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DVD: Concert For George
WEA Home Video
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
"A year to the day."
These are the words we see on the screen as fans take their seats at London's Royal Albert Hall. The meaning is that it was a year to the day since the passing of George Harrison. It was a perfect time for all his friends and his family to come together, not to make endless speeches or to grieve but to celebrate his music and the kind spirit that had brought them all together so often in the first place. The house was packed, both in the audience and backstage, and the cameras were rolling. The results are here in a 2 DVD set simply titled Concert For George.
The two discs are titled "The Full Concert" and "The Theatrical Release." There actually was a brief release to theaters, and what you may have seen there was a documentary on how this concert was put together. It includes quite a bit of the concert, but it's interspersed with commentary from Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Joe Brown, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, the boys from Monty Python, Ravi Shankar and others, including George's 25 year old son, Dhani, who looks for all the world like Hamburgh-era George without the leathers. It's really quite eerie at times. This disc also contains four short featurettes. The first is a loose documentary of Ravi Shankar's orchestra preparing his original composition, which opens the show. You may have heard the stories of Lennon and McCartney, who couldn't write musical notation, singing their melodies to those who could (including George Martin) so they could get it all down on sheet music. A melody like "Please Please Me" is great but it doesn't threaten to blacken the page with 16th notes. Wait'll you see Shankar doing the same thing, singing impossibly complex instrumental melodies for some very bright guy who seems able to get it right on the first try. Amazing. There are also films about getting together the musicians who would be on stage for most of the night and practicing and jamming. Another film shows the Monty Python troupe, minus John Cleese, getting together, practicing their bits and clearly enjoying being in each other's company. This is great fun to watch. The disc ends with a reel of random interviews with key players in the show, including Dhani.
The documentary is fun and interesting, but it absolutely belongs in disc tray number two, because the real feature here is the concert itself. It begins when Olivia Harrison walks on stage to light candles. Eric Clapton speaks briefly and very informally about the evening ahead, then it's showtime. Ravi Shankar's beautiful daughter, Anoushka, leads a very large orchestra in over thirty minutes of Indian music written by Ravi for the occasion. I found this performance stunning and exciting, as I'm certain many will, but I'm equally certain many will skip ahead to the more familiar drums/guitar/bass-style rock and roll that follows. Too bad for them. They're missing brilliant music and a few standout performances that really are unforgettable.
Talk about contrast... This orchestra leaves the stage and who should come on but Monty Python, there to perform two of George's favorite classic skits. Michael Palin's mock tribute-speak is exactly the kind of talk - in fact the ONLY kind of tribute talk - George would have signed off on, had he known such a show would take place. All the performers seem to know this very well and they leave it out, letting George's music create good vibes and letting the good vibes be the tribute. British rock veteran Joe Brown, little known in America, is outstanding on "Here Comes The Sun." Makes you wonder why we didn't know about him all along. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers put their own unmistakable stamp on "Taxman" and "I Need You," and the guys stick around to help Jeff Lynne recreate the Traveling Wilburys classic, "Handle With Care." Before long it's a game of "Look up there! Isn't that..." for the lucky audience. Isn't that Gary Brooker (Procol Harum) on piano?! And Billy Preston's on the Hammond! Noooot sure who that guy on guitar is... This is why we buy programs. Hey, Andy Fairweather-Low! You can't miss Ringo, can you! And that can't be Paul Shaeffer playing percussion so well up there, so it's GOTTA be Ray Cooper! And... who's the bloke with the ukulele? Hmm, program says it's some guy named McCartney. Hell, everybody was up there, or at least just about everybody who was big in George's life.
In this two and a half hour feel-good fest, there was one moment that took the air right out of me. Paul McCartney was at the microphone, Ringo Starr was in the shot, behind Paul playing drums. For just an instant, Dhani Harrison stepped into the frame, between the two, strumming his acoustic guitar, turning his head to the right and looking down at the ground just behind him in a way George often did, and in that frozen instant a flood of images and thoughts may collide in the mind of the viewer, as they did in mine. Man, he looks just like his dad, I thought. Whoa, Paul, young George, and Ringo, all lined up, I thought. George is really gone, I realized. All in that one quick moment. I suspect it may bring tears to a lot of eyes. On the whole, however, The Concert For George is just going to make you feel good and let you celebrate the special life of a unique person we were all lucky to have in our own lives.
© 2004 - DJ Johnson