Back in December 1984, George Harrison jammed with Deep Purple in Sydney, Australia.
And although this seems an unusal and incredibly random occurrence, remember that Harrison was a friend—and neighbor—of Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice and keyboardist Jon Lord. In fact, Lord even appeared on Harrison's 1982 album, Gone Troppo.
“We were very close, I adored him,” Lord once said of Harrison to Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman. “He was one of the most delightful of men.”
As the clip opens, Harrison is being introduced to the audience, announcing that he is “Arnold, from Liverpool.” (Note: Harrison was raised on a street called Arnold Grove in Liverpool, England.) From there, the group launches into a very loose jam of “Lucille,” which the Beatles performed regularly in their early stage shows and on the BBC.
This version of Deep Purple—which happens to be the band's recently reunited classic early Seventies lineup—were enjoying commerical and critical success with their 1984 comeback album, Perfect Strangers. The band is Lord, Paice, Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover.
We're not exactly sure why Harrison was in Australia at the time, but he did own property there. Maybe he just wanted to catch up with some old friends.
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
