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The Concert for
George
This wonderful concert has just gone on general release to
selected cinemas across the UK. Here are some heartfelt reviews
(if you'd like me to include yours please email me)
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Invite & Ticket by kind permission of Clare Ellis
“Concert for George” UK Premiere, Odeon West End, London, 8th October 2003
Review by Clare Ellis
I arrived early so as to get a good viewpoint to watch the guests arrive. The crowd barriers were erected and decorated with large cardboard “Concert for George” posters and a banner above the doors of the Odeon read “Tonight Gala Premiere”. A few fans gathered, plus some autograph hunters and bemused passers-by who didn’t quite believe the list of people who might attend because it all seemed so low-key. Two of my friends who had won tickets came over to say hello, then went to meet the rest of their group and collect their tickets.
The doors opened and guests began to arrive, mostly on foot, some by car. Eric Clapton arrived and quickly went in, followed shortly by Astrid Kircherr and Twiggy.
Suddenly, my ticket-winning friends called out that there was a spare ticket for me because someone else hadn’t turned up, so I quickly grabbed my bag and went round to the end of the barriers in the SW corner of Leicester Square where we were allowed in.
Inside the cinema, part of the foyer was roped off on the left-hand side for journalists. We were directed to the right and downstairs to Screen Two. The seating was arranged in three blocks with an aisle each side adjacent to the wall and two aisles dividing the seats. We sat a little way in from the left in the left-hand block of seats, about a third of the way from the back. The centre block of seats was where the celebrity guests were seated. Some of them came past us on the left, then across the front and back up to the centre, and some came in directly in the left of the two central aisles. “Chants of India” was playing quietly in the background and each seat was stocked with a bag of popcorn and a bottle of Abbey Well mineral water. Alan Rickman walked past on our left, then a while later, on our right, I saw Dhani Harrison, Paul McCartney, Heather Mills-McCartney, Mike McCartney, Ringo and Barbara and Bill Wyman. (There are plenty of other people who attended, but these are the ones I personally saw arriving.)
The house lights dimmed and Olivia came on stage accompanied by several others. I had a notepad with me, so I scribbled down the gist of what she said:
“Hi. There are a lot of people tonight to thank: All the musicians, George’s loved and trusted friends, people involved in making the movie, a new friend: the editor of the film, my old family friend and co-producer Jon Kamen and above all, and above us all, we have George to thank for the music he left us and for showing us the importance of friendship. This has been a labour of love and each gave their best. We have a sense of achievement, but with humility. Once again, George, here it is, and we hope you like it.”
The audience applauded, Olivia and the other guests took their seats and the film began. It was very special to be there for the premiere after having been lucky enough to attend the Concert itself at the Royal Albert Hall. The film captured the true magic of the night in all aspects, both already familiar to me from having been there, and new delights of backstage and rehearsal footage. The sound and camera work were superb, conveying everything from the tiniest detail to the full-on magnificence of the whole experience. Wow. The original audience applause was left in, supplemented by our cinema audience’s applause, adding further to the sensation of re-living the original Concert. The end-credits rolled to more applause and a final word from George took everyone by surprise.
We started to file out. People gathered in a room that opened out partway up to the entrance. I got Joe Brown and Alan Rickman’s autographs, met Heather in the ladies’ loos and watched Paul McCartney and Joe Brown each doing a TV interview. Damon Hill made his way upstairs while the Python gang were chatting and laughing near the interview area.
As we left the cinema, we met up again with our friends who’d been outside and caught up with their stories from the night. One of them had saved me one of the giant cardboard posters too! Then it was time to head back to the Tube, back home & back to reality, but with fantastic memories of another magical night.
Concert For George Gala Premiere.
London, West End Odeon, October 8th 2003
I was lucky enough to obtain tickets for the London Premiere of 'Concert For
George'.
At the very last moment I entered a competition on Sam Browns web site.
They were giving away ten pairs of tickets. Unfortunately, my name
wasn't pulled out from the draw, but I had told my friend Alli about it and
asked her to enter it too, so she did, despite the fact that she knew, because
of work commitments, that she wouldn't be able to attend if she won. However,
she was lucky enough to win two tickets. Both of us had named the other as there
partner to attend with and so Alli, (Thanks a billion), said that she
would like me to attend. Her husband, Steve, accompanied me.
We arrived at Leicester Square at around 5pm. We noted where the Odeon was
and then grabbed a quick coffee in a cafe. We stood outside the cinema for
a while and there was very little happening. Then we saw a lorry
containing some spot light equipment pull up and then drive to the other side of
the square. It was then that we realized that there were in fact two Odeon
cinema's in Leicester Square!!!!
So, undeterred, we crossed over the square to the 'other' Odeon where we
observed the barriers outside the cinema which were already decked with
cardboard posters advertising the Gala performance of 'Concert For George'.
There were also about three posters on the front of the cinema stating that it
was a gala performance. A while later, two of the Odeon staff placed a blue
carpet onto the pavement outside the cinema doors.
At around 6.45 I noticed John Hammel and then realized that Paul McCartney would
probably be attending the premiere also. I hadn't expected too many celebrities
to be there because so many had already attended the premiere in America on 24th
September. I had only assumed that Olivia might be there. Security began
to build up.
At 7pm we were ushered towards the cinema and after showing our tickets we were
told to go to the right. There were a few people being ushered upstairs -
obviously where the 'celebrities' were being asked to gather.
There were two aisles inside the cinema and three groups of seating. We
chose to sit on the right hand side, next to the aisle. At our seats we
found a blue paper bag which was filled with popcorn and a bottle of 'Abbey
Well' water. I thought that was really nice as I was so thirsty having
spent the whole afternoon traveling down to London. We settled in our
seats.
The cinema quickly began to fill up, though no celebrities had been spotted at
that point.
I noticed that the middle section of right-hand-side seats in the central area
were interestingly all still vacant.
Then, just after 7.30 pm a stream of people started to enter the cinema and walk
down the left-hand side aisle. The first person that I spotted,
(naturally), was Dhani Harrison, looking the image of his father and dressed
really smartly in a dark suit, white shirt and tie. He was chatting happily to
the crowd of friends that he'd arrived with. He and his group of friends
walked along a row and Dhani ushered them all into places. For some
reason, at that point HE ended up without a seat!! Anyway, now he was stood in
the right-hand aisle, nearest me, and still he was chatting away. In the
meantime, Formula One Racing driver Damon Hill arrived with his wife
Georgie and they sat in the row of seats level with me but in the centre area.
Guitarist Jeff Beck was seated there too. I glanced forward again
and there was Dhani, still chatting away and greeting people as they entered.
Ringo had arrived with Barbara and was walking down the left-hand aisle.
Also stood in that same aisle at that time was Rolling Stones member Bill Whyman,
comedian Rowan Atkinson, Paul McCartney's' brother Mike and his wife and
Mary McCartney and her husband. Celebrities were piling in fast now and it
was hard to spot them all. I glanced to my right and at the side of me walking
down the right-hand aisle towards Dhani was Paul McCartney, who looked extremely
well and his wife, Heather. Dhani hugged both Paul and Heather. Then they
walked along the row of seats and sat down. Heather looked radiant. Eric
Clapton walked down passed me, too. He greeted Dhani and they hugged. Eric
took his seat. By now Dhani had managed to find himself a seat!! He
sat almost centralized, with his groups of friends, and then happily began to
chomp away at the popcorn that had been provided.
Then, next thing we knew, Olivia was walking onto the stage with several others
- Ray Cooper and directors and workers on the film. The audience clapped
approvingly. Olivia looked stunning, dressed in a long black tunic with a
large buckled belt around her waist and black trousers. She began to
speak, said about three or four words and then faulted ... actually choking
back, before she was able to say the next word "George". She
continued, stopping once more to choke back again. From memory, her speech
went something like this …….
"Hi. This film is really for ..... George. …..
There are a lot of people tonight to thank: All the musicians, George's
loved and trusted friends, people involved in making the movie, a new friend -
the editor of the film, and my old family friend and co-producer Jon Kamen.
Above all - and above all of us - we have George to thank for the music he left
us. He taught us the importance of friendship. This concert was a
labour of love - each gave their best and there is a sense of achievement, but
with humility. So, once again, George, here it is and we hope you like it."
Naturally, a rapturous applause followed and she left the stage with the others
and took her seat, which was, incidentally, next to Barbara Bach.
The lights dimmed, the curtains parted and the film began.......
Having been lucky enough to attend the actual concert the previous November I
knew to expect a brilliant concert musically, but, would all the sense of love
for George Harrison that filled the Albert Hall on that memorable evening be so
evident in this film of the concert, I wondered? I need not have doubted.
The film opened with Olivia lighting candles in memory of George. A
poignant tribute on the night which I was pleased was left in the film.
There were a few words from Eric Clapton and then the opening chords to 'I Want
to Tell You' filled the cinema. It sounded awesome, the music hitting you
from every corner of the room, wonderful. The applause after each song was
left in and it really sounded like people in the cinema were actually clapping.
It wasn't until later that I realized that they actually were and, I hasten to
add, I soon joined them. There were snippets from the rehearsals
interspersed with the concert footage - comments from Eric Clapton, Ringo, Paul.
Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, Tom Petty, Joe Brown and Jeff Lynne and others, and
of course from Olivia and Dhani Harrison. There was a nice snippet of a
rehearsal of one song that suddenly went straight into the concert version and
it was easy to notice how good the sound people were on that evening and how
well the people on the film had worked at getting it to sound just right.
I don't want to give too many details away of the film as I know that many
people have yet to have the pleasure of seeing it, so my descriptions of the
film will be left there. However, I will just point out that there were a
lot of things that I missed on the night that I spotted in the film. One such
thing was the statues of the Hindu Gods Ganesh and Krishna that had been placed
in prime positions on the stage.
The film itself is brilliantly edited. There are superb close ups, nice
dressing room scenes, (particularly for Monty Python fans amongst us), and of
course, the music is awesome!
One final pointer, please don't leave before the end credits or you will never
forgive yourselves. Not only are the credits accompanied by two more of
George's tunes, one by Jeff Lynne, the other from Eric Clapton, but there is a
little surprise at the end that you might enjoy hearing too! Even if I did have
a soggy hankie!! So, be warned, it's no less tear jerking than it was on
the actual night!
When the film finished there was more rapturous applause and even some male
guests in the audience were choking back the tears.
People began to file slowly out from the seats, apart from Olivia, Ringo and
Barbara who seemed to make it outside and into their car at record speed.
The other celebrities showed tremendous patience and quietly queued with the
rest of us all the way to the exit. Again Dhani was happily socializing
with many friends and associates, giving some of them a warm hug or a hand shake
or a pat on the back, and others - particularly the Asian contingent - a hands
together 'Nameste'.
We eventually reached the foyer some time later. The celebrities were
leaving gradually after having had a few words with their friends and family
members. At one point Dhani was about to leave through the front doors
when he suddenly realized something, stepped back inside and could be heard
saying …
"Oh, I need to wait for me mam!"
Which was a little strange because Olivia had already left with Ringo and
Barbara in a car several minutes earlier!
Due to the heat in the building it was nice to step outside and into the fresh
air again. Celebrities were still filtering out. Paul and Heather
came out and quickly got into a waiting car giving the odd wave, thumbs up and
grin to the public who were still waiting patiently outside. He didn't
sign any autographs. Joe Brown left and although asked by a few in
the crowd he declined from signing autographs and stated "I can't, I've
been told not to, you know I can't" accompanied with that cheeky grin of
his. Python favourite Terry Jones came out to shouts of "Please
Terry, please", and, bless him, he signed one autograph before striding
away.
It was after 10.pm now, and I had a train to catch so I said goodbye to a few
friends and headed for the nearest tube station.
It had been a wonderful evening. The film was beautiful, bittersweet for
me though because I'm a huge admirer of George Harrison, but beautiful none the
less. I await the DVD's eagerly. I know that they will be just
perfect, and, perhaps, they will help me get through November just a little bit
easier.
Special thanks to Olivia and Dhani Harrison and Eric Clapton, and of course all
persons concerned with the Concert and the film of the concert, the Material
World Charitable Foundation and also to Sam Brown's web site and to my dear
friends Alli and Steve.
Finally, last but certainly not least, let us not forget the man who it was all
in aid of, an inspiration to us all, GEORGE HARRISON.
God Bless You, George. I miss you.
Diane Machin. September, 2003.
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