Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Lennon's and Harrison's Stage Fright


Having been members of one of the most popular rock bands of all time, you'd think that John Lennon and George Harrison would have been pretty confident in terms of feeling accepted by audiences.



Not so, according to Never a Dull Moment, by David Hepworth:



From the moment [the Beatles] broke up, George Harrison was uncomfortable with life on his own. The Beatles' performing experience had been as narrow as it was deep. When Lennon played the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival with his hastily assembled Plastic Ono Band in 1969, he threw up before going onstage because of his nerves. He'd spent thousands of hours onstage, but he'd never spent any time with anyone but the Beatles. He'd always looked to his right and seen the same faces. George felt much the same. Although all of them took every opportunity to describe what they had created as "just a band," at the same time they had great faith in the power of that band's brand and worried that people would not accept them as readily if they were out on their own.
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Truth is...we may say we want our lives to change, but that doesn't mean WE want to change. There is comfort in the familiar, even when we're not comfortable with it. Ever hear the saying, "Better the devil you know..."?



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