I'm a huge Beatles fan and also of George Harrison's solo career so this tribute concert film was a must for me. I've just watched it in its entirety for about the third time and it was, again, a pleasure from start to finish. Hats off in particular to Eric Clapton for putting the whole show together and then playing such a stellar hand in compering the show with love and sympathy despite not being, as he makes clear at the start, a public speaker.
The show is very well put together, commencing with extended pieces by members of the Shankar family with whom George had such strong ties. Even though I'm not familiar with pure Indian music per se I fully respected the reasons for the inclusion of pieces by father and daughter Ravi and Anoushka Shankar to start the show, given George's love for it. Indeed it reminded me of George himself showcasing Ravi Shankar as the first act on the bill of his own Concert For Bangladesh which he did at Ravi's request almost exactly 30 years earlier, moreover, it made me think that maybe in Clapton's mind were thoughts of an old debt repaid to his now deceased friend who had invited him to play at that high-profile show when Eric himself was in recluse fighting a crippling cocaine habit. It was also nice to see a little cross-cultural collaboration on these pieces with Clapton assisting on acoustic guitar with Ravi Shankar's raga and Jeff Lynne singing Harrison's lovely Beatles B-side "The Inner Light" to authentic Indian instrumentation.
There's then a brief comedic interlude which signposts Harrison's work as a film producer with a couple of Monty Python's Greatest Hits, with many of whom George was friends and whose "The Life Of Brian" film he famously financed when they ran out of money, because, as he put it himself, he just wanted to see it made. The Pythons have been termed the Beatles of the comedy world given their own trailblazing work, individual brilliance and worldwide appeal. Interesting to see John Cleese pull a Dylan-like non-appearance but Tom Hanks made for a good substitute.
The rock section of the concert is absolutely wonderful and really makes me wish I'd been there on the night. Clapton put together such a fine backing band many from his own touring time, supplemented by musicians and friends who've all played with George at some point in his career, like Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Billy Preston, Gary Brooker, Jim Keltner, Joe Brown, Ray Cooper and many more, plus it was entirely appropriate that George's near look-a-like son Dhani was on stage throughout too. Oh and a couple of members from his old 60's band wander on stage for a few numbers too. In fact the only noticeable absentee was Bob Dylan which didn't reflect well on him especially considering the boosts Harrison gave to Dylan's own career when it was ailing at the time again of the Bangladesh concert and when he invited him into the Travelling Wilburys. Moreover I can recall Harrison dutifully turning up for the 30th Anniversary BobFest concert in the 90's so old Zimmy had no excuse whatsoever.
Back to the music itself and I have to say it was great to hear Clapton take so many vocals, both on backing and especially on lead. He's in great voice and of course you know there'll be no problem for him acing those wonderful solos of George's down the years, one or two of which he played in the first place of course. The song selection is excellent; I might have wished for personal favourites "What Is Life", "Long Long Long", "Blow Away", "Heading For The Light" and "Got My Mind Set On You" to be played too but you can't please everyone.
There are still many, many other highlights, I especially liked Gary Brooker's gallop through "Old Brown Shoe", Clapton's stately take on "Beware of Darkness" and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' revival of "Help!" nugget "I Need You" plus of course Paul's unexpected versions of "For You Blue" and "All Things Must Pass", the great song he and his fellow band-mates nixed from the one Beatles album that was short on great songs, namely "Let It Be". There was more besides, like Clapton and Billy Preston's superb version of "Isn't It A Pity", McCartney's coy intro to "Something" and the full band rocking out on "Wah-Wah" as the set closer, with the delightful aperitif of Joe Brown's "I'll See You In My Dreams" over the end titles.
The sound is pristine especially for such a big group on stage while the camera work was great throughout with the multiple set ups capturing every musician on stage at some point. My favourite little in-moment was when they caught Paul making eye-contact with Ringo for George's ad-lib "And that's the 12-bar blues" from "For You Blue".
The biggest sadness naturally is that George himself was there only in spirit but I'm sure he'd have been chuffed to be so well-remembered and respected by his fellow friends and musicians.
I've seen many a rock concert in my day but this one is definitely up there with the Beatles last appearance on the Apple Building roof as the one I wish I could have somehow attended, it's that good.
The show is very well put together, commencing with extended pieces by members of the Shankar family with whom George had such strong ties. Even though I'm not familiar with pure Indian music per se I fully respected the reasons for the inclusion of pieces by father and daughter Ravi and Anoushka Shankar to start the show, given George's love for it. Indeed it reminded me of George himself showcasing Ravi Shankar as the first act on the bill of his own Concert For Bangladesh which he did at Ravi's request almost exactly 30 years earlier, moreover, it made me think that maybe in Clapton's mind were thoughts of an old debt repaid to his now deceased friend who had invited him to play at that high-profile show when Eric himself was in recluse fighting a crippling cocaine habit. It was also nice to see a little cross-cultural collaboration on these pieces with Clapton assisting on acoustic guitar with Ravi Shankar's raga and Jeff Lynne singing Harrison's lovely Beatles B-side "The Inner Light" to authentic Indian instrumentation.
There's then a brief comedic interlude which signposts Harrison's work as a film producer with a couple of Monty Python's Greatest Hits, with many of whom George was friends and whose "The Life Of Brian" film he famously financed when they ran out of money, because, as he put it himself, he just wanted to see it made. The Pythons have been termed the Beatles of the comedy world given their own trailblazing work, individual brilliance and worldwide appeal. Interesting to see John Cleese pull a Dylan-like non-appearance but Tom Hanks made for a good substitute.
The rock section of the concert is absolutely wonderful and really makes me wish I'd been there on the night. Clapton put together such a fine backing band many from his own touring time, supplemented by musicians and friends who've all played with George at some point in his career, like Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Billy Preston, Gary Brooker, Jim Keltner, Joe Brown, Ray Cooper and many more, plus it was entirely appropriate that George's near look-a-like son Dhani was on stage throughout too. Oh and a couple of members from his old 60's band wander on stage for a few numbers too. In fact the only noticeable absentee was Bob Dylan which didn't reflect well on him especially considering the boosts Harrison gave to Dylan's own career when it was ailing at the time again of the Bangladesh concert and when he invited him into the Travelling Wilburys. Moreover I can recall Harrison dutifully turning up for the 30th Anniversary BobFest concert in the 90's so old Zimmy had no excuse whatsoever.
Back to the music itself and I have to say it was great to hear Clapton take so many vocals, both on backing and especially on lead. He's in great voice and of course you know there'll be no problem for him acing those wonderful solos of George's down the years, one or two of which he played in the first place of course. The song selection is excellent; I might have wished for personal favourites "What Is Life", "Long Long Long", "Blow Away", "Heading For The Light" and "Got My Mind Set On You" to be played too but you can't please everyone.
There are still many, many other highlights, I especially liked Gary Brooker's gallop through "Old Brown Shoe", Clapton's stately take on "Beware of Darkness" and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' revival of "Help!" nugget "I Need You" plus of course Paul's unexpected versions of "For You Blue" and "All Things Must Pass", the great song he and his fellow band-mates nixed from the one Beatles album that was short on great songs, namely "Let It Be". There was more besides, like Clapton and Billy Preston's superb version of "Isn't It A Pity", McCartney's coy intro to "Something" and the full band rocking out on "Wah-Wah" as the set closer, with the delightful aperitif of Joe Brown's "I'll See You In My Dreams" over the end titles.
The sound is pristine especially for such a big group on stage while the camera work was great throughout with the multiple set ups capturing every musician on stage at some point. My favourite little in-moment was when they caught Paul making eye-contact with Ringo for George's ad-lib "And that's the 12-bar blues" from "For You Blue".
The biggest sadness naturally is that George himself was there only in spirit but I'm sure he'd have been chuffed to be so well-remembered and respected by his fellow friends and musicians.
I've seen many a rock concert in my day but this one is definitely up there with the Beatles last appearance on the Apple Building roof as the one I wish I could have somehow attended, it's that good.