On December 10, 1969, George Harrison and Eric Clapton stepped off a plane at Copenhagen Airport wearing heavy coats and dark glasses. Jan Persson’s photograph made them look every inch like international rock stars.
That evening, neither man would lead the show.
At the Falkoner Theatre, Harrison and Clapton stood among the musicians backing Delaney & Bonnie. The group also included singers, keyboards, horns and a rhythm section powerful enough to make two of Britain’s most famous guitarists appear almost anonymous. The performance was recorded for Danish television, and Harrison remained for three consecutive Copenhagen concerts.
For Harrison, that anonymity was not a demotion. It was freedom.
George Could Play Without Defending His Place
Harrison was still officially a member of The Beatles, but by late 1969, working inside the group had become increasingly difficult. His songs competed for limited space, while John Lennon and Paul McCartney remained the dominant writers and decision-makers.
With Delaney & Bonnie, none of that mattered.
George did not need to present a new composition, argue over an arrangement or prove that he deserved equal attention. He could simply stand inside a large ensemble and play guitar in service of someone else’s songs.
That distinction explains why the Copenhagen trip mattered. Harrison was not trying to replace The Beatles with another group. He was briefly testing what music felt like without the internal hierarchy that had shaped most of his adult life.
The experiment produced a significant result. George’s official archive confirms that he began writing “My Sweet Lord” while touring with Delaney & Bonnie. The song would later become his first solo number-one single and one of the defining recordings of All Things Must Pass.
One of Harrison’s biggest songs, in other words, began while he was deliberately standing away from the centre.
Clapton Was Hiding From Stardom Too
Clapton arrived in Copenhagen for a different reason, but he was seeking a similar escape.
Cream had ended in 1968, and Blind Faith had collapsed after a single album and a troubled American tour. Clapton’s official biography states that he joined Delaney & Bonnie as a sideman partly because he wanted to hide from the fame surrounding him. Delaney Bramlett encouraged him to sing more and begin developing his own material.
Clapton did not want another supergroup built around expectations and celebrity. He was attracted to a band in which the music moved between multiple singers and instrumentalists, without requiring one person to carry the entire performance.
That decision directly influenced his next chapter. In 1970, Clapton formed Derek and the Dominos with Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon - three musicians from Delaney & Bonnie’s touring band. The same group would also support Harrison during the recording of All Things Must Pass.
Copenhagen therefore captured more than a temporary collaboration. It showed the beginnings of two post-band identities before either man had fully announced them.
Stepping Back Allowed Both Men to Move Forward
The surviving footage does not present Harrison and Clapton as competing guitar heroes. They are part of the machinery: watching the singers, responding to the rhythm section and leaving space for the horns and keyboards.
That may be the most revealing aspect of the performance.
Both men had already experienced what happened when a band became dominated by reputation, pressure and expectations. Delaney & Bonnie offered the opposite experience. The stage was crowded, leadership was shared and individual fame mattered less than the sound of the full group.
Months later, The Beatles’ breakup would become public. Clapton would release his first solo album and form Derek and the Dominos. Harrison would emerge with All Things Must Pass, proving how much music he had been carrying quietly.
But on December 10, 1969, none of that had happened yet.
The photograph at Copenhagen Airport freezes both men between identities. Harrison was still a Beatle. Clapton had not yet become a solo artist. They arrived looking like stars but spent the evening behaving like working musicians.
For both of them, stepping out of the spotlight was not an escape from ambition. It was how they discovered what to do next.