
Yuvaraj Parmar
Arts Correspondent
3:02 AM 3rd December 2022
arts
Concert For George 20th Anniversary
A year after his death, the greatest of musical talents gathered for one night of musical splendour celebrating the life and legacy of George Harrison.
Now 20 years later the star-studded theatrical performance made a brief one-night appearance on the 29th of November. In this case, remastered and delivered in immersive Dolby Atmos.
Although these were only featured in some cinemas luckily there was a screening in Bradford, but how has the 20 years faired?
With a beautiful new introduction by Dhani and his mother Olivia, we are introduced to an immersive spiritual journey conducted by Pandit Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka, especially in this first act.
As we descend from the transcendental beauty of delicately composed raags, we hit the wonderful world of Rock and Roll!
We started with a composed and reserved Jeff Lynne singing
I Want to Tell You as well as
Give Me Lovebut it was the incredible voice of Eric Clapton which brought the concert to life. His incredible showmanship and skill as a guitarist was quite prominent as it was obvious to all, that Eric Clapton was transported into another dimension, especially when he blew the stage away with his solo on
While My Guitar Gently Weeps which harks back to his original performance on the White Album. As well as this, we also see him singing lesser-known songs with Billy Preston - a familiar name to The Beatles as he famously helped accompany the Beatles in their last album
Let It Be. Such songs as
Beware of Darkness and
Isn’t It A Pity are relatively unheard of but featured in George’s first solo album
All Things Must Pass still has incredible gravitas which can not be ignored. Not to mention the incredible rendition of
My Sweet Lord”which surpasses that of the original recording and is possibly one of my favourite tracks of all time.
As well as some comedic songs by Monty Python, the feeling of admiration towards George was certainly palpable and certainly plucked a few of my heart strings. Seeing the remaining two members of he Beatles singing songs such as
All Things Must Pass,
Something and
Photograph”one couldn’t help but reflect the tragedy and heartbreak these incredible legends faced.
Yet Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney remained in high spirits throughout the concert as well as Dhani stoic and yet doggedly determined to pull of a good show. To end things off Joe Brown beautifully ties the finale of the concert with his solo
I’ll See You In My Dreams.
To conclude, I believe this concert still holds pertinence as it is a beautiful 24 track dedication to the life and legacy to the amazing life of George Harrison.
It is definitely worth a listen and a watch!