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<b><u><font color="#CCCCCC" face="MS Sans Serif" size="3">A Concert For George<br>
Liverpool Empire 24th February 2002</font></u></b>
<p><font color="#CCCCCC"><font face="MS Sans Serif" size="2">The
charity conce</font><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma">rt had sold out within 24 hours of the tickets going on sale, while
the list of artistes due to appear was yet to be announced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>And so it was that the audience gathered to pay tribute to George and
raise £36,000 in ticket sales alone for the Roy Castle Foundation, Macmillan
Cancer Relief and Marie Curie Cancer Care on what would have been George
Harrison’s 59th birthday.</span></font><font color="#666666" face="MS Sans Serif" size="1"><br>
</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">The
first half of the show was devoted entirely to the sixties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Hosts <b> Billy Butler</b> and <b> Phil Easton</b> introduced the first act of the
evening, <b> The Ivy League</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They
opened their set with their UK number three hit “Tossing And Turning” and
went on to play other sixties songs including “Only the Lonely” and another
Ivy League song “Funny How Love Can Be”, finishing with a medley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They said, “It is really nice to be here on this very special
occasion”.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2"><font color="#CCCCCC">The
next act were <b> The Blue Meanies</b>, a local Beatles tribute band, who had waited
around all day, hoping to be allowed to take part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They played two Lennon-McCartney numbers, “I Saw Her Standing There”
and “From Me To You” and presented a cheque for £1,000 they’d raised at a
concert in the Cavern.</font><br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">Tony
Crane and Bill Kinsley’s <b> Merseybeats</b>, the band to have played alongside the
Beatles most often, followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They
played eleven songs including “Hey Baby” which they used to play at the
Cavern Club, “Let It Be Me” (known to George fans from the bootleg “12
Arnold Grove”), and a medley of Lennon-McCartney songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They said, “It is a privilege for us to be here on this night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Beatles were our idols in those days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It’s a privilege for us to have known George”.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>They also played their biggest single, “I Think Of You”,
thanking The Beatles for predicting that it would be a hit when they were on
Jukebox Jury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Their set concluded
with “Sorrow”.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">After
the interval, the hosts thanked everyone involved in the concert, giving a
special mention to the stage crew and other theatre staff who had made it
possible to stage the concert in between performances of “Her Benny”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Special guest <b> Pete Waterman</b> came on stage and teased the audience by
saying “He’s not here…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Simon’s [Cowell] not here!” initially allowing the audience to assume he meant Paul
McCartney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He went on to tell a
story about how he and George were great fans of George Formby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>George would play a fantastic chord sequence on ukulele and Pete would
have to remind him that he couldn’t quite play like that because he was only a
DJ whereas George was in the Beatles!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He
went on to say “George would have loved the way everybody loved him because he
was a very special bloke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He never
really liked the limelight, but he just was a smashing person”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Pete then introduced <b> Steve Harley</b> whose band also included the original
Cockney Rebel drummer <b> Stuart Elliot</b>.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">Steve
played at a concert to celebrate the re-opening of the Sefton Park Palm House in
2001.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>George Harrison had also supported the restoration project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Steve opened his set with “A Friend For Life”, following on with
“Treat Me Like A Fool”, a Leiber and Stoller 50s song that he’d also
played at another tribute concert.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>“This is George’s night; here’s one for George, God
bless him!” was a crowd-pleasing intro for “Here Comes The Sun”, a
Harrison song with which Steve Harley also had a hit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The lighting effects made good use of the two black and white banners
featuring White-album era pictures of George: stylised red and yellow sun-shaped
gobos danced across them in time with the music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Steve added, “I really believe only this city could have done what
happened in <i>hours</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You know
what your money’s going to – there couldn’t be a better cause on Earth”
before finishing with his hit song “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)”.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC"><b>Ralph
McTell</b> began by saying “What an honour to be here tonight; a real privilege”
and played the song that first got him noticed, “Streets Of London”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The audience were singing along from the start, adding to the beauty of
Ralph’s intricate guitar playing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Ralph
concluded his set “George was kind enough to say some nice things about my
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I never got to meet him, so
that’s why tonight, it’s especially important to me to be here at this
wonderful tribute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I know you know
that George was a very spiritual man and he loved guitar‑playing, and this
is a song about a very spiritual man, a guitar player called Joseph Spence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>This guy was a carpenter from the Bahama Islands and he played the guitar
in a very special way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This is a
little tribute I wrote for him, it’s called The Hands Of Joseph”.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">A
new band called <b>Dare</b>, featuring Darren Wharton from Thin Lizzy was next on
stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Darren began “It’s a
wonderful honour to be here tonight and it’s very very nice to be asked to be
part of this”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They played
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with a Dire Straits flavour, followed by
their own song “White Horses” and George’s “Something”.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">Billy
Butler then continued on from Pete Waterman’s teasing, getting the audience to
“Give me a P…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Give me an A…<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Give me a U…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Give
me an L!” then thanking them for saying hi to his son up on the balcony.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC"><b>Haré
Georgeson</b> then took the stage for their tribute to George.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They have been playing since 1995 and are very popular with fans at the
annual Liverpool Beatle Week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They
played four George Harrison songs, spanning his song writing career, with the
audience clapping and singing along throughout:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>“Got My Mind Set On You” (a cover of Rudy Clark’s original),
“Handle With Care” (from the first Travelling Wilburys album), “I Me
Mine” and “What Is Life?” a song George originally wrote for Billy
Preston, but later recorded himself on All Things Must Pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It’s always great to see how authentically Haré Georgeson, fronted by
Rick Alan, can recreate the sound of the original record.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">The
compères then introduced <b> Pete Wilie</b> and friends, a.k.a. <b> The Mighty Wah!</b> who
opened their set with “Badge”, a song co-written by George and Eric Clapton,
with a line from Ringo too!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Pete
said that when he was working on his most recent album, he had been pleased to
receive a message from George wishing him good luck from the Scousers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They then played a song from the album, saying, “It’s for George,
it’s for John, it’s for Bob Wooler, it’s for Bill Shankly, it’s for
anyone you’ve loved and lost…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It’s
called Heart As Big As Liverpool”.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">The
next guest flew in from Switzerland in order to take part in the concert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><b>Shalil Shankar</b> played “Raag Ganesha” on sitar, a composition by Ravi Shankar, accompanied by <b> Mohinder Singh</b> on
tabla.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Shalil, who has studied sitar under the direction of Ravi Shankar &
who knew George personally, began by saying “I was deeply touched when I was
called to come and take part in this memorial concert.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>George loved India; he loved sitar”.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt" align="center"><font color="#CCCCCC"><img border="0" src="../reviews/GHcon09.jpg" width="400" height="189"></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">To
conclude the concert, <b> Haré Georgeson</b> and disciples from the Haré Krishna
Temple in London led the rest of the cast in singing “My Sweet Lord”,
George’s 1971 number one single, and number one again this year when it was
re-released to benefit the Material World Foundation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The audience were on their feet, singing along – something George would
have been very pleased to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A
fitting finale to the concert.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt" align="left"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">Compères
Billy and Phil returned to the stage and, while the audience were still clapping
and cheering, thanked everyone involved in the concert, and thanked all the
artistes for giving their time for free.<br>
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">“Do
you know what?<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>You know when you have that horrible feeling you’ve
forgotten something?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>You know at
the end of a party when you’re trying to get home and there’s some old drunk
comes staggering in, saying “I’ve just got one more number to do”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>I think we might possibly have that old drunk standing in the wings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Would you like to do the honours, Mr. Butler?”<br>
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">“<b>Paul
McCartney</b>!”<br>
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">The
massive cheer and applause almost blew the roof off as Paul, dressed in a dark
casual suit, came on stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The
rest of the cast stood back as Paul reminisced about his dear friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>“Oh yes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Georgie!<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All
right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Well, wasn’t that a great show?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I’m
the old drunk staggering on at the end!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Erm,
I thought I’d just come on and y’know, just say how much I know George would
have loved this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We used to come
here, y’know, as lads, to watch people like, err, Cliff and the Shadows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>We’d be sitting up there, y’know, before all the Beatles stuff and,
err, here we are now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We used to
take the bus every morning, me and George, in from Speke, the 82.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>I used to get on the bus a stop before him, Hardwick Road, and, err, he
lived in Upton Green in Speke, anyone who knows Speke?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>…And so, y’know, we, we had a great friendship even before the
Beatles or anything, and before I met John.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>We’d come in and, say, every morning we’d talk about guitars and rock
‘n’ roll and all of that, and so, like I say, I thought I’d just come on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>I haven’t, err, prepared anything, I thought, well, it’s just showing
up, it’s just being part of it, and for the great charity, for all the money
that’s been raised this evening for the charity, that’s worth coming anyway
for all of us isn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So I
thought, well, I can’t leave without doing some kind of song, and what I
thought…<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>So here’s one I <i>didn’t</i> prepare earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>What I thought I’d do, in the key of F, alright, this is for George,
OK?”<br>
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">Paul
then sang an <i>a capella</i> “Yesterday”, solo at first, but soon joined by
the rest of the cast and the audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Paul
fittingly changed the words to “Why <i>he</i> had to go, I don’t know, <i>he</i>
wouldn’t say” but lightened the mood of the song by adding in vocals between
phrases, imitating the bass line of the original song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A very brave and special way to finish the evening, leaving the audience
thrilled that he had come along, but sharing the sadness that he felt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Another huge cheer heralded the end of the song, and Paul wound the night
up, thanking the charity representatives and saying, “Thanks everybody for
coming!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Thank you all for coming!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Thanks everybody for being beautiful people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>George would have loved this!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>See
you next time!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Haré Krishna!”</font></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:6.0pt"><i><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#CCCCCC">By
Clare Ellis</font></i></p>
<p><font color="#666666" face="MS Sans Serif" size="1"><a href="/"><b>>> back to home page</b>
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