In this article we’re going to briefly review one of the most touching gigs that has been ever held for another person, The Concert For George.
There are decidedly few individuals in history who you can mention their 1st name, say the word concert and know exactly who that concert was for. The Concert For George was one of those concert s. George of course being the late George Harrison of the Beatles.
George Harrison died of brain cancer on November 29, 2001. One year later the memorial performance for this exceptional performer has been held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is only fitting that this has been the place as Harrison has been 100 percent English from the top of his head to the ideas of his magical guitar fingers. Many feel he has been the overlooked Beatle. Everything has been about John and Paul. But most critics feel that George Harrison has been the heart and soul of the Beatle’s guitar sound which has since be copied by so many performers.
The idea for the performance was George’s wonderful friend Eric Clapton’s. Clapton and Harrison had actually been companions for a long time and first played together on the White Album. The song, of course, was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Clapton put together a memorial that Harrison himself would have smiled at.
The concert began with the daughter of one of Harrison’s amazing companions, Ravi Shankar, singing “Your Eyes.” After this song the daughter, who’s name is Anoushka, teamed with another one of Harrison’s companions, Jeff Lynne of ELO fame, to sing “The Inner Light” which was one of George Harrison’s own tunes.
The performance itself has been a mixture of music and comedy, which is incredibly unusual for a performance. The comedy has been handled mostly by the ensemble of Monty Python who, along with Tom Hanks, performed “Sit On My Face” and “The Lumberjack Song” which has been one of Monty Python’s funniest and most famous tunes.
The rest of the performance featured more of George’s friends and the remaining members of the Beatles, Paul and Ringo. furthermore there were Tom Petty, Billy Preston, and Gary Brooker from Procal Harem. George’s son Dhani has been furthermore on hand. If you watch the video of the performance you would swear that Dhani has been George Harrison if you did not know better.
The remainder of the performance featured mostly songs that were either done by The Beatles or songs that George had done solo or with other performers such as when he has been with Tom Petty during his stint with The Traveling Willburys.
The tunes are a who’s who of some of the greatest tunes these individuals ever did together or separately. They included such classics as George’s signature song “Something,” the Beatles’ prefer “Is not It A Pity,” “Here Comes The Sun,” a Ringo tune that George played on, “Photograph,” “All Things Must Pass,” “My Sweet Lord,” and finishing with “I’llSee You In My Dreams,” which has been an appropriate ending for the concert.
