Over the weekend, Sir Paul McCartney joined the Foo Fighters on stage to commemorate Taylor Hawkins, who died in March of this year.
While McCartney is no stranger to the stage these days, there was a time when the Beatles finished their live shows. George Harrison later admitted that he had a lot of fear about appearing in public.
Harrison, the band’s youngest member, was known as the Quiet Beatles because he was less outspoken than the rest of the group.
That’s not to say he didn’t defend himself in the Fab Four, but he was less likely to make comic comments to the press – like John Lennon did in the Philippines. While touring the country, Lennon declared that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus.” This controversial statement outraged Christians around the world.
David Akomba, who filmed Harrison’s solo tour in 1974, explained that this incident was the beginning of the star’s fears.
Even after many years of doing Beatlemania, Acumba said, “Harrison was always worried about getting shot.”
He noted that after Lennon’s comments on Jesus, the band’s recordings were banned and publicly burned in protest against the group.
Harrison was famous for responding to these protests with sarcasm: “They have to buy it before they can burn it,” but inside, he was sick with anxiety.
One particularly scary night occurred when the Beatles were scheduled to play at the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 28, 1966.
READ MORE: The Beatles: George Harrison made John Lennon change ‘insulting’ song
“Well, that’s it, I’m not the Beatles anymore,” Harrison told the rest of the Fab Four.
He was almost certainly serious about leaving the band, but he didn’t actually leave the band for a few more years. He finally came out while they were recording their latest album, Let It Be.
During that legendary moment, he walked off the scoreboard saying, “I’ll see you at the clubs.”
His exit wasn’t a huge surprise, considering Harrison’s wife admitted he was pretty miserable at the time.
Patti Boyd explained, “The Beatles made him unhappy, because of the constant arguments. They were evil to each other. It was really annoying, and more so for him because he had this new spiritual path.”
She added that he is treated like a “little brother” to the band.
“He’s been pushed into the background,” she continued. “He would come home from the recording and be full of anger. It was a very bad situation that he was in.”
Harrison was not shot. He died naturally of cancer on November 21, 2001.
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