A concert for George

Exactly one year after Beatle George Harrison died from cancer on Nov. 29, 2001, his wife Olivia Harrison and his close friend Eric Clapton gathered family and friends together at the Royal Albert Hall in London for a very special tribute concert. Simply dubbed Concert for George, the show featured remaining Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and friends like Jeff Lynne and Billy Preston in performances that turned out to be as iconic as Harrison himself.

Truly emotion-filled was the moment when McCartney and Clapton were joined by Ringo on drums and Harrison’s look-alike son, Dhani to do Harrison’s beautiful composition While My Guitar Gently Weeps. This alone is enough to send fans in a faint, to shed some tears or at the very least raise goosebumps all over. And that is just one number.

Lynne, who was with Harrison in the Traveling Wilburys, was there in several numbers. Tom Hanks came to perform The Lumberjack Song with Monty Python. Ravi Shankar could not be there but his daughter Amoushka came to conduct some Indian music that Harrison loved like Arpan, and to perform in other numbers.

Billy Preston, also a pop legend known as the Fifth Beatle, came up with a soulful My Sweet Lord. And Sir Paul himself in a bittersweet moment took on Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, a song that he did not allow the Beatles to record. So George sang it solo. It became a huge hit and is now proof that all things do pass.

Concert For George comes in a very special package in memory of a special man. It won the Grammy for Best Long Form Video in 2003 and is already a nine-times Platinum seller. There is not much chance of you getting a copy of the deluxe box set for your very own. There were only 1,000 copies released. This to-die-for edition includes the entire Concert on audio and film on four LPs, two CDs, two DVDs and two Blu-rays, plus a booklet and a cutting from the hand-painted tapestry that served as the backdrop during the show.

This year though, Harrison’s estate decided to make the recording available in other formats. So all you Beatle fans, there is no need to despair anymore. You can now add Concert For George to your collections. You can have it now in the format you want. There are now boxed video sets that feature the theatrical version with highlights of the full concert, behind-the-scenes interviews, rehearsal shots and other clips. No use for clutter? Then you will be glad to know that it can now be streamed or downloaded on all digital platforms. Think Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, etc. etc.

Among the tracks included are: I Want To Tell You and Give Me Love by Jeff Lynne; If I Needed Someone and Beware Of Darkness by Eric Clapton; Old Brown Shoe by Gary Brooker; Here Comes The Sun, That’s The Way It Goes and I’ll See You In My Dreams by Joe Brown; Taxman and I Need You by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers; Handle With Care also by Petty and the Heartbreakers with Lynne & Dhani Harrison; Photograph and Honey Don’t by Ringo Starr; For You Blue by McCartney; Something also by McCartney with Eric Clapton; and Wah Wah by Clapton & Band.

Watching Concert for George and knowing that the Bootleg Beatles will be back for a series of shows out here, has made me wonder. Does the clone band sing While My Guitar Gently Weeps? The Bootlegs have a very good look-alike George, so why not that song. It is not a big Beatles hit but it certainly never fails to touch listeners. I say that Harrison indeed was the most spiritual, the most transcendent of all the Beatles.

Speaking of the Bootleg Beatles, if those of you reading this piece want to satisfy your Beatles music urges, then you have to check out this one. After all, this is the only live Beatles show you will ever be able to watch in this lifetime.

The Bootleg Beatles will be at the Santa Rosa Sports Coliseum in Santa Rosa, Laguna tonight; at the Plenary Hall of the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on Sept. 5; at the LausGroup Event Centre in San Fernando, Pampanga, Sept. 6; and at the IC3 Convention Center in Cebu, Sept. 8.