Concert For George--Your Thoughts?
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I just got the two DVD set the other day and had not seen it before. I watched parts of it last night and was curious as to others opinions of the format and various performers that were showcased. I'll hold off on my comments for a bit till some of you weigh in. I will say that Paul's appearance was the highlight of the show, and his bouyant personality was a breath of fresh air--as usual a very classy appearance!
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You JUST got it? It is a GREAT concert & a great DVD! We've had many discussions of it. THAT is the way to film a concert DVD! ONE of my favorite performances was Sam Brown doing George's Horse to Water.
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they really could have done without the monty python skit
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Over all a really great concert. While the Beatles 50th anniversary show was really great, I would have preferred something more like George's concert, with bands and musicians who were friends and colleagues and who were influenced by the Beatles. Yes, Jeff Lynne and Joe Walsh kind of fit the bill, but I prefer how George's concert was done.
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Love it! The Arpan was great and so was Anouska Shankar's sitar playing. I liked Paul's performance of All Things Must Pass and Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne playing I Want To Tell You. I even have met one of the musicians who performed at the concert. He said George was the best of the three Beatles he's met. He plays sitar during the arpan and was Ravi Shankar's student.
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Paulfan:
I even have met one of the musicians who performed at the concert. He said George was the best of the three Beatles he's met.
Thanks for your post. I'm not sure what you meant by the above statement.
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Normally I'm not a huge fan of tribute concert albums like that; the concerts are more like "feel good" nights that don't necessarily translate to a good album. However, The Concert for George was about as well done as can be. A ton of legends coming together, playing amazing songs well. I think it's a fantastic CD and DVD.
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Iowa Hawkeye Beatlefan:
Normally I'm not a huge fan of tribute concert albums like that; the concerts are more like "feel good" nights that don't necessarily translate to a good album. However, The Concert for George was about as well done as can be. A ton of legends coming together, playing amazing songs well. I think it's a fantastic CD and DVD.
My thoughts exactly...great concert, fantastic musicians, and filmed for dvd perfectly!
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I don't have the DVD but I do have the CD and agree with the two posts above - very well put together...
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By the time Billy Preston gets to "My Sweet Lord," the water-works shall come.
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Erik in NJ:
I just got the two DVD set the other day and had not seen it before. I watched parts of it last night and was curious as to others opinions of the format and various performers that were showcased. I'll hold off on my comments for a bit till some of you weigh in. I will say that Paul's appearance was the highlight of the show, and his bouyant personality was a breath of fresh air--as usual a very classy appearance!
Personally I thought it was great that he remain reserved and didn't try to hog the limelight, because I'm here to tell you, that was the chief concern of every Beatles fan I spoke with before the event. But, yes, thankfully very reserved. Buoyant? For me he was unusually, but appropriately somewhat sombre.
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It was a great concert, filmed well. And I agree with other posters that what made it special was that it was performers who knew and loved George doing songs that were special to them, and singing them like they meant it. So many highlights it's hard to pick one or two, but if pressed I'd have to pick Tom Petty -- and of course Paul's performance of All Things Must Pass, which just gives me shivers.
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moptops:
Buoyant? For me he was unusually, but appropriately somewhat sombre.
I mean he didn't try to put on a false air of being overly subdued. He has a bouyant personality, you just smile when you see him. And he added a bit of levity at the end when he said "Olivia says with Dhani up here it looks like George is on stage and only the rest of us have gotten older."
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I attended the concert with a friend. There is a brief glimpse of us in the DVD right after Sam Brown's song. Very easy to see us in a theatre but difficult at home. I found nothing wrong with the Lumberjack Song. George loved Monty Python. Olivia approved everything so what was there to criticize? Clapton lost a dear friend and worked hard with Olivia and Dhani to get the show organized. I did not find him to be sombre. I admit I cried through most of the second half of the concert.
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I thought it was a bit like a mini Concert for Bangladesh, though less heady in terms of musical performances performed in their hey-day. Overall a very enjoyable concert both musically and visually. I loved the Indian music and Ravi's daughter is not only very attactive, but also very talented. I have liked Ravi's music for years thanks to GH! Thanks George. I thought that Olivia and Dhani really missed an opportunity to speak about George...it's amazing how little they had to say about him--I think that would have been very interesting as we don't really know them and seeing GH thru their eyes would have been a treat! Clapton as well could have had more to say since he was running the gig...it was a bit like Concert For Eric at times, I think he should have marginalized himself more. Certainly he knew George well and could have shared some great stories with us. Was that Patti Boyd/Cynthia Lennon on stage later on towards the end? (big blonde woman). Any idea who that woman was? Tom Petty was a breath of fresh air--his lead guitarist nailed Taxman...that guy's awesome on guitar! Why the heck didn't Dylan show up?? I don't care for him much, but it would have been appropriate. What about Leon Russell, Bonnie & Delaney Bramlett?? Geeze there were so many Bangladesh veterans and Apple musicians that should have been there. It'd be interesting to find out if they were invited or turned it down. What the heck was Jim Capaldi (old Clapton pal from Blind Faith?) doing there? Don't get me wrong, I love Blind Faith, but I'm not aware of any connection between him and GH. Eric should have invited Ginger too! Nice to see good ol' Billy Preston there--he still looked good and sounded well. His style is a bit different, but he has a long history with the Beatles. Would have been nice to hear more of his keyboards. No introduction of the people on stage?? I didn't even know who several were! I know at Bangladesh, GH introduced the musicians, and Eric really should have done it here--this was a big oversight as far as I'm concerned. E.g., not everyone knows what Klaus Voorman looks like these days. What about Julian Lennon? Surely he must have had a connection to GH, no? Oh and Thank God Yoko wasn't there!! I'd love to know why
I can certainly understand Dhani Harrison wanting to take part as I too have sadly lost my Dad, but you could have just put a cardboard cutout with a guitar there and it would have had the same effect musically! No one could hear his acoustic guitar! It would have been nice if he'd learned a couple licks to solo with--he seems like he plays guitar even though you can tell he's not a professional caliber musician. Not just picking on Dhani here, there were several musicians up there that added no real value to the concert as they were not showcased and their volumes turned way down or off. How many drummers did they have including Ringo...3 or 4?? This got to be a bit absurd. I'm not sure why Ringo always needs at least a second drummer next to him--he can still play from what I can tell--he's a "big star" man...put him up front! Ringo's speech was nice, would have liked to hear more and maybe seen his drum kit moved away from the other drummers and nearer the front. That tambourine guy played a mean tambourine! 
: Another cardboard cutout The two backing vocal women dressed like they were in a Vegas show is something Clapton always has with him to thicken is vocals--it's a bit pathetic to see and watch with their 70s hip swaying like wind in the banana trees...OK thanks gals, here's your 20 quid. Cheers! Seriously, do we really need this and then to have the camera continually cut to them?? Paul was too marginalized in the performance. His vocals are head and shoulders over Clapton's and Lynn's, he would have been a welcome addition to perform on a couple more Beatles tunes. Poor guy, you could tell he wanted to play more. Well he was a class act as usual and I think he was really the highlight of the show--it just changed everything when we walked onto the stage. Putting that Monty Python skit right after the Indian musicians was very disrespectful to them as their music is so serious. I know George liked them, but it was in poor taste the way the acts were sequenced. From very somber to the absurd in the blink of an eye. The "yukes" kind of look like a joke...I wish they hadn't done that. I don't know why GH became so fond of them as you never saw them "pulled out" during the Beatles' era. A yuke to me has aways been a bit of a comedic instrument. Choice of songs was pretty good--they don't really have that many to choose from. Clapton did a very nice version of Beware of Darkness. I think doing that mediocre song "Wah Wah" written about Paul was kind of disrespectful to Paul--Clapton (the musical director), Olivia (the executive producer), and Dhani probably didn't have a clue though. There were some obvious choices that were missed like "What Is Life" and "Apple Scruffs" which would have had a double meaning and been fun. Certainly "Crackerbox Palace" should have been done, WTF?? The pictures of George were quite nicely displayed and I think overall it was a very nice show--just not epic. I enjoyed the interviews on the second disc esp. with Clapton saying "sometimes you'd think you were doing George a big favor only to find out he didn't like it...he might have said 'I didn't really want a show like that', etc." I'm sure it was tough to put a show like that together so kudos to Eric for pulling it off. I'm just being an armchair quarterback and providing my honest feedback on the show, so please take it for what it's worth before flaming me 
I'll add more feedback as I think of it (or have to defend my words) 
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I retracted my comments re Clapton as he didn't really act overly subdued. I thought he spoke well at least during the few words that he did speak. Remember that this concert was a year after Gs passing--it wasn't like it was a few weeks later. See my follow-on post with my thoughts on the Monty Python stuff. I like them, but the sequencing of the skit could have been better due to the serious nature of the Indian music. Lucky you that you were able to attend! Where exactly are you in the video? I can go frame-by-frame on my Blu-Ray player.
maccascruff:
I attended the concert with a friend. There is a brief glimpse of us in the DVD right after Sam Brown's song. Very easy to see us in a theatre but difficult at home. I found nothing wrong with the Lumberjack Song. George loved Monty Python. Olivia approved everything so what was there to criticize? Clapton lost a dear friend and worked hard with Olivia and Dhani to get the show organized. I did not find him to be sombre. I admit I cried through most of the second half of the concert.
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Thanks for the review Erik. The Concert for George is coming up on my Netflix queue and I'll have to see if my observations match yours. You seem very astute so I probably won't find much to quibble about.
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Thanks for the compliment Johnny! It's definitely worth watching. I'd be very much interested in your opinions when you do see it as I enjoy reading your posts.
JohnnyL:
Thanks for the review Erik. The Concert for George is coming up on my Netflix queue and I'll have to see if my observations match yours. You seem very astute so I probably won't find much to quibble about.
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Erik, nice review. Not sure I agree with many of your points, but I get them and they are well reasoned.
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Thanks RM. You always raise some good counterpoints and I enjoy our debates so please feel free to add your critique of my review. I did go back and make a few minor changes as well as cleaned up some misspellings. I appreciate your kind words.
RMartinez:
Erik, nice review. Not sure I agree with many of your points, but I get them and they are well reasoned.
