The Concert for Bangladesh (1972) on Netflix
G19721h 43mDocumentaryMusic
George Harrison and Ravi Shankar put together two benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden to aid refugees displaced by the Bangladesh Liberation War, and the shows are captured on film.
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- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb8.2/101,774 votes
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Plot summary
Two shows are scheduled at Madison Square Garden on 1 August 1971, with proceeds going to refugees who have fled East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Five days earlier, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar sit before reporters in New York and take questions about the concerts. At the arena, players and crew set up for the first performance, and Harrison describes in voiceover how the project came together. He walks out alone, tells the crowd a good show is planned, and brings on the musicians led by Shankar, who explains Indian classical music to the audience and the reason for the benefit. The players tune their instruments for about thirty seconds and stop. The applause that follows prompts Shankar to thank the audience and hope they enjoy the playing more. A fifteen-minute piece follows.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Concert for Bangladesh (1972)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Two cameras filming the concert footage were faulty - one was out of focus throughout, the other had cables hanging down in front of it - so much of the concert footage was unusable. The compromised quality forced brutal edits, leaving Eric Clapton apparently changing jackets and guitar part-way through a song, Leon Russell's medley in particular.
- George Harrison explained that Eric Clapton missed the preparations because he was booked on every airline flight from London to New York City for a week before the shows. Clapton finally boarded a plane and performed without any rehearsal, which Harrison called brilliant.
- George Harrison began editing the footage on 6 September, while work on the live album was almost finished, and at some stage over the following months Bob Dylan joined him in the lengthy editing process.
