October 3, 2003

Friends Pay Tribute to a Fallen Beatle

he sweet, solemn music of George Harrison, who died two years ago, has rarely sounded more majestic than in the sweeping performances of the enlarged star-studded band that gathered in London at Royal Albert Hall on Nov. 29 to commemorate his legacy. And "Concert for George," David Leland's moving documentary of that event, mirrors the elegiac happy-sad quality of music that distilled the more spiritually heady aspirations of a segment of old-time hippie culture.

Revisited three decades after most of them first appeared, Harrison's best-known songs, which adapted the mantric drone and modal angularity of Hindu devotion into highly melodic pop, have an inescapably nostalgic ring. Nowadays that kind of incense-flavored dreaminess has been swept to the farthest margins of contemporary pop.

Harrison believed that music was a universal language that could bridge cultures and potentially heal the world. Even his lighter songs often had a hybrid East-West flavor emanating from Harrison's slide guitar, which echoed the sitar of his mentor Ravi Shankar.

Most of Harrison's best-known songs are included in the film, among them "If I Needed Someone," "Taxman," "Isn't It a Pity," "Something," "Beware of Darkness," "All Things Must Pass," "My Sweet Lord" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." They're interspersed (and sometimes interrupted) by the terse but affectionate reminiscences of the musical guests, most of whom were his lifelong friends. Eric Clapton, the concert's musical director and dignified M.C., is lead vocalist and guitarist on several numbers. Joining him are Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Billy Preston, among others.

The Monty Python troupe, who Harrison believed inherited the spirit of the Beatles after their breakup, appear in costume to perform "The Lumberjack Song," the troupe's comic ode to macho cross-dressers, with Tom Hanks in the supporting chorus line of Canadian Mounties. Later in the concert, Mr. Shankar, now frail, dedicates a short composition, "Arpan," to Harrison, whom he remembers as being like a son.

The reminiscences are upbeat and playful. Mr. Petty recalls how the Traveling Wilburys' song "Handle With Care" was written by committee in Bob Dylan's garage, with one member after another of the one-shot supergroup taking turns throwing out lines. Sir Paul recalls Harrison's fondness for the ukulele and leads off a rendition of "Something" on the uke that later segues into a fuller orchestral arrangement.

But the concert's most joyful moment is Mr. Starr's rousing version of "Photograph," the 1973 hit he wrote with Mr. Harrison, which prompts the entire audience to sing along. The moment is a poignant reminder of the communal ideals that the Beatles (together and separately) embodied for a generation now entering its 50's. But even at the height of it all, Mr. Harrison saw beyond Beatlemania and pop stardom when he asserted, in a tone of acceptance rather than bitterness, "All thing must pass."

Directed by David Leland
Not rated, 96 minutes