Concert for George

I first saw this concert on PBS and just had to have the DVD. This has got to be the greatest tribute show ever. Everyone did such a great job; the songs were sung by just the right people. Eric Clapton should be proud of himself. He put together a superb show. Dhani Harrison is a doll, a mini-George. Joe Brown--where has he been? What a great surprise! While My Guitar Gently Weeps was one of the highlights. Dhani was obviously moved by it and appeared to say something to that affect to EC at the end. EC then comforted Dhani as Joe sang I'll See You In My Dreams. It was all just beautiful. Thank you, Eric. Thank you all for putting this together for all George's fans.

I saw this movie with my wife, who is really the big Beatles fan. She loved the movie, and I did as well.

The tunes are so well done, you know that George himself was humming along with them in Heaven. Photography is great, and the documentary aspect of the movie really unfolds into a bigger event that makes you feel that you are as much a part of the event as the musical stars themselves.

This is really a well done movie, and one that captures the essence of a special moment. The event itself brings magic, or perhaps shows us, the magic of George's music.

If you enjoyed the Beatles, you'll love the movie. If you like great music, you'll love the movie. And if you like George Harrison, you'll just get queued up waiting for the DVD release.

Enjoy, and treat yourself to the big screen surround sound version of this gem.

I saw this delightful tribute concert to the music and life of George Harrison in the theater when it first came out. This is a good film with a great soundtrack that won a Grammy Award but it only saw a limited run in art house theaters and quickly disappeared from the big screen for DVD release. If it ever comes back around on a big screen somewhere someday see it in it's theatrical glory. Excellent camera work in this film directed by David Leland who was one of the eight directors of the award winning 10 part HBO mini series Band of Brothers and as a screenwriter wrote such films as Mona Lisa. This was filmed as a special tribute concert for George Harrison at the Royal Albert Hall in London on the first year anniversary of his death. Long time inner circle Beatle musician friends led by Eric Clapton take the stage in an evening of music from the career George Harrison. Surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are here as well as musicians who recorded with the Beatles, Billy Preston and Klaus Voorman. Ravi Shankar and his daughter do a set. Harrison's Traveling Wilbury band mates Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty are here as well as long time Harrison musician pals Gary Brooker from Procol Harum and Jim Capaldi from Traffic. Jools Holland from Squeeze and touring and recording utility ax man Albert Lee are here too. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin from Monty Python and Pyton players Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes are joined by actor Tom Hanks for a classic Python sketch song. Longtime Harrison friend and fellow ukulele affection ado Joe Brown closes out the show. George Harrison's son Dhani, looking like a young George Harrison plays guitar among the band on several numbers. There is one moment when Paul Mccartney looks at Dhani and you tell he notices the resemblance to his father from the Beatles days and he tries for a second to get his attention during the song so they can share a microphone like Paul and George would often do as Beatles but Dhani is concentrating so hard on his fingerboard that he doesn't quite get what Paul is implying and the song rolls on and the moment is lost. Jeff Lynne produced the concert audio. Eric Clapton is the musical director.

In his role as musical director it reminded me of when Eric Clapton married George Harrison's ex-wife Patti Boyd. At the wedding reception there was a stage set up with amps and instruments and Harrison asked Clapton who the band was. Clapton said, you are. Harrison laughed and said I am? Clapton just said, yeah, look around there are nothing but musicians here so I'm sure you can find enough to make a band out of. Harrison was hesitant but he went up to Paul Mccartney and told him what Clapton instructed him to do. McCartney put down his plate of food and said, lets do it. Harrison must have looked down from beyond at the Concert for George and smiled as to how Clapton was now in charge of putting together the musicians. I would give this a 9.0 out of 10.

Here is an all-star tribute to the late Beatle, George Harrison, who died of cancer a few years ago. He was a very gentle, likable guy and you know that just by the turnout of music all- stars here and the tribute these people gave to him - for his life and his music.

After the first viewing, I now skip the first 45 minutes of this long concert. It is Eastern sitar music which is okay but not enjoyable enough for me to sit through twice. The concert for most of us Westerners really begins in the second part when host Eric Clapton and the rest perform some of Hasrrison's best songs. Everyone does a good job with the material, doing George's songs proud. I had heard a few of the performances, such as Tom Petty's, were weak but I did not find fault with any performer including his.

It was fun to see Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Billy Preston, Jeff Lynne and some of the others. Joe Brown was someone I was not familiar with but he was outstanding and very likable and sang a touching finale. That ending just night bring a tear or two to your eyes.

I had the opportunity to see a little bit of my friend's copy of Concert for George a while back and I liked what I saw so I went out and bought it. I was not disappointed.

All of the songs are solid and most of them are great. The concert is divided into three sections. The first section is Indian music, the second section is Monty Python, and the third section is George Harrison's music. All three sections are worth watching but it is the third section that excels with musicians such as Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Billy Preston, and various others.

Some of my favorites are "Here Comes the Sun", "Photograph", "All Things Must Pass", "Wah Wah", and "Handle With Care". However, my absolute favorite is a toss-up between "Something" (performed brilliantly by Clapton and McCartney) and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (a song in which Clapton displays his musical ability and his vocal vulnerability).

A great, great concert.

9 out of 10