Concert For George [DVD] [2003]

I bought this not really expecting much more than a bunch of old blokes playing a few tunes for a mate but how wrong I was.

I've never been much of a Beatles fan but I always appreciated George's playing, writing, spiritual life a sense of hummer and this DVD pays great tribute to all of these.

Everyone has so much love and respect of George and his music that you can't fail to find yourself being drawn in. Ringo is fun, Clapton is playing well and even Macca isn't too annoying. But Joe Brown does indeed steal the show with 'See you in my dreams'.

The format of the DVD is also excellent with the two options to watch and all the extras are well made and also well worth watching.

All in all a great release and one of my favourite music DVDs. George would probably be embarrassed to see such a fuss made but I’m sure he would also be rightly proud of all that he has achieved.

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.

To anyone thinking of buying this DVD, all I can say is BUY IT !. You won`t regret it.
I must have watched it about 7 or 8 times since I bought it a couple of months ago.

Disc One is the concert as it was performed and Disc Two is the same songs in a different order with snippets of interviews in between.The concert begins with about 45 minutes of Indian music. I don`t like some Indian music I have heard but this is just lovely, a piece composed for the
occasion by Ravi Shankar that brilliantly combines Indian and Western musicians.There is then an interlude in which some of the Monty Python team come on to do a couple of comedy songs, ( The Lumberjack Song performed with great gusto by Michael Palin and the Mounties ).

Then on comes Eric Clapton, Andy Fairweather-Lowe, Gary Brooker, Billy Preston etc to perform one great George song after another. I was going to list all the songs and give them ratings but there is no point because all the performances are at least good, some are great and one in particular is just sublime - Something - started by McCartney on the Ukelele and then joined by the rest of the band.

Various people take the lead on different songs, Sam Brown, Billy Preston, Joe Brown, Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Ringo, McCartney etc and they all do the songs justice.
There are no mawkish " how wonderful George was " speeches, but there is a warmth that surrounds the whole show, just a bunch of musicians and singers paying a heartfelt tribute to their friend in the best way possible, by performing his songs ( and doing so brilliantly ).

The whole concert ( 2 hrs 26 mins ) is a joy, the music, the camera work, I`m tempted to say this is a perfect music DVD.All I can say to the people who organised and performed the concert is Thank You, you have given us a DVD to treasure.
And all I can say to the people who were in the audience is - you were privileged indeed !.