Above: George and Olivia Harrison at David Gilmour’s 50th birthday party in London, England (March 1996), Below: Photos of Andre Barreau who used to be George in the Bootleg Beatles
You were fortunate enough to meet and converse at some length with George himself ~ please can you share how this came about…
When, where, who was he with etc…
It was back in February ’96 and the Bootleg Beatles were booked to play Dave Gilmour’s (Pink Floyd) fiftieth birthday party. He’d booked the Fulham Town Hall and the place was done up like a Turkish brothel! We were there in the afternoon, soundchecking and the like, and someone showed us the guest list…and it was an unbelievable who’s who of British rock. Jagger, Kate Bush, Queen, Procul Harum. Bryan Ferry, Bob Geldof and so on…but also on it were George and Olivia Harrison.
How long did you talk for and how did he make you feel?
Well, we all looked at each other and said ‘he’ll never show up’.
So just before the gig we were getting ready to go on stage and the agent came in and marched over to me and said grimly ‘He’s here.’ And I thought to myself ‘Oh, blimey, the moment of truth has arrived!’ I have to admit that I was really nervous; I think we all were, but I guess the onus was on me more – just a little bit! Anyway, I decided not to be coy about it and definitely not to act ‘cool’ while we were performing – I said to myself do ‘George’ 100% and whatever will be will be.
Once we’d got back into civvies I said to Paul (Cooper – BB former Macca) let’s go and see if George is still out there. And there he was - chatting with Terry Doran (the man from the motor trade) and we introduced ourselves and straight away he came out with the great line, ‘Who’s the Bootleg Brian Epstein, ‘cos he’s got all the money.’ And that was it – we spoke to George on and off for an incredible four or five hours. He was so friendly and so easy to talk to – they say never meet your heroes because you’ll be disappointed but the reverse was true with George – but he was just great. I read in Patti Boyd’s autobiography some years later that the only people George ever trusted without question were musicians – maybe that had something to do with his openness with us.
Please will you share some of these wonderful moments with us
So we started talking and then George said, ‘So you’re supposed to [be] me are you? Well you’ve got my eyes,’ (no one ever believes that he said that - but it’s true!) and then he introduced me to Tim Rice, who was getting a beer and said, ‘Here he is, the new singing sensation, Bootleg George, singing all my hits from ‘Don’t Bother Me’ to the present day.’ He was very happy that I did the ‘Liverpool leg’ in my mimic! He mentioned Monty Python and Bob Dylan, just free flowing conversation. I told him that I loved the ukulele on the coda of Free As A Bird and he said ironically, ‘That wasn’t just me, that was me and Paul.’ Then George turned round and said, ‘One of you played a wrong chord on Free As A Bird,’ and he proceeded to tell us the whole chord sequence…’A Major, F sharp minor, F major seventh,’ then he left a gap and smiled as if he were telling us some long lost secret, ‘E suspended seventh!’ You could tell he really loved John’s composition. We still play it at the end of our shows as the audience is leaving - the slide playing on that number is mind blowing.
What struck you most about George during this meeting (eg was he at ease with you, did he seem happy and relaxed)
He was so relaxed with us - our ‘John’ cheekily asked if we could have a picture with him and he said, ‘Sure, when we know each other a little better.’ He said ‘You probably know the chords better than I do – I only played most of these songs once and then that was it.’ At one point he wryly commented to us that, ‘This dressing up like us – it’s all a bit silly!’
Then we left George, just so happy to have met him, thinking how fantastic he was and that that was it. About an hour or so later I was going to go and I thought I’d say goodbye to George and just say ‘thanks’ for not just going ‘hi, bye – see you later,’ so I went over to him and he was with Olivia, Patti Boyd and her partner and Terry Doran.
And then, out of the blue, he invited me into his circle, asked my name and introduced me to everyone, ‘This is the real Andre, here’s Bootleg Olivia, Bootleg Patti…we’re all living in a Bootleg world.’ It was incredible and the conversation just started up again – for about another two hours!! One piece of trivia I remember through the haze was that he said that he thought Extra Texture was ‘a bit toppy’!!
(i know his parting shot was very special already so i want to make a feature of it…) What did George say to you as he left?
It was a long, long night and at about four in the morning we were still talking away and then Olivia Harrison came over and said it was time to go and George hugged Paul (“Bootleg Paul Cooper”) and me and turned to us and said, ’Never forget - we’re just molecules and water - here for a visit…tara…’ and off they went.
Is there anything you wish you had said or done in retrospect.
We were very aware not to be Beatle bores because that would have been a right royal drag, but at one point I said to George, ‘The Beatles are our inspiration – who’s yours?’ And instead of getting the answer that I was kind of was expecting, Eddie Cochran or Carl Perkins or someone, he reeled off a list of swamis and yogis and that was mightily impressive. He said to us, ‘You’re obviously good people who love their God.’
The one musical question I wished I’d have asked him was exactly how he played the guitar solo in Something and how it was recorded to get that wonderful sound. I think I’ve sussed it now, years later, (slide with a change of tuning) but back then I couldn’t get the exact sound I wanted.
Where were you when you heard the news of his passing and how did you pay your own personal Tribute to him
The Bootleg Beatles were already on our December tour in 2001 preparing for a concert in Essex when the news came through. It was was not such a shock as it had been with John because we’d all heard that George’s health had been failing for a while, but for any who loved George the pain just was as dreadful.
I thought back to those parting words he said to us five years earlier and just reflected on that. I was in a position to share my feelings with the audience as we were on tour, so I did a solo version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps – everybody was crying every night for twenty dates. It was just so sad.
