Concert for Bangladesh

[oistheone]

I finally got around to watching "Concert for Bangladesh" the other night. I don't know what took me so long. This film is FANTASTIC! I promptly got my hands on the album, and I cannot stop listening. Never thought I'd have the patience for a 20-minute sitar jam, but after a couple drinks, I was getting really into it!

And my god, George Harrison is just so magnetic as a live performer. Now that I think about it, I don't think I'd ever seen any clips of him performing live as a solo act before this. And the house band, good lord! Leon Russell (steals the show in my opinion), Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, Jesse Ed Davis, Billy Preston -- even Bob Dylan stops in for a few numbers. Are you kiddin' me?!

Anyone else got any love for this album/film? I highly, highly recommend checking this out.

Here are my three favorite tunes from the film:

George Harrison - Wah Wah (The Concert For Bangladesh)

George Harrison Awaiting On You All Live

Jumpin' Jack Flash/Young Blood - Leon Russell (Concert For Bangladesh)

[LD]

I finally got around to watching "Concert for Bangladesh" the other night. I don't know what took me so long. This film is FANTASTIC! I promptly got my hands on the album, and I cannot stop listening. Never thought I'd have the patience for a 20-minute sitar jam, but after a couple drinks, I was getting really into it!

And my god, George Harrison is just so magnetic as a live performer. Now that I think about it, I don't think I'd ever seen any clips of him performing live as a solo act before this. And the house band, good lord! Leon Russell (steals the show in my opinion), Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, Jesse Ed Davis, Billy Preston -- even Bob Dylan stops in for a few numbers. Are you kiddin' me?!

Anyone else got any love for this album/film? I highly, highly recommend checking this out.

Here are my three favorite tunes from the film:

George Harrison - Wah Wah (The Concert For Bangladesh)

George Harrison Awaiting On You All Live

Jumpin' Jack Flash/Young Blood - Leon Russell (Concert For Bangladesh)

Actually have this DVD in the music library and I definitely share your enthusiasm for it!  It is killer and one of the many highlights for me is watching Billy Preston playing the hell out of the organ with a big smile on his face and raising the energy level on stage with That's the Way God Planned It!  So much talent on one stage!

[Jaimoe]

Legend has it Townshend helped Clapton get off junk and this concert was a comeback for Slowhand.

[Shug]

LD and I agree about most stuff musical, luckily!  Billy Preston has just got so much soul, stoke and joy for life and music, it all comes out in his booty-shakin' get down in this show, what a treasure.  For me, he's the show stealer, but yeah, this DVD is chock full of awesomeness.  They really rocked and played with surprising cohesiveness for such a big band that only did two shows with a week or so of rehearsal.  Impressive how good they played. I guess it shows how damn good they were at playing live.

I read Clapton's book not long ago and you got it almost right on the history, jaimoe.  Clapton was still on the junk for this show (and I think it shows in his playing and lack of energy.  Compare this to his blazing performance in the Last Waltz a few years later when he was just drunk (& probably on coke) but not on junk and the difference is quite shocking to me).  In order for him to make the Bangladesh show, Harrison had to find him some heroin in NYC to take as soon as he got off the plane from London (it was apparently too risky to take heroin on the plane).  Such is the life of a junkie, can barely make a cross Atlantic flight because its too many hours without a hit.  It was a year or two later that Townsend organized his comeback show at the Rainbow in London when he was clean.  I think that was 1973 or 1972.  Sad thing is how much of a heavy drinker he became almost immediately and some of the crappy stuff he did.  Sometimes I don't like finding out the character flaws of my musical heroes.