitely shouldn’t have changed Beatle song lyrics like he did. However, I’d have never seen him had I not seen this concert. It was the very night John played with Elton John at Madison Square Garden.

December 21, 2022 at 5:42 am

I saw him on this tour was same night Lennon performed with Elton at MSG.

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Nov 2, 1974: George Harrison Begins First Solo Tour

George Harrison on his first solo tour

It was the very first time an ex-Beatle would be touring America since the band last visited eight years earlier, and anticipation was running high. When the dates during the last two months of ’74 were announced, tickets sold rapidly. George Harrison ‘s triumphant Concert for Bangladesh benefit three years earlier had proven he could hold a concert stage on his own, albeit with a little help from his friends.

On November 2, 1974, George Harrison opened his first solo tour at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC.

It was called the “Dark Horse” tour after his current single and album of the same name that came out midway through the trek on December 2. It was billed almost as if it were a co-headlining tour with Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar player (and father of Norah Jones) who Harrison had signed to his Dark Horse label, which the tour was intended to also promote.

Alas, things did not go as well as planned. Harrison suffered bouts of laryngitis that prompted some wags to refer to the tour as “Dark Hoarse.” It was also a somewhat dark time in his life as his first wife Pattie Boyd, aka “Layla” in rock music iconography, had left George for his best friend Eric Clapton.

Reviewers and fans had issues with the show. Some felt that Shankar’s mid-concert segment of six-seven songs was too long for a rock show. Harrison’s tour band included soft jazz players Tom Scott (saxophone), Robben Ford (guitar) and Emil Richards (percussion), and the sound was inappropriate for Harrison’s music. The spotlights given to keyboard player Billy Preston and Scott during the set irked some listeners.

Listen to Preston perform one of his hits (from a clip said to be from this tour)

No doubt expectations for the first Beatle on tour created disappointment that there weren’t more Harrison songs from his time with the group. The tour’s typical setlist included such Beatles songs as “Something,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “For You Blue.” (See below.)

Harrison didn’t tour again until he visited Japan in 1991 with Clapton.

Related: The Beatles White Album  Facts and Trivia

George Harrison, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC, November 2, 1974 Setlist

Hari’s on Tour (Express) The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) Who Can See It Something While My Guitar Gently Weeps Will It Go Round in Circles (Billy Preston) Sue Me, Sue You Blues Zoom, Zoom, Zoom (Ravi Shankar) Na Na Dahni (Ravi Shankar) Cheparte (Ravi Shankar) For You Blue Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) Sound Stage of Mind In My Life Tom Cat (Tom Scott) Maya Love Outa-Space (Billy Preston) Dark Horse Nothing From Nothing (Billy Preston) What is Life Anurag (Ravi Shankar) I Am Missing You (Ravi Shankar) Dispute & Violence (Ravi Shankar)

Encore My Sweet Lord

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8 Comments so far

Not sure what they mean by “the sound was inappropriate for Harrison’s music”. He could do a lot worse than having those guys in his backing band. I’d kill to be surrounded by talent like them!

I saw his concert at the Long Beach Arena. He seemed a little hoarse at times and the sound seemed muffled on a few numbers but that was an event with a Beatle so nobody seemed to be put off by it. Overall it was a pretty good concert. He did slow the tempo up on My Sweet Lord. I would have preferred it to have sounded more like the record. The other songs sounded more like the originals.

talk about a fall from grace…hari had serious street cred and puts out a mediocre record and again a year later…The tour was had 12 george tunes sung hoarse and with bad arrangements and dumb lyric changes…my guitar gently smiles…too much ravi…ouch..

Set list should have went like this… Ravi opener 20min 1. Hari on Tour 2. Roll Over Beethoven 3. Youngblood 4. Absolutely Sweet Marie 5. What is Life 6. old brown shoe 7. lord loves the one 8. I want to tell you 9. Maya Love 10. Awaiting on you all or Art of Dying 11. something 12. Simply Shady 13 Taxman . 3 songs by Preston and 1 by Tom Scott 14. Ding Dong 15. Dont let me wait too long 16. I need you 17. Dark Horse 18. Give Me Love 19. If I needed someone 20. id have you anytime 21. My Sweet Lord encore 22 Behind that locked door 23. For you blue 24. Here comes the sun 2nd encore 25. Guitar Weeps 26. All things must pass

The clips on youtube sound like drunk/stoned rehearsal/jam sessions. Harrison’s voice is so bad that I can’t stand to listen to a whole song. The Dark Horse album has its moments though and the promotional video of the title track is good.

I aw all 3 shows at Madison Square garden . I guess if you were expecting a Beatles show , yeah you were disappointed . I wasnt . He was 1,000 % better than John Lennon was a couple years earlier . McCartney came through with the Beatle show a couple years later . He didnt do many Beatles songs but the whole show had that patented McCartney ” your Granny will love it too ” quality . Georges band were anything but ” soft jazz ” . I dont think Beatles fans were really used to trained musicians . Shankar Family And Friends were superb !! I saw the same show 3 times in 24 hours and each show was as good as the one before it . Most people who complain about the show werent even there .

I too was at the 3 MSG shows. I loved each one…I am still arguing with a friend about it. lol If only I could see George again.

The weather in the Midwest caused some problems-the concert set for the Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland had to be cancelled due to a major snowstorm just after Thanksgiving that made getting the venue impossible-I should know: I was coming home to NE Ohio from Cincinnati that weekend and we were stuck on the freeway that ran right next to the Coliseum and NOTHING was moving that night.

I saw George’s Dark Horse show in Seattle. I drove my friends there in my dad’s v-dub. It was a great concert and we never noticed his voice being off. We enjoyed our brownies and were levitating during Ravi’s set. Good times!

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• May 28, 2009 Setlist

Nickelback Setlist at The O2 Arena, London, England

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• Something in Your Mouth Play Video
• Because of You Play Video
• Photograph Play Video
• Figured You Out Play Video
• Savin' Me Play Video
• Far Away Play Video
• Highway to Hell ( AC/DC  cover) ( With Chris Robertson ) Play Video
• Gotta Be Somebody Play Video
• If Everyone Cared Play Video
• If Today Was Your Last Day Play Video
• Rockstar Play Video
• Burn It to the Ground Play Video
• Drum Solo ( With Fight For All the Wrong Reasons / S.E.X. outro ) Play Video
• How You Remind Me Play Video
• Too Bad Play Video
• Use Somebody ( Kings of Leon  cover) ( Ryan Peake on vocals ) Play Video
• Someday Play Video
• Animals Play Video

Edits and Comments

11 activities (last edit by Frantik0550 , 24 Jan 2015, 04:54 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• If Everyone Cared
• Savin' Me
• Burn It to the Ground
• Gotta Be Somebody
• If Today Was Your Last Day
• Something in Your Mouth
• Because of You
• Figured You Out
• How You Remind Me
• Highway to Hell by AC/DC
• Use Somebody by Kings of Leon

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• May 28 2009 The O2 Arena This Setlist London, England Add time Add time
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