Daily Utah Chronicle
By David Proctor
November 18, 1974
To get right to the point. George Harrison and his band and Ravi Shankar put on a magnificent concert at the Salt Palace Saturday night, Harrison was obviously delighted to be on stage, and the sell-out crowd was obviously just as glad to see him there.
The bands were tight, the music fine, and everything from the staging to the lights to the sound was perfect. It was not to say that there weren't any rough spots, because they were, but they were the sort most people don't notice until they begin to think about the show later.
First, George has not performed live for any sustained time since the last Beatles tour in 1966, and the strain on his voice was evident. He began to stretch it in the second half. When he got to his new single "Dark Horse," he needed help from Billy Preston to hit the high notes.
The second problem was less obvious. George simply left out too much of his own material. "Here Comes the Sun," "Living in the Material World," "If it is Not for You," "Beware of Darkness," the "Art of Dying," "Within You, Without You," "All Things Must Pass," "Wah Wah," and "Bangladesh" were all admitted and missed, but what was included was magnificently done.
Chronologically. It went like this. At 8:25, the house lights went down, and musicians began to file on stage. The Krishna symbols on either side of the stage lit up, and a huge dark horse banner unfurled from the ceiling. Dark Horse is Harrison's new label, distributed by A&M, for which he will produce but not record. The stage was lit, and Harrison led the band in a new instrumental, "Harry's On Tour Express." "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has some new lyrics thrown in to make it read, "While My Guitar Gently Smiles." A pattern he followed off and on throughout the evening, Harrison took his own solo on this one, a part that Eric Clapton made famous. And while the style was different, it was equally effective as the original.
He was loose, bounced around the stage, grinned, and looked thin and happy. "Something" received a quicker pace than the original or the Bangladesh version. The overhead lights switched to red and gave him a scarlet halo as he moved through the tune, and Preston sang the responses gospel style again. The lyric was changed, and the song ended with, "If I don't believe in something..."
"Sue me, Sue You Blues" ended the first segment and ushered in the Shankar family and friends. Now, the stage was a tiny United Nations with a sitar, an ARP synthesizer, acoustic and electric guitars, tablas, and a Fender bass, all combining perfectly. The rest of Harrison's set included "Peace on Earth," a surprise "In My Life" and "My Sweet Lord" as encore. The ovation was thunderous and deserved. Harrison has again proved his point. He was the Dark Horse Beatle but no longer.
George Harrison
By Greg Erikson
Student Life (Logan, Utah)
November 20, 1974
There was a lingering question in many a mind, prior to 8pm Saturday evening. Just who were we going to see in the Salt Palace? The man everyone was waiting to experience had been in self-imposed exile for eight years, George Harrison, the dark horse of the Beatles, had not made an American tour since 1966.
Although his absence was temporarily interrupted in 1971 to help raise funds for the war-stricken people of Bangladesh, George has been little less than extinct during this time. However, Harrison was not totally idle. Besides playing private occasions with Lennon, McCartney, and Starr, he has cut a few albums of his own. Among them, All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World. Also, George is planning a new release containing the single hit "Dark Horse" to be out in two weeks.
Throughout the concert, Harrison was somewhat of a salesman. Not only did he try to promote his own records and the Indian music of the Shankar family, but he sold himself to the crowd as well. The ex Beatle was in very good spirits. And along with the getting down Boogie tunes by Billy Preston, they took the crowd on a ride no one will soon forget.
During the well-integrated show, Harrison and Preston played "What is Life," "My Sweet Lord," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Dark Horse," "Will It Go Round in Circles," "Space Race," and "Nothing from Nothing."
In addition to displaying his fine keyboard talents, Preston even treated the audience to an exhibit of his dancing ability. Although the crowd wanted the band to play on, the flawless concert ended after one encore and about three hours of long-awaited music; I am sure that those people fortunate enough to enjoy the George Harrison happening last Saturday night will agree, the youngest Beatle is alive and very well.
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