It was in 2000 that George Harrison himself talked to his friend, Guy Laliberté (who just happened to be the founder of Cirque de Soleil) of an idea he had of doing a Cirque show using dance mixes of Beatles songs. Originally Fatboy Slim was thought to do the music side of things. The idea that George had was for someone else to perform the Beatles hits for the show.
Sadly, when George passed away in 2001, the idea of the Cirque show sort of fizzled out for a while. But it did eventually gain momentum again. I am not sure if Paul McCartney's work with the Cirque performers during his 2002 tour had anything to do with it or not. Eventually, George and Giles Martin decided to rework the original idea and use the Beatles actual recordings instead of someone else.
The Love show opened in 2006 and has been going strong in Las Vegas ever since. I think George would be very proud of what it turned in to. It is easy to forget that it was George Harrison that came up with the idea and planted those originally seeds that bloomed into what it is today. So I wanted to take a moment and give George the credit he deserves.
GEORGE FOREVER
ReplyDeleteThere's more to this story. In 2001 George and Paul together went to a performance of the Cirque's 'O' in Las Vegas. The photo of them backstage with the cast may be the last photo of George and Paul together.
ReplyDeleteSara please try to find that photo for us - thanks
DeleteIndeed. Possibly George was explaining his idea for the show to Paul. Both Olivia and Heather Mills Heather discusses going to the O show in her book and I heard Paul discuss it in a radio interview in 2002) were present. The photo is included in the 'All together now' documentary
DeleteFrom what I have read and seen (most notably in the 'All together now' documentary about the 'Love' show Olivia Harrison had a large role in helping to carry forward and develop George Harrison's idea for a Cirque Du Soliel show based in Beatles songs (you can see this in the documentary) after his too early passing
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