It was 48 years ago today night (November 2nd, 1974) that George Harrison launched his "George Harrison & Friends North American Tour" becoming the first solo Beatle to tour North America. Harrison opened the tour on November 2nd, 1974 at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum. The 30-date tour was particularly grueling for Harrison, who had blown out his voice in the rush to complete his Dark Horse album, resulting in some reporters mockingly referring to the dates as the "Dark Hoarse" tour. To make matters worse, Harrison and his band were often playing two shows a day, with some dates not selling out. The show, which already had pacing problems due to Harrison's choice of material, featured guest spots by saxophonist Tom Scott and Billy Preston, as well as two long Indian music sets by sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar interspersed within the concerts, which all but wrecked any momentum the "rock" aspects of the show had gained. Although Harrison and