George Harrison Marker at the VFW Hall, Eldorado, Illinois

Outside the VFW Hall on Veterans Drive in Eldorado, Illinois, a 2021 state historical marker records George Harrison's first public performance in America. On 28 September 1963, while visiting his sister in nearby Benton, he joined the local band the Four Vests on stage. The Saline County Tourism Board and Illinois State Historical Society put it up.

A night out at the end of a holiday

In September 1963 the Beatles were famous in Britain but unknown in the United States. George Harrison spent his break with his brother Peter at their sister Louise's house in Benton, Illinois. On 28 September, two days before the brothers flew home, Louise took George to hear the Four Vests at VFW Post 3479 in Eldorado, about 30 miles southeast of Benton. Earlier that day he had stopped at Edwards' Men's Clothing in town to buy a tie.

The Four Vests were a rockabilly group fronted by the bass player Gerald "Gabe" McCarty. They already knew George, having jammed with him in Louise's living room. After their first set they asked him up, introducing him as "The Elvis of England". He borrowed the regular lead guitarist's instrument and played American songs, among them Johnny B. Goode, Your Cheatin' Heart and Teddy Bear. The marker puts the audience at 75 to 100 people.

How people remembered it

Memories of the evening split. Louise later described a wild night, with people stomping and banging on tables. Others who were there told Smithsonian Magazine it was a pleasant evening and nothing more. One listener advised McCarty to sign up the new guitarist. When the Beatles played White Sox Park in Chicago in 1965, Harrison invited McCarty to see him, though by McCarty's account things were never the same.

The 2021 marker

The Saline County Tourism Board and the Illinois State Historical Society erected the marker in 2021 on Veterans Drive, south of Crockett Street. Its title calls the evening the start of the British Invasion and the first time a Beatle played in America. By 2020 the hall's old dance floor was being used for storage.

The rest of Harrison's stay is covered at the First Beatle in America marker in Benton, 30 miles away. The band's first American concert together followed on 11 February 1964 at the Washington Coliseum.