Despite drawing massive crowds, the Beatles stopped live shows at the height of their fame in the late 1960s.
This came as somewhat of a relief to George Harrison, who had developed a massive fear of being "shot dead". This fear partly stemmed from backlash the band faced after John Lennon infamously quipped that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus".
Harrison had been known as the "quiet Beatle" due to being less outspoken in public and to the press than Paul McCartney or John Lennon. According to The Express, Lennon's "Bigger than Jesus" claim was the beginning of Harrison's fears.
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David Acomba, who filmed George's 1974 solo tour, said: "Harrison was constantly worried about being shot".
He noted that after Lennon's comments about Jesus, the band's records were banned and publicly burned to protest the group. Harrison famously responded to these protests by quipping: "They’ve got to buy them before they can burn them," but inside, he was sick with worry.
One particularly frightful night occurred when The Beatles were due to play the LA Dodgers Stadium on August 28, 1966. The crowd broke through police lines and "tried to rush the field" and get on stage.
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Harrison was exceptionally worried. He screamed at his security: "What's happening!?" Nobody responded. The following day, the band played their last-ever live show, Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
After that, Harrison got on the band's plane and made an announcement. It is claimed Harrison told the rest of the Fab Four: "Well, that’s it, I’m not a Beatle anymore."
He was almost certainly serious about leaving the group, but he didn't actually leave the band for another few years. He finally walked out while they were recording their final album, Let It Be. During that legendary moment, he stormed off from the recording stage while saying: "I'll see you at the clubs."
His exit was not a massive surprise, considering Harrison's wife confessed he was supremely miserable at that time. Patti Boyd said: "The Beatles made him unhappy, with the constant arguments.
"They were vicious to each other. That was really upsetting, and even more so for him because he had this new spiritual avenue."
She added that he was treated like the "little brother" of the band. "He was pushed into the background," she went on. "He would come home from recording and be full of anger. It was a very bad state that he was in.”
George Harrison died on November 21, 2001, aged 58, at a friend's home ins Los Angeles after battling cancer.
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