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The Main Characters
--This is all about George Harrison. Sure, there are a ton of musicians here, but George is front and center.
The Setting
London’s Royal Albert Hall housed the concert on November 29th, 2002, a year after George passed on.
The Concert (2:26:30)
The concert was featured on disc one, while the theatrical release (which is below) was on disc two. There are a few main sections of the concert. The concert started with an Indian musical section (like the Concert for Bangla Desh) with Olivia Harrison lighting a candle for her husband. There is a chant performed while this occured, called “Sarve Shaam.” Eric Clapton then introduces the first musicians, Ravi Shankar (who wrote the pieces performed) and Anoushka Shankar, Ravi’s daughter, who performed them. Anoushka and some backing musicans perform “Your Eyes” which is just a beautiful sounding song. Anoushka is every bit the sitar player her father was. Jeff Lynne (of ELO and the Wilbury’s fame) shows up and performs, “The Inner Light” with the Indian performers. It is changed just a bit in the timing of the lyrics but to hear it with the sitar and the Indian musicians is just a treat. The Eastern portion of the concert ends with Anoushka conducting all the Indian musicians in an Arpan, which was written by Ravi in tribue of George. It is just a hypnotic song with great instrumentation and vocals. It is long (22 minutes) but manages to never get boring, or disinteresting. Eric Clapton joins in on guitar at the end of the song. With that, we head to intermission.
After the intermission we are treated to some comedy relief with George’s beloved Monty Python. George loved these guys. Sit On My Face is performed by four men who have no pants on, and then The Lumberjack Song (with Tom Hanks as one of the Mounties). It definitely will put a smile on your face. The band then takes the stage with Jeff Lynne handling vocals on I Want To Tell You (from 1966’s Revolver) and Eric performing If I Needed (a 12-string classic from 1965’s Rubber Soul). Gary Brooker sings Old Brown Shoe, a rocking number released as the B-side to Ballad of John and Yoko in 1969. Jeff again handles vocal duties on Give Me Love, a nice acoustic number from 1973’s Living In The Material World. I always loved this song and its nice melody, acoustic sound and message. The band does a nice job of it.
Eric sings Beware of Darkness from George’s 1971 All Things Must Pass opus and it is an appropriate song considering they are paying tribute to a dear, lost friend. It is amazing how many of George’s songs were so deep in meaning and how spiritual and reassuring they were. Joe Brown joins the stage and performs two songs, Here Comes The Sun from 1969’s Abbey Road and That’s The Way It Goes from 1982’s Gone Troppo. Joe is a former skiffle bandleader that played shows with the Beatles back in the early 60’s. He plays the acoustic for the first tune, then mandolin for a really nice rendition of the later. Finally, Sam Brown (vocals), Jools Holland (piano) and Jim Capaldi (drums) join for a stirring rendition of Horse to the Water, a song Harrison recorded months before he died on Holland’s album, released in 2002. It was my first time hearing the song and it was quite energetic, and I loved Brown’s singing.
The third main section of the show began when Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers took the stage for a mini-concert. They got a nice ovation from the crowd (though not as loud as I thought it would be) and Petty seemed a bit nervous when he first walked out. So they did Taxman, also from Revolver and an early Harrison number from 1965’s Help called, I Need You. In a real nice surprise, they bring out Dhani Harrison and Jeff Lynne for some Wilbury action. They do a spirited rendition of Handle With Care, released in 1988 and included on the first Wilbury’s record, Volume 1. Petty would also do this song when he toured, in 2006.
So the main band comes back on stage, with Dhani playing guitar as he has been and begin with Eric starting off Isn’t It A Pity from All Things Must Pass. He hands the vocal duties over to Billy Preston (the fifth Beatle on the Let It Be album/film and dancing fool in Concert for Bangla Desh, just kidding Billy). Billy is just an awesome keyboardist and has a great soulful voice. The stars really start coming out when Ringo Starr is introduced. Ringo does great renditions of Photograph, which he and George co-wrote together for Ringo’s eponymous 1973 album. Ringo then does Honey Don’t, a Carl Perkins tune that he sang on 1964’s Beatles for Sale. George was a huge Perkins fan and even changed his last name in the early days of Long John and the Silver Beatles to Perkins. Ringo does just a great job and you can tell he is moved by this tribute to his friend.
Ringo is perhaps the only one who can do the next introduction, introducing his friend, and fellow Beatle, Paul McCartney. Paul performs For You Blue from Let It Be with the band and then Something (from 1969’s Abbey Road) on the ukelele, which then gives way to a full band version. The guests are now complete and the show heads towards its inevitable conclusion. Paul handles vocals on All Things Must Pass, off the album of the same name, followed by Eric doing While My Guitar Gently Weeps, (from 1968’s The Beatles, better known as the White Album). We end with two songs from All Things Must Pass. Billy handles My Sweet Lord, and Lynne leads a rocking version of Wah Wah, with almost everyone on stage from the show playing and singing back-ups. The last four songs were just awesome to hear. Dhani thanks the people who attended then introduces Dan Brown who returns to sing an old standard called, I’ll See You In My Dreams, which he performs on the uke.
It is just a beautiful concert, with the band hitting on all levels to create a majestical tapestry of sound for a beloved friend. It is amazing to see Dhani on stage playing guitar, he looks almost exactly like George did, it is uncanny. Paul even mentions something Olivia said to him, that with Dhani on stage it looks like George stayed young and everyone else got old. The artists on stage all realized this concert wasn’t about them, but about George, and they made sure to not try and show anyone up. One of the best tribute concerts I have seen, and it trumps the Bangla Desh concert at least in terms of musicianmanship. The concert gets the highest recommendation.
The Theatrical Release (1:40:06)
The film is really a highlight reel of sorts, interspersed with some backstage material, rehearsals and interviews. Besides the introduction by Clapton and the final songs with Joe Brown, this is all shown out of order. Almost none of the songs are featured in their entirety, and Arpan was cut from a 22-minute song to under 5 minutes. The movie jumps around between songs, going from songs that included Ringo, to songs performed before he took the stage, to Paul being on stage. It can be a bit jarring with the disappearing musicians. While the music can be seen in the concert, or heard on the soundtrack, the movie’s real charm are the interviews with people like Clapton, Lynne, Dhani, the backstage stuff with the Monty Pythons, Ravi and Anoushka talking about the Indian music, and even some rehearsals. A bunch of songs are cut out for time reasons but it doesn’t really affect the film. The film is what it is, a musical highlight of the concert, with great input from those involved in its happening. I especially love Eric’s comment near the end about George saying that he really didn’t need a concert. It’s an insight from a true friend, and that’s what this movie celebrates, the friends of George playing their hearts out to their fallen friend. I don’t suggest the movie for the songs, you get the complete ones on disc one, watch this for the little interviews included.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc Two---
1) Ravi’s Orchestra Mini-Feature (11:00)
Ravi practices with the Indian musicians for the Arpan. The rehearsal was very intense according to the xylophonist, especially since most of the Indian musicians do not read music. Ravi himself says he doesn’t compose music, he improvises by nature. They note that the Indian musicians learn by rote, and not by reading music. It was interesting to see the Indian musicians working with the orchestra. There’s a real touching part when Dhani comes in and says to the camera, “you know who would’ve loved this, dad.”
2) Monty Python Mini-Feature (12:09)
It’s interesting that Monty gets the longest featurette on the DVD. George was behind the Pythons all along, even writing the BBC after their first show. Terry Gilliam jokes about showing the heights and depths of George’s tastes, going from sweet Indian music to Sit On My Face. They show the Monty’s rehearsing, having fun before they go out, and Tom Hanks hanging out backstage.
3) George’s Band Mini-Feature (7:13)
This starts with the band rehearsing Handle Me With Care and Taxman, even though Tom Petty wasn’t there. They keep rehearsing and Dhani talks about how he thought he was only going to do like 2 songs and sit and enjoy the concert but Eric told him he can’t keep walking off the stage so he did all the songs. Mostly just rehearsal footage, which is cool.
4) Interviews (9:54)
Ringo talks about being friends with George dating back to Hamburg. Ravi talks about meeting George and feeling bad about not hearing about them, despite their popularity. Many of the others in the concert speak about George (Joe Brown, the Monty’s, Jeff Lynne, and others) and this is one I wish was longer.
B) Audio/Video
Interestingly enough, no detailed descriptions of audio or sound are given. The concert is in widescreen, and audio which is Dolby Digital. It looks and sounds great, and that is really all that matters.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
This is actually an attractive package. There is a nice thick slipcase where the fold-open DVD is stored. There is a sleeve for the liner notes, and the two sleeves for the DVDs. The liner notes include a track by track listing on both discs, a nice two-page essay, some photos of George as well as stills from the concert with quotes from the notables involved. Finally, the last few pages chronicle all those who were involved in the concert, as well as who sang the songs. It was a really nice job of packaging and liner notes.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
This was a very fun DVD-set. I really enjoyed the concert as its mood just emotes through the screen. The concert was just a beautiful experience. The movie was just a clip show and the extras were usually short, though still good. Objectively, it is a must for any Beatle fan. I think people who don’t get George’s music will not like this, but Harrison fans must pick this up, it is a celebration of his life through music with his closest friends and watching this and having the collection makes you feel like one of George’s close friends as well.
Overall Rating
10.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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