There was a story on Pitchfork last week about Harry Nilsson showing up at Caesar's Palace for Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band performance. Nilsson famously did not perform live, and by 1992, his health had really deteriorated. You can read about the night here.
This is the audio from that night, where Harry Nilsson for the first time in years, and what would be the very last time, performs "Without You" live. The sound quality is a B+, and Harry needs a little help from All- Starr band member Todd Rundgren on those legendary high notes. But if you've been a fan of Harry Nilsson's music, you might find this both charming and incredibly moving, as I did.
Harry Nilsson passed away a little over a year later.
8 comments:
Love Harry although he did live a bit longer than four months after this performance. And another shout out to the guys from Badfinger for writing it. I remember seeing Mariah Carey on some TV show once thanking Harry for writing the song - even she didn't seem to know who wrote one of her most famous songs. Crazy.
SJM,
My mistake. It's actually fourteen months. Thanks for the clarification.
Was it the only performance of the song?
Setlist fm has 5 performances listed (mind boggling in itself) and Without You features in a couple of them.
This was surprisingly great. From the intro, I expected it to be a semi-train-wreck, but it wasn't.
Nilsson's BBC recordings are also amazing. It is a shame we didn't get a chance to see a tour.
What a talent.
Thanks for posting.
Randy
that was quite amazing...Harry, RIP.
Wow, gave me goosebumps! Great post Sal!
I passed him at a Beatle convention in the early 90's going into an elevator armed with drinks in both hands. I nervously said hi Harry, and he nodded to me. A brush with greatness.
Post a Comment