Concert for George

This is a concert, not in the traditional sense and what comes out of it far exceeds the output of your standard "concert". This is a group of close friends holding a delayed wake for a dearly loved lost friend, not a stop on some tour. The songs are familiar, yet new. The mixture of emotion that comes with the concert does soften the sound of the music a bit, but does not dampen the spirit of the concert. Who'd a' thought that someone could pick up a Ukuele and produce a beautiful rendition of I'll See You in My Dreams as did Joe Brown? If on some other far away plain, George Harrison was watching I'd bet he was pleased! It would be difficult to produce a better tribute to George Harrison than was this Concert!

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 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.

The Concert For George feels like an update to The Concert For Bangla Desh. The two could be watched back-to-back for interesting evening of rock. Unlike many tribute concerts where they get anyone who happens to be on the charts at the time to come and do a song (ie. John Lennon and Bob Dylan), The Concert For George is limited almost exclusively to George's friends and colleagues, most of whom have been putting out great records since the sixties. Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne and Dhani Harrison lead the assembled band through Harrison's best known songs and they are joined by Billy Preston, Tom Petty, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney & Ravi Shankar (who wrote a beautiful indian piece for George). Even the gang from Monty Python, George's favorite comedy troupe, turn up to do a couple of sketches. The performances are mostly good and there are a few magical moments (The long coda to "Isn't It A Pity", Clapton's solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", McCartney's rendition of "All Things Must Pass" and the moment when McCartney's ukelele rendition of "Something" suddenly turns into a full band rendition). Every flower petal in England falls from the ceiling during the finale. It's also a little strange seeing Dhani Harrison on stage, as he resembles his father greatly.

My only complaint is that they sometimes interrupted a good song (like "Handle With Care") to go to an interview. All in all, great for George's fans or fans of good music in general.

I just saw this last night after seeing two great concerts ( R.E.M. and Bruce Springsteen )and still after being "concerted -out" I feel that this is one of the best concert movies I've ever seen! It's right up there with "Last Waltz." I just wonder if any one else will see it? Eric Clapton was the music director and all of Georges friends were there including the surviving Beatles and some of the members of Monty Python ( plus Tom Hanks !?! ). Also Georges son Dhoni and his wife Olivia host the event. The whole thing looks and sounds great! The fact that it takes place at the Royal Albert Hall is lovely in itself. Paul and Ringo do their thing well, but it is Eric Clapton and Billy Preston that really stand out ( musically ). But ultimately the spirit of George Harrison is what it's really all about and the movie pays tribute to him in a very special way. I really do hope that this movie finds an audience because it is in a word, wonderful!