George Harrison and John Lennon Tried to Get a Cab and Flee in the Middle of a Chaotic Concert
George Harrison and John Lennon grew used to dealing with Beatles fans. During one early concert, though, they decided to leave in the middle of performing.
In The Beatles’ touring years, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr dealt with screaming fans, natural disasters, and political unrest. The band felt exhausted and worn out by 1966, when they agreed to stop touring. This exhaustion came through during one early show, though. Harrison and Lennon were so fed up that they tried to leave in the middle of their performance.
In 1963, The Beatles played a show at the Wimbledon Palais for their Southern Area Fan Club Convention. Beatlemania was not yet at its peak, but the band got a hint of how their future shows would go. They had mentioned liking the candy Jelly Babies, and fans began pelting them at the band during their performance. They felt boxed in, and Starr said they all began to get nervous.“I remember we were in a cage at that gig, because it got so crazy,” he said in The Beatles Anthology. “It was like being in a zoo, on stage! It felt dangerous. The kids were out of hand. It was the first time I felt that if they got near us we would be ripped apart.”
Midway through the performance, Harrison decided he’d had enough.
“Halfway through, George said, ‘I’m not doing this,’ and he packed up, went to the stage door and began looking for a cab,” road manager Neil Aspinall recalled. “I ran after him and said, ‘What are you doing? You can’t walk out, we’ve got to finish.’”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
