By Bill Mann
The Gazette (Montreal,Canada)
December 9, 1974
George Harrison, the first ex-Beatle to tour North America, was at the Forum for two shows yesterday. The afternoon show drew 14,000, while last night's presentation was a sell-out.
Harrison's shows were framed in the most impressive and tasteful stage setting I've seen at the Forum in a long while. The lighting was superb. The sound unusually crisp for the big arena. It was unusual in other ways too.
It combined rock with soul and also an interlude for Indian spiritual tunes. On one hand, one applauds Harrison for sticking to his spiritual convictions in these days of ubiquitous cynicism. Representing serious Indian classical music with a touch of pop in front of a rock-oriented audience seems to be self-defeating. It smacks of self-indulgence.
While the Indian part of the set obviously lacked its key catalyst and sitar extraordinaire, Ravi Shankar (taken ill in Chicago four days ago but able to rejoin the tour in a few days in Boston.) Nonetheless, it had its moments, notably the great percussive byplay between the redoubtable Alla Pakha on tabla and TV Gopalkrishnan on mridangam (a horizontal conga). The hit British 45, "I Missing You," sung by Ravi's sister-in-law, Lakshmi Shankar, was lovely. But all in all, the Indian set lacked punch, much like Harrison's world-weary vocals all night.
Ask anyone who was there at either show Sunday night what the highlight of the performance was and I'll bet the answer will be almost unanimous: Billy Preston's three numbers, which added a badly needed energy rush to the proceedings.
Nonetheless, Harrison's quiet spirituality added an aura of class and style to the show. The shows are dedicated to Sri Krsna, whose logo and lights adorned both sides of the stage. The backup group Tom Scott's LA Express was great in a backup role, but when Scott did his one solo number, the show suffered. Scott's sax is cheesy and bland, and neither he nor his group should ever be out front. This world is full of good rock musicians who do not know how to entertain or create anything original, and Scott is a perfect example of this.
For me, the highlight was Preston's soul stepping on his hit single "Out of Space", and anyone lively enough to get George Harrison to dance along gotta have something going for him. Harrison started with his lovely Beatles tune "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and followed up with "Something" off of the last recorded Beatle LP, Abbey Road. With Harrison adding a touch of Krishna consciousness to the lyrics by changing the line to, "will our love grow. I hope so." Instead of, "I don't know."
Another high point was Harrison's new single, and, not coincidentally, his new record label, Dark Horde [sic], a pleasant, acoustic piece along the lines of "Here Comes the Sun", the latter written in Eric Clapton's garden one sunny British afternoon. It concludes with these words in the chorus. "I'm a dark horse running on a dark race course."
And that is indicative of Harrison's slightly in the dark perception of his audience. While some burned incense, most still shouted for rock and roll. Harrison and fellow spiritualist Eric Clapton both have suffered in their historic tours this year from lack of energy.
I love Harrison for trying to turn the masses on to a special consciousness. But I'm also distressed that he has almost certainly forgotten how important a little rock and roll energy can be to any show, and he, like Clapton and Carlos Santana, is far too serious these days. Once again, I must ask, is this energy loss reversible, or is this the shape of things to come? Harrison has always been pretty much ahead of his time. And if he's right this time, then the 70s will be remembered in rock as the age of the great nod-off. More importantly, as far as his Indian and spiritual statements go, I think Harrison is well-intentioned, but evangelism has always turned more people off than on.
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