An Insider's View of George Harrison's Tour

 

An Insider's View of George Harrison's Tour

By Jon Bream

The Minneapolis Star

December 24, 1974

    George Harrison's just completed seven weeks 27 city concert tour, the first by a former member of The Beatles, earned an estimated $4 million.  A modest figure by superstar standards. It was neverless a first-class tour, according to bass guitarist Willie Weeks, who played in a couple of Twin Cities bands in the late '60s before working with well-known artists like Donnie Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, Ron Wood, and Harrison.

 "It was a gas. The best tour I've ever been on," Weeks reflected this weekend, "a private jet, and it was plush. You walked off the jet, and they handed you a hotel key and room list. They picked up your luggage for you. You just took care of your personal needs and had to be in the right place at the right time."

"They" was the 40-member staff of San Francisco rock impresario Bill Graham's FM productions, which produced the Harrison tour, as well as the more ambitious tours of Bob Dylan and Crosby, Stills Nash, and Young earlier this year.  "There was a camper that rushed us out to a gig and took us to the gig," Weeks continued. "After the gig, we went to the hospitality room, where they had dinners set up and anything else you wanted."

 Weeks, once accustomed to "lugging my own luggage, taking commercial flights and dealing with uptight commercial people," attributed his comparatively luxurious circumstances to Graham's style and experience with big-name rock stars and to Harrison's insistence on first-class conditions.

 Despite the comfortable working situation, Weeks did not feel that it was a superstar tour like the record-setting ten million Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young extravaganza last summer.  "We just got on stage and played as a bunch of great musicians. It certainly wasn't the Beatles. George is George. He's into being himself. I think he wants to remember the Beatles as ex-Beatles."

 Weeks was one of a handful of session musicians Harrison enlisted last summer to help him record his recent release album, Dark Horse. Most of the musicians were later invited to join Harrison on the tour.

 "We rehearsed for two weeks, but it was more goofing around than rehearsal." Weeks recalled.  "A lot of the learning came as we went along on the tour." Unlike other groups composed of sidemen, Harrison's band, Weeks noted, achieved a family feeling. "It seems like we all fell in love with each other. It felt like a band. George, as frontman certainly, with an incredible bunch of musicians. I was no longer the Willie Weeks who stood straight and tall. I let my craziness out on stage."

 Harrison asked Weeks to join him and organist Billy Preston each night in a dance on stage, but the basis declined because he felt he could not play and dance at the same time. Weeks did, however, receive a regular opportunity to solo during "For You Blue."  "I didn't want to take a solo on that song, Week said, "but George insisted. So, I tried to make the best of it. It was a standard 12-bar blues, and I had 24 bars to play, but sometimes I inspired George, and he said, 'Go ahead, play some more.'"

 Long tours of many one-night stands with few days off can be strenuous for touring musicians.  Ravi Shankar was hospitalized for exhaustion at one point during the tour, and "Harrison's voice," Weeks said, "was not in shape for such an ambitious tour." So the concerts received terrible reviews. The strain, however, did not catch up with Weeks. "I took care of myself. I didn't hang out late at night. After the gig, I'd go to my room, take a bath, lie back and, listen to some music, and relax. I didn't go crazy the way a musician is supposed to do on the road."

 Weeks longs to join a permanent band under the right conditions. "I don't deserve to be a side man." He said, "I feel I'm reaching people through my music. I don't need to jump out front, and I don't care if people don't make a big stink over me because I watched the audience during the concerts and made a lot of eye contact. I caught them digging me."

 Week says he is positive about his future, even though it is difficult to find the kind of musician he likes. He plans to go to California for the next two months to relax and practice his playing and then look for the right band. Meanwhile, he may tour Europe with Harrison in the near future.