(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Sat 7 February 2026 20:00, UK
By the time that The Beatles called it a day, chances are no one was happier than George Harrison.
The idea of not being a member of the biggest band in the world had to sting for anyone, but Harrison needed to break free if he wanted to get any of his songs out without answering to John Lennon and Paul McCartney every time they made a record. But even when he struck out on his own, Harrison wasn’t necessarily in love with being one of the biggest solo stars on Earth when All Things Must Pass dropped.
Then again, it’s hard for anyone to find that much wrong with Harrison’s debut. McCartney and Lennon’s first solo ventures were bound to be a bit more of an acquired taste than others, but Harrison was out to prove that he was just as good as his old friends. ‘Isn’t It a Pity’, ‘My Sweet Lord’, and the title track were more than worthy of being on any Beatles project, and even though the album is more than a little bit overstuffed, the jam section may as well be a victory lap for him after making his masterpiece.
But once Harrison started playing to huge crowds, he wasn’t going to be comfortable with the frontman lifestyle. He wanted to be a member of the band every single time he played, which probably explains why he didn’t put a lot of time into touring after releasing Dark Horse. He wanted to make music where it would be appreciated, and it was much better to work with people like Klaus Voorman and Jim Keltner at his house rather than answering to whatever Rolling Stone had to say.
In fact, Harrison was dangerously close to becoming a has-been towards the 1980s. Ringo Starr had his fair share of hits and even McCartney had Wings under his belt and had begun making smashes like ‘Ebony and Ivory’, but after ‘All Those Years Ago’, Harrison seemed burnt out on the entire industry. He didn’t feel creatively satisfied anymore, but it took a bunch of his friends to help remind him of why he loved rock and roll.
Cloud Nine was already a bounce back thanks to Jeff Lynne pulling him out of the doldrums, but getting everyone together for the Traveling Wilburys was a match made in heaven. Harrison didn’t need to carry the load of being a legend on his own, and he was more than happy to marvel at the way that Roy Orbison sang or how Bob Dylan crafted lyrics with Tom Petty on tunes like ‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man’.
Any other musician would just treat the Wilburys as a fun project rather than a full band, but Harrison was willing to give up being a solo star to be with the band, saying, “The Wilburys was fun. I think we should do some more again, because it is relatively simple. It’s not like a solo album, in which the responsibility is on you. You can hide behind each other’s backs and maybe write lyrics that you maybe wouldn’t write on your own. I thought that was fun.”
Which probably explains why the final projects that Harrison did throughout his career had a full band around him. Touring with Eric Clapton helped take the edge off of him playing live, and while Brainwashed stands as his chilling final statement to the world, there was a reason why he had people like Lynne working with him throughout the process to make sure that everything came out perfectly.
He was still the same musical sage that helped open people’s eyes back in the 1960s, but when he hung out in the background, he always felt the most comfortable. There was still time for him to grandstand and play that one perfect guitar lick when he wanted to, but he was always going to make better music if he didn’t have the spotlight shining on him at all times.
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