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This problem was compounded by the , bringing torrential rains causing devastating floods and threatening a humanitarian disaster.
musician consulted his friend regarding a means of providing help to the situation. Harrison recorded the single "Bangla Desh" to raise awareness and pushed to release Shankar's single "Joi Bangla" in a dual-pronged effort to raise funds.
Shankar also asked Harrison's advice regarding a small fund-raising concert in the . Instead, Harrison took over and persuaded his friends to join him at a large concert at Madison Square Garden. The event was organised within five weeks.
Harrison first asked his fellow to appear. agreed to take part in the concert, however Harrison stipulated that Lennon's wife not perform with him. Lennon agreed, but left New York two days before the event following an argument with Ono regarding his and Harrison's agreement that she not participate.
[ ] declined because of the bad feelings caused by The Beatles' legal problems on their break-up. , however, readily agreed to appear.
It was the first live appearance for since the breakup of .
made his first public appearance since the end of the five-month tour the previous December. Clapton was still in the grip of a addiction, and had been unable to attend any rehearsals until the final . This was the first live performance of " " and was the first time the public was made aware that that it was Clapton who played the solo on ' recording.
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Musical help was also on hand from , , , , , a large horn section put together by and other musicians, including , , and a host of backing singers organized by .
made his first stage appearance since the in August . Apart from sitting in for a few numbers with on New Year and an unannounced appearance backing on at a club, he did not play live again until January .
Both the afternoon and evening shows were filmed and recorded for an album, with overseeing the sound recording. The film, released in , combined images from both shows with George Harrison's preference of the performances of the songs.
Harrison later complained that half the camera operators appeared to have been indulging in illegal substances, which left the focus of some shots rather soft.
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The opening of the film features footage from a press conference to announce the concert with Harrison and Shankar. Harrison is asked by a reporter: "With all the enormous problems in the world, how did you happen to choose this one to do something about?"
"Because I was asked by a friend if I would help, you know, that's all," was Harrison's reply.
The scene then shifts to outside , and news coverage by reporter , who interviews fans who have camped out for tickets to the shows.
The concert begins with a performance by and . Harrison introduces the set and both he and Shankar attempt to convey the intricacies of to the audience.
Shankar additionally asked the audience not to during the performance. Shankar and Khan then proceed to their instruments and then stop after about 90 seconds. The audience, apparently believing they had heard an entire piece, respond with enthusiastic , to which Shankar replies: "Thank you, if you appreciate the tuning so much, I hope you will enjoy the program more.
" They then launch into a 17-minute .
After an interlude of footage from backstage, showing Spector, Harrison and other performers making their way to the stage, Harrison starts off the portion with a string of songs from his hit album, .
He is backed by a large band, including two drummers, and matching strokes, , , two , and , on , a horn section and a small of backing vocalists, many of whom are also playing .
He then turns the concert over to his friends.
During Preston's song, "That's the Way God Planned It", the organist gets up from his bench and dances across the stage and back again. This footage is taken during the evening performance.
Starr sings his hit song " " and appears flustered as he forgets some of the words. Russell offers a medley and Harrison performs some of hits he wrote with . appears for a semi-acoustic set of his songs, and the film is capped off with two more songs, closing with Harrison's song, "Bangla Desh".
Performers interviewed for the documentary include , , , , , , and , who offer their recollections of the concert.
talks about organizing the concert in voiceovers only. Other interviews are with founder and organizer , who talk of the historic importance of the event, as well as executive .
The documentary reveals how quickly the concert came together, with Harrison working the phone during June and July of 1971 to ask his friends to join the show.
was booked for August 1 because it was the only open date available. Musicians began gathering in New York about a week beforehand for rehearsals.
Notably absent from the preparations was Clapton, who was in the grips of addiction.
Harrison says in the documentary that Clapton was booked on every airline flight from to for a week before the show. With Clapton still absent, started "hanging around", hoping to be asked to join. Harrison tapped , who had played in 's band, and bassist volunteered to work with Davis in rehearsals.
Another musician, 's , joined on lead guitar as well. Organizers then Clapton, telling him he did not have to come, but Clapton insisted he would play and finally showed up a day before the concert. He performed without benefit of rehearsal, and "he was brilliant," Harrison said.
Clapton, for his part, recalls the time as a period of "retirement" and that "I really made it hard for myself" in the concert, choosing to play a hollow-body guitar for the bulk of the songs, including his solo on " ", when a solid-body electric guitar (such as a or ) would have been more appropriate.
There are also short features on the making of the film, the release of the album and the artwork and concert photography. Along with the extensive collection of still photos for the album package, stills photographer Barry Feinstein reveals that the photo used on the cover of was taken by him during the concert.
An album of the concerts were released as a triple- box set (later a 2- set), produced by Harrison and . This record was Dylan's first official live release.
While the LP was issued on (distributed by in the US and worldwide), distribution ( and ) was given to , Bob Dylan's label, in exchange for being allowed to include his set as part of the package.
When the album was reissued on CD in , Columbia (now owned by ) in turn reissued the cassette version.
The two-CD set was re-released in 2001, and Harrison had been working on a remastered and expanded deluxe edition prior to his death. It was released in by and along with the film on a special edition two-DVD set.
The concert raised US$243,418.50, which was given to to administer. Sales of the DVDs and CDs of the concert continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
However, there were complaints about the high price of the album and allegations that there were delays in money from the album sales being sent to help the refugees. , then an executive at insisted the company made no money from the album or film and was only recovering its advertising and production costs. However magazine reported in 1972 that some of the proceeds remained unaccounted for.
Klein denied it and sued the magazine for $150 million in damages.
As much as $15 million was said to have been made by the album and film, but the money was held in an account for years because the concert organisers hadn't applied for status. It's uncertain how much money actually went to relieve the initial refugee crisis and Harrison himself was said to have been "disgusted" over the matter.
In a 1980 interview with , said the fund raiser was a "rip off" and that the money had not gone to victims as claimed. "I can't even talk about it, because it's still a problem," he told the magazine.
The concert was satirized in two episodes of , " ", and " ".
In the former, Krusty plays it while a visitor at the Simpsons household, and in the latter, has in his record collection, the Concert Against Bangladesh, with a picture of a mushroom cloud on the cover, reflecting the popular perception of Hindu-Muslim rivalry in the region. In reality, India supported Bangladesh during its struggle for independence.
com on December 12, 2006).
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