George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison made up the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys. They released two albums in their time together but never went on tour. This was not for a lack of trying on Harrison’s part. According to Lynne, Harrison was the driving force behind the group, including the push to tour. Lynne shared Harrison’s off-the-wall ideas for how the band should put together a tour.
Jeff Lynne said George Harrison pushed for a Traveling Wilburys tour
The Traveling Wilburys were highly successful as a group, but they never played any concerts. Petty said that they often discussed the tour, but they were never able to make it work. This didn’t stop Harrison from pitching ideas about it.
“We never played any concerts, though George had some whack ideas about how we’d do this tour,” Lynne told Rolling Stone. “His first idea was that we’d rent an aircraft carrier and then we’d just fly to different ports and let everyone climb onto the aircraft carrier and have a listen to us. The next idea was we’d do it on a train. We’d pull into a station and drop a stage and play for the people that came to see us at the station.”
Ultimately, each member’s schedule outside of the group made it too difficult for them to commit to a tour.
“But we never got around to either of them,” Lynne said. “Everyone else had their own tours.”
Jeff Lynne explained that George Harrison was the driving force behind the band
Beyond pushing for a tour, Harrison was a driving force behind much of what the band did. He was the one who wanted them to work together, and so they became a band.
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“When you hang out with George Harrison, you can do whatever you like,” Lynne said. “On the strength of that, that’s how the Traveling Wilburys came to me.”
Harrison pitched the idea to Lynne, and things quickly came together from there.
“One night while we were recording he said, ‘We should form a group,’” Lynne recalled. “I said, ‘Who should we have in it?’ He said, ‘Bob Dylan.’ I’m going, ‘Bloody hell.’ I never expected that answer. And then I said, ‘Can we have Roy Orbison?’ He said, ‘Great, I love Roy.’ And we both loved Tom. Everyone we asked joined immediately, so that was a great thing.”
They should have toured
The group only made two albums, but they should have made time for a tour, or at least a concert or two. They all genuinely enjoyed working together, and their collaboration offered them more freedom than their regular careers. It was rare for musicians of that caliber to team up, and they did so successfully. A concert would have given them a chance to showcase their talents.
Beyond that, though, Petty said he had regrets about never taking the act on the road. Each of the musicians was busy, and they all worked under the assumption that they would have more time together than they did. The group clearly meant a lot to each of its members, and they would have taken joy from getting on stage together.
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