The 21st date of George Harrison and Ravi Shankar’s 1974 North American tour took place at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada, on 6 December 1974.
There were two shows on this date, in the afternoon and evening. Bob Dylan jammed with Harrison backstage.
The Beatles had performed at the Maple Leaf Gardens on 7 September 1964, 17 August 1965, and 17 August 1966.
Ravi Shankar did not play at this show due to illness.
Harrison’s 30-date tour was to promote his 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 performance since the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971.
His 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 and Jim Keltner 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 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.
Concert setlist
- ‘Hari’s On Tour (Express)’
- ‘Something’
- ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’
- ‘Will It Go Round In Circles’ (Billy Preston)
- ‘Sue Me, Sue You Blues’
- ‘Zoom Zoom Zoom’ (Ravi Shankar) ‘Na Na Dahni’ (Ravi Shankar)
- ‘Cheparte’ (Ravi Shankar)
- ‘I Am Missing You’ (Ravi Shankar)
- ‘For You Blue’
- ‘Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)’
- ‘In My Life’
- ‘Tom Cat’ (Tom Scott and LA Express)
- ‘Māya Love’
- ‘Nothing From Nothing’ (Billy Preston)
- ‘Dark Horse’
- ‘Outa-Space’ (Billy Preston)
- ‘What Is Life’
- ‘My Sweet Lord’
Dark Horse Tour dates
- 2 November 1974: Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, Canada
- 4 November 1974: Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle
- 6 November 1974: Cow Palace, Daly City
- 7 November 1974: Cow Palace, Daly City
- 8 November 1974: County Coliseum Arena, Oakland
- 10 November 1974: Long Beach Arena, Long Beach
- 11 November 1974: The Forum, Inglewood
- 12 November 1974: The Forum, Inglewood
- 14 November 1974: Tucson Community Center, Tucson
- 16 November 1974: Salt Palace, Salt Lake City
- 18 November 1974: Denver Coliseum, Denver
- 20 November 1974: St Louis Arena, St Louis
- 21 November 1974: Tulsa Assembly Center, Tulsa
- 22 November 1974: Convention Center, Fort Worth
- 24 November 1974: Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston
- 26 November 1974: LSU Assembly Center, Baton Rouge
- 27 November 1974: Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis
- 28 November 1974: Omni Coliseum, Atlanta
- 30 November 1974: Chicago Stadium, Chicago
- 4 December 1974: Olympia Stadium, Detroit
- 6 December 1974: Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto
- 8 December 1974: Forum, Montreal
- 10 December 1974: Boston Garden, Boston
- 11 December 1974: Providence Civic Center, Providence
- 13 December 1974: Capital Centre, Landover
- 15 December 1974: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale
- 16 December 1974: Spectrum, Philadelphia
- 17 December 1974: Spectrum, Philadelphia
- 19 December 1974: Madison Square Garden, New York City
- 20 December 1974: Madison Square Garden, New York City
Also on this day...
- 2018: Paul McCartney live: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna
- 2017: Paul McCartney live: AAMI Park, Melbourne
- 1991: George Harrison live: Sun Plaza, Hiroshima
- 1971: US album release: Wild Life by Wings
- 1969: George Harrison live: Empire Theatre, Liverpool with Delaney & Bonnie
- 1969: Television: Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers on Frost On Saturday
- 1969: Television: 24 Hours: The World Of John And Yoko – day five
- 1966: Recording: Christmas radio messages, When I’m Sixty-Four
- 1965: US album release: Rubber Soul
- 1965: UK EP release: The Beatles’ Million Sellers
- 1965: US single release: We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper
- 1962: The Beatles live: Club Django, Queen’s Hotel, Southport
- 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.