This beautifully produced DVD is stunning on all levels. More than just a film of an exceptional concert, it perfectly captures George Harrison's life & music and, above all, the love that he gave and received from his friends and family.
The evening itself builds from a wonderful opening sequence of Indian music into a quite superb rock concert featuring just about everyone George played with over the years. Packed full of stand-out numbers too many to list, their renditions of "If I Needed Someone", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Horse To The Water" are quite breathtaking. And, with virtually no "I knew George..." speeches, and with none of the "stellar" names seeking to steal the limelight, it's a brilliantly sequenced and perfectly played celebration of one man's music.
By the end, and with no less than four drummers, nine guitarists and four organists now on stage, the final number - "Wah Wah" - could/should have been a musical nightmare. But, through the sheer quality of musicianship and Eric Clapton's outstanding musical production it is, in fact, the complete opposite... a thundering celebration of everything that's good about rock music which, aided by superb film editing (including several amazing shots of the huge percussion section in full, perfectly synchronised swing), is quite simply the most exciting live performance I've ever seen. And for the encore... Joe Brown's simple, ukulele backed rendition of "I'll See You In My Dreams" is a deeply poignant and wholly apt closing to a night totally devoid of "rock star" ego & excess.
And there's more, for the interviews and rehearsal sequences on DVD Two are not only entertaining in themselves, but re-inforce the over-riding impressions of friendship and admiration from all those involved. Not just a bunch of interesting "out-takes" but an integral part of capturing the background to, and reasons for, such a unique event.
Eric Clapton's body language while standing behind Joe Brown's heart-rending encore sums it all up - respect, love, sadness, and... quite rightly, dignified pride for a job well done in giving a dear friend the best possible send-off.