NY CELEBRATES
GEORGE HARRISON
The following concert report is written by BBC'er Tom Frangione.
While the Beatles tribute band circuit is positively thriving these days (with and without the fake accents and phony moustaches), celebrations focusing on the individual band members have (thankfully, and at long last) become increasingly popular. Certainly amidst the 70th birthday / 30th anniversary hoopla this past autumn, John Lennon was celebrated on many a stage, but it was intriguing to see a tribute to "The Quiet One" turning up on his birthday weekend (a bit bizarrely, just blocks from John’s New York City home).
Produced by Flower Power Creative and legendary Beatles promoter Sid Bernstein, the “New York Celebrates George Harrison” concert was held on Saturday February 26that the New York Society for Ethical Culture (which hosted the Lennon / Quarrymen celebration in conjunction with last year’s biopic “Nowhere Man”). The stage of this cathedral-like 800 seat auditorium was graced by several area bands and artists, including Grammy Award winner Roberta Flack (who, by the way, is a long time resident of the nearby Dakota). Flack is currently working on a new studio project of Beatles interpretations.
The evening got off to a rocky start – while fans were queued up for the 7:30 curtain, sound check delays resulted in very crammed hallways, unbridled chaos (while tickets were assigned by “section”, it was then “general admission” within the respective blocks) and a delay in the start of the show by some 45 minutes. Once up and running, though, things got progressively better.
An opening set by the mostly acoustic tribute band SOMETHING was unremarkable. The quartet came off as more of a “dads band” of the caliber you’d generally find busking in the halls of your local BeatleFest. Their set list was “I Want To Tell You,” “You Like Me Too Much,” the evenings only Wilbury nod “Handle With Care” (wherein the slide guitar and Roy Orbison vocal parts proved too challenging) and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Assuming there would be no repeated titles in the evening’s repertoire, I was disappointed that “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was not left in more capable hands.
Next up was a very intriguing quintet of vocalists & instrumentalists who definitely take top honors for originality and digging into Harrison the catalog, THE WYLD OLD SOULS. Anchored by Rick Reil and Kristin Pinell of the Grip Weeds (more on them later), their set focused largely on George’s love of Eastern music. Their set list included “It Don’t Come Easy” (with tabla in place of Ringo’s patented drum fills), the unreleased “Gopala Krishna”, “All Things Must Pass,” “Govinda” (which George recorded with the Radha Krishna Temple for Apple Records), and “Love You To” featuring Reil on electric sitar. Quite an eclectic set, and the first indication the evening would be a special one.
Settling things down a bit, impressionistic jazz guitar virtuoso LOU VOLPE delivered his solo takes on “I Need You”, “True Love” and (strapping on a Gretsch DuoJet) a very funky “Got My Mind Set On You”.
The 253 BOYS, with Rick Reil now on drums and special guest Mark Bosch (guitarist of Ian Hunter’s band) turned in a blistering set including the Harrison/Clapton co-write “Badge” (by this time, the backstories of songs not immediately associated with George had turned into audience participation time, and asking the crowd if anyone knew how the title came about). Continuing the Clapton-association theme, the band followed suit with “Savoy Truffle”. A meld of “Within You Without You” & “Tomorrow Never Knows” (perhaps inspired by the coupling on the Beatles own LOVE album) included an imaginative rap interlude, delivering one of the evenings real knockout punches. Turning to Harrison’s post-Beatles work, the band continued with a medley of “This Is Love” and “You”, closing with a rousing “Wah-Wah” evoking memories of the 2002 stage rendition from the legendary 2002 “Concert For George.”
The New Jersey power-pop-garage-psych band THE GRIP WEEDS had a tough act to follow but proved more than up to the challenge. Kicking off with “Old Brown Shoe”, Kristin Pinell nailed the guitar solo, while bassist Mike Kelly and drummer Kurt Reil would have made Paul and Ringo proud. A couple of tasty selections ensued - “I Dig Love” and “Awaiting On You All” – paying homage to Harrison’s epic “All Things Must Pass” album, followed by a tune the band has reworked and included in its regular stage set. As drummer Reil explained, “it’s a weird ‘Fab Four’ song, in that none of the Fab Four play on it.” With multi-instrumentalist Pinell now on flute, and anchored by the Reil/Kelly rhythm section and featuring the electric sitar of - you guessed it – Rick Reil (man, that cat gets around) a rocking version of the rarest of Beatles B-sides “The Inner Light” was another of the evening’s highlights. Piecing together a trail of breadcrumbs that made even this Beatle trivia maven proud, the band finished off with an inventive arrangement of “Roll Over Beethoven,” with nods to George’s love for early rock and roll, and his latter day relationship with fellow Wilbury, Jeff Lynne (he of ELO fame), incorporating elements of ELO’s hit arrangement of the song into the performance as well.
Closing out the undercard was the patented NYC swagger of THE DOUGH BOYS, who tore through a set seemingly rooted in Harrison’s acerbic side. With power pop cult favorite Richard X. Heyman on drums, the band delivered tight performances of “Taxman” (closing out Harrison’s “Revolver” trilogy for the evening), “Don’t Bother Me,” “I Me Mine” and “Think For Yourself” before an absolutely brilliant resurrection of “It’s All Too Much” from the “Yellow Submarine” soundtrack.
Following the evening’s only (very short) intermission, Roberta Flack was introduced to a standing ovation. Fronting her own band, she delivered delicate performances of “Here Comes The Sun”, “My Sweet Lord”, “Something” (guess who had first pick from the catalog?), “If I Needed Someone” and “Isn’t It A Pity.” No word yet on which (if any) of those will be on her aforementioned Beatles project. She then delivered a sweet take on her Grammy winning “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” poignantly dedicating it to George, again earning a standing ovation. The evening came to a close with an ensemble performance of the George’ #1 hit from 1973, “Give Me Love (Peace On Earth)” which had the crowd singing along every step of the way.
It was definitely one of the more spiritual tribute concerts I can recall – indeed, the wall carving atop the stage read ‘The place where people meet to seek the highest is Holy ground’. In all, it was a fitting tribute to celebrate our beloved George.
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