Tom Petty Revealed Why George Harrison Hated Touring
While The Beatles were the most famous band in the world during the 1960s, they stopped touring in 1966. George Harrison famously never liked going on tour, which extended to his solo career. His friend, Tom Petty, once explained why the former Beatle was against going on the road.
Tom Petty said George Harrison hated being a frontman
George Harrison had an essential role with The Beatles, but John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the band’s prominent leaders. However, Harrison was a genius songwriter who only got his chance to shine with The Beatles on a few occasions, with songs like “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun”. When the band ended, he proved how gifted he was with his first album, All Things Must Pass, which featured his No. 1 hit “My Sweet Lord”.
With his successful solo career, Harrison was now on his own and had to be the face of his own brand. When performing for a crowd, it was just him, with no help from the other fab four members. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Tom Petty, who was friends with George Harrison and a fellow member of the Traveling Wilburys, said the former Beatle was uncomfortable with the spotlight. He was also overwhelmed by rowdy crowds, which previously bothered him with The Beatles.
“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,” Petty said. 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.”
“I remember him visiting me on tour in Germany. He would come to the side of the stage and look out,” he added. “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.’”
Harrison struggled with playing long concerts
The Beatles’ concerts were relatively short, as they only played for about a half-hour. By today’s standards, that’s laughable, as some performers go on for three hours and even longer. In 1974, Harrison embarked on his first solo tour: the Dark Horse tour. The tour was mostly a disaster as he was tired from recording and suffered from laryngitis.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Harrison admitted he had the option to cancel it, but decided to suffer through it, even though he delivered a lackluster experience for fans.
“With the Beatles we used to do thirty minutes onstage, and we could get it down to twenty-five minutes if we did it fast,” Harrison said. “We were on and off and ‘thank you,’ and back to the hotel. Suddenly to have to be playing two and one-half hours for forty-seven gigs, flying all round, I was wasted.”
“But I had that choice of canceling the tour and getting everybody uptight, or going through with it,” he continued. “So I decided, ‘Sod it, it’s probably better to do it.’ But no, I don’t miss it at all – being in crummy hotels, eating lousy food, always having to be somewhere else.”
