46 years ago today (12/2/69), Beatle George Harrison joined husband and wife act Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, who also had Eric Clapton at the time in their band, on stage in Bristol, England for his first stage appearance since The Beatles’ final concert on 8/29/66. Harrison was there for five of the tour’s six dates, playing two shows each night. He appeared in Bristol,Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool and Croydon. He didn’t perform at the Newcastle shows on 5 December, instead briefly leaving the tour to visit his unwell mother.
Harrison had met the pair in Los Angeles in 1968. Delaney & Bonnie had recorded an album with a host of other musicians including Leon Russell, Bobby Keys, Jim Price, Bobby Whitlock and Rita Coolidge called The Original Delaney & Bonnie – Accept No Substitute. Impressed, Harrison tried to release the album on Apple early in 1969, but the deal fell through. Watch Harrison perform “Poor Elijah” from that tour.
