George Harrison live: Salt Palace, Salt Lake City

The tenth date of George Harrison and Ravi Shankar’s 1974 North American tour took place at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, on 16 November 1974.

The 30-date tour was to promote Harrison’s Dark Horse album and Dark Horse Records label, and took in 45 concerts in 26 cities. It was the first North American tour by a former Beatle, and Harrison’s first live performances since the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971.

One of the most interesting, most entertaining and most memorable shows ever put on in Utah. His whole show was fantastic. He treated the screaming, frantic patrons like they were joining him in a religious experience. Shankar and his orchestra created a sound which sent the imagination running wild. Just before the intermission the two bands combined to blend the music of Western and Eastern cultures. It was unbelievable.
Paul Rolly
Salt Lake Tribune

Harrison’s band included Billy Preston on vocals, keyboards, organ, and clavinet; Robben Ford on guitars and vocals; Tom Scott and Jim Horn on saxophone and flute; Chuck Findley on trumpet and flute; Willie Weeks on bass guitar; Andy Newmark on drums; Emil Richards on marimba and percussion; and Kumar Shankar on percussion and vocals. Jim Keltner joined the tour midway through on 27 November.

Ravi Shankar’s orchestra featured Shankar on sitar; Lakshmi Shankar on vocals and swarmandal; Alla Rakha on tabla; TV Gopalkrishnan on vocals, mridangam, and khanjira; Hariprasad Chaurasia on bansuri; Shivkumar Sharma on santoor and vocals; Kartick Kumar on sitar; Sultan Khan on sarangi; Gopal Krishan on vichitra veena and vocals; L Subramaniam on South Indian violin; Satyadev Pawar on North Indian violin; Rijram Desad on pakavaj, dholki, nagada, huduk, and duff; Kamalesh Maitra on tabla tarang, duggi tarang, and madal tarang; Harihar Rao on kartal, manjira, dholak, gubgubbi, and vocals; and Viji Shankar on tambura and vocals.

On this date Harrison met Jack Ford, the son of US president Gerald Ford. The meeting led to Harrison and his entourage visiting the White House on 13 December.

Concert setlist

Dark Horse Tour dates

Page last updated: 4 January 2024

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