Summary: Great guests, superior musicianship. Buy This DVD. Now.

The show opens with a few words from Clapton, who introduces Ravi Shankar and his daughter. They play a fair amount of Indian music. It's pretty good, I have to admit, though not my cup of tea. One word - Ravi Shankar's daughter is quite the sitar player... She plays a piece and violates at least 2 rules of physics. Amazing.

Then the Western band forms up. They play a number of songs, with luminaries being introduces and added to the band over the course of the evening.

Highlights, in no particular order:
1) Ringo :-) During "Honey Don't" Look for Albert Lee. His solo is blistering though short.
2a) Clapton on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
2b) Clapton having the class to not play all the solos thereby making it the "Eric Clapton Show." Instead most of the real guitar work is being done by someone I don't know. I think it's Clapton's long-time guitarist. My son and I call him "THE Guy".
2c) Clapton in general
3) Watch Tom Petty's guitar player get OWNED by George on "Taxman". Tom does this song kinda weird, it's probably the weakest track.
4) Sam Brown. What a voice!
5) Waa Waa. Amazing.
6) Something by Paul, via uke.
7) Ravi's daughter and her sitar. Your eyebrows will fly up!
8) Dhani has George's spooky eyebrow thing going on.
9) Jeff Lynne is there, and takes an active part doing what he does best. Bob Dylan is notably absent.

Every track is worthwhile and many are superb. And while a lot of similar productions are muddy and horrid, this isn't. Eric is running the show, and keeps it moving and clean.

The only dings I give this production are
1) The "behind the scenes" footage is too sparse. I know there had to me more...
2) The band isn't introduced well enough. I expected a close up of every performer, with a hello, and a name. See 2b) above.

39 of 39 found the following review helpful:

An Overwhelming Experience  Oct 14, 2003
By David S. Jenkins
Worlds beyond the usual concert film, this is a deeply emotional experience for those lucky enough to have had George's music woven into their lives. A perfect balance of joy, laughter and loss, a delicate and perfect balance of rock, pop, blues, comedy, classical Eastern raga and ukelele. Contrary to most tribute and hall of fame concerts finding dozens of dinosaurs falling all over each other in sloppy camaraderie and faulty beats, this assembly under Eric Clapton's direction give specific, tight, heartfelt and soaring performances of exceptional grandeur... so obviously trying to do their best for George that it tears your heart out at points. Clapton's work is both grief stricken and exhilarating, McCartney's sadness renders him unusually subdued and appealing, Anoushka Shankar's performance is absolutely transcendant, and Sam Brown's rockin' rendition of "Horse to Water" is a killer, a real treat. This film is, to put it simply, an exquisite and overwhelming experience. Thank you George. And George, just so you'll know... there wasn't a dry eye in the theater...

45 of 46 found the following review helpful:

Just saw the theatrical release  Oct 04, 2003
By Nick J. Trombetta "ntrombetta2"
Wow!!!! I don't know how anyone can sit through this with a dry eye!! Stunning, heartfelt performances by George's buddies. Jeff Lynne's sound mix was awesome!! The interviews with Eric, Tom Petty and others really shed light on the love for the man we all miss. George created the original benefit concert and it is only fitting that everyone came together on the anniversary of his death to pay tribute. Now I will wait patiently until the DVD release in November.

Long live George!

91 of 104 found the following review helpful:

Simply one of the best concerts ever -- great tribute!  Jan 19, 2005
By moviemusicbuff
I am an avid Beatles fan and I was just blown away by the concert.

A. The Performances

Great musicians and friends/collaborators of George: Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, etc. do an outstanding job and everyone of them put their heart and soul into the songs of George Harrison and make them come alive. It is eerie, but when you listen to Clapton singing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," Paul McCartney singing "All Things Must Pass," or Billy Preston singing "My Sweet Lord," you could sense the presence of George as they're singing! Their renditions of Harrison's songs were just as masterful as George singing them. Those 3 songs stood out to me.

Some other musical highlights:

1) Ringo Starr's touching rendition of "Photograph" (the words take on a completely new meaning in this tribute) and "Honey Don't."

2) Anoushka Shankar's beautiful sitar playing accompanying Jeff Lynne's rendition of "The Inner Light."

3) Joe Brown's tender covers of "Here Comes the Sun" and "I'll See You in My Dreams."

4) Dhani Harrison's acknowledgement and thanks to all the musicians playing.

5) Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr playing together for the 1st time live in over 40 years!!! And they seem to be having a good time!

6) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and their exciting performance of "Taxman" and spot-on re-endition of "I Need You."

7) Billy Preston's enthusiastic singing of "My Sweet Lord"

8) The funny song "Lumberjack" by Monty Python which really lightened up the crowd and the occasion.

B. The Editing

I also liked how the DVD focussed its shots mostly on the musicians performing the songs, rather than panning to the audience and then back to the musicians. (This back and forth between the musicians and then the audience is a very annoying feature which plagues the Paul McCartney "live" DVDs).

C. The Unique Layout of the Discs

This movie is organized in an interesting fashion:

Disc 1 features the whole complete concert ( 2 hr 26 min) -- you cannot do any chapter or song selections.

Disc 2 is the theatrical version (2 hr 20 min) -- these are songs from the concert rearranged in order and backstage/ rehearsal scenes/ interviews of the musicians are interspersed within the songs. You can do scene / chapter selection for Disc 2.

D. Some Reservations

Even though the "Lumberjack" song was very funny and lightened up the occasion, I didn't care for the song "Sit on My Face" or the mooning of the audience when the Python members bared their rear-ends to the audience. I felt this dampened the whole respectability and dignity of the whole concert.

Summary:

That aside, I highly recommend this DVD. The performances are outstanding; the picture and sound quality are excellent.
If you're a Beatles fan and a fan of George, you'll love this DVD! A must-have! One of the best concert DVDs you can get!

27 of 28 found the following review helpful:

Concert for George - unforgettable classic  Oct 09, 2003

Having had the privilege of seeing the actual concert featuring Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Joe Brown, Ringo Starr, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Dhani Harrison, Billy Preston, Jules Holland acccompanying Sammy Brown in George's last release before his death- a blow-you-away performance of "Horse to Water - an unexpected treat, MOnty Python (with Tom Hanks featured), Ravi Shankar and his amazing daughter Anoushka as well as the film, I can tell you that both are uniquely enjoyable. The DVD will give the advantage of providing both, one on each disc.Do see it in the theater if you can, for that big-screen, being-there effect, but try to catch it in a theater with decent sound! I saw it in two theaters, one with surround (sounded fabulously realistic) and one with a sytem pathetically inadequate to the subject. The film and DVD were mastered by muscican/producer extraordinaire Jeff Lynne, who pays great attention to detail to produce perfect sound, so if you saw it in a less-than-wonderful theater, know that the DVD will sound fantastic on a decent system. Also, while the film wonderfully interjects short interviews and scenes from rehearsals, etc., which are quite enjoyable, know that the actual concert is longer and you can see it in its totality on the second disc.
It will surely touch your heart - lots of love projected - and DO stay for the end credits for something you won't want to miss.

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