George Harrison died of cancer on November 29, 2001. On November 29, 2002, a concert was held in London's Royal Albert Hall in honor of his memory. This film is a record of that event.
Since the DVD version of "Concert for George" runs roughly two and a half hours, it is inevitable that the film will have a few low spots to go along with its high. Luckily, the film gets the rough patches out of the way pretty much right up front, so that Harrison's true blue fans can enjoy most of the concert in uninterrupted bliss and rapture. Admittedly, the film does not have a particularly auspicious beginning. The first 40 minutes or so, after a few words of rambling tribute from Eric Clapton, are devoted to Harrison's love of Indian music, with Ravi Shankar's daughter playing and conducting a composition written especially for the occasion (Shankar himself is in attendance and provides a few words of his own to honor his deceased protégé). As one who, admittedly, has a tin ear when it comes to sitar music in general, I must confess that I found this section to be something of an endurance contest - a reaction I may not share with vast numbers of Harrison's admirers. Fortunately, after a few lame comic routines performed by Monty Python, the real concert begins in earnest, with Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Billy Preston, Tom Petty and others coming on stage to perform a number of Harrison's most well known and well loved songs, both from his tenure as a Beatle and from the successful solo career that came afterwards. Even Harrison's own son, Danny - who is a dead ringer for his father - joins the veterans on stage, playing acoustic guitar for virtually all of the sets. The musicians do an excellent job covering Harrison's songs, with "Here Comes the Sun," "Give Me Love," "I Need You," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Something," and, of course, "My Sweet Lord" particular standouts.
As a film, "Concert for George" is relatively straightforward and traditional, providing few glimpses of backstage moments, no on-camera interviews and no subtitled identification of any of the players involved. However, the picture looks spectacular and the sound is rich, crisp and full-bodied - exactly what one needs to have in a for-the-record concert video.
And I defy anyone not to be covered in goose bumps when Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney trundle out on stage to do their thing.
As the song so aptly states, "All things must pass away "
Since the DVD version of "Concert for George" runs roughly two and a half hours, it is inevitable that the film will have a few low spots to go along with its high. Luckily, the film gets the rough patches out of the way pretty much right up front, so that Harrison's true blue fans can enjoy most of the concert in uninterrupted bliss and rapture. Admittedly, the film does not have a particularly auspicious beginning. The first 40 minutes or so, after a few words of rambling tribute from Eric Clapton, are devoted to Harrison's love of Indian music, with Ravi Shankar's daughter playing and conducting a composition written especially for the occasion (Shankar himself is in attendance and provides a few words of his own to honor his deceased protégé). As one who, admittedly, has a tin ear when it comes to sitar music in general, I must confess that I found this section to be something of an endurance contest - a reaction I may not share with vast numbers of Harrison's admirers. Fortunately, after a few lame comic routines performed by Monty Python, the real concert begins in earnest, with Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Billy Preston, Tom Petty and others coming on stage to perform a number of Harrison's most well known and well loved songs, both from his tenure as a Beatle and from the successful solo career that came afterwards. Even Harrison's own son, Danny - who is a dead ringer for his father - joins the veterans on stage, playing acoustic guitar for virtually all of the sets. The musicians do an excellent job covering Harrison's songs, with "Here Comes the Sun," "Give Me Love," "I Need You," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Something," and, of course, "My Sweet Lord" particular standouts.
As a film, "Concert for George" is relatively straightforward and traditional, providing few glimpses of backstage moments, no on-camera interviews and no subtitled identification of any of the players involved. However, the picture looks spectacular and the sound is rich, crisp and full-bodied - exactly what one needs to have in a for-the-record concert video.
And I defy anyone not to be covered in goose bumps when Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney trundle out on stage to do their thing.
As the song so aptly states, "All things must pass away "