Live in Japan (1992)
Disc One
1. I Want to Tell You
2. Old Brown Shoe
3. Taxman
4. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)
5. If I Needed Someone
6. Something
7. What is Life
8. Dark Horse
9. Piggies
10.Got My Mind Set On You
Disc Two
1. Cloud Nine
2. Here Comes the Sun
3. My Sweet Lord
4. All Those Years Ago
5. Cheer Down
6. Devil's Radio
7. Isn't it a Pity
8. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
9. Roll Over Beethoven
George Harrison was never a natural showman. Unlike McCartney, whose post-Beatles stagecraft blossomed into arena-sized comfort, or Lennon, whose ambivalence toward live performance curdled into outright avoidance, Harrison’s relationship with touring remained wary and tentative. By his own admission, he preferred gardens to green rooms. So when he did finally return to the stage—briefly, and only in Japan, in 1991—it felt like a rare alignment of circumstance and sentiment.
Live in Japan captures that brief reemergence. It is, predictably, a carefully curated affair: tight setlist, seasoned musicians, tasteful arrangements. The band is excellent—anchored by Eric Clapton, whose presence lends both credibility and chemistry—and the song selection ticks every expected box: an even split between Beatles staples and solo highlights, performed with a reverence that borders on restraint.
Harrison, true to form, does not dominate the stage so much as blend into it. His vocals—never his strongest feature—are noticeably thin and at times ragged, but there’s an earnestness to his delivery that forgives much of the technical frailty. Age, disuse, or both had taken their toll, but not to the point of distraction. He sounds like what he was: a reluctant performer doing justice to his legacy, not reinventing it.
The Beatles material translates well. Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and Here Comes the Sun are played with warmth and familiarity, and Clapton’s contributions—particularly on the latter two—are tasteful without stealing focus. The solo material is more uneven but well chosen: All Those Years Ago, My Sweet Lord, and Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) are delivered with clarity and conviction, even if the arrangements rarely stray far from their studio counterparts.
If the album has a flaw, it is one of polish. There are no surprises here—no reinterpretations, no extended jams, no radical reimaginings. Everything is played cleanly, professionally, and a touch too cautiously. It is the sound of Harrison honoring the past rather than challenging it. But then, that may have been the point. This was never intended as a grand return to form; it was a brief window, a glance backward from a man who had mostly made peace with his legacy.
Live in Japan is not a revelatory live album, but it is a satisfying one—an understated capstone to a stage career that never truly flourished, but which, when revisited, had the grace to end on Harrison’s own terms.
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