Newsbeat
The Concert For Bangladesh - DVD release announced
3rd August 2005
Visitors to the official George Harrison website will already be aware of the news that Apple Corps have announced a long-awaited DVD release of The Concert For Bangladesh.
The Concert for Bangladesh was the first benefit concert of its kind in that it brought together an extraordinary assemblage of major artists collaborating for a common humanitarian cause - setting the precedent that music could be used to serve a higher cause. The concert sold out Madison Square Garden and along with the Grammy Award-winning triple-album boxset, and the feature film, has generated millions of dollars for UNICEF and raised awareness for the organization around the world, as well as among other musicians and their fans. It is therefore acknowledged as the inspiration and forerunner to the major global fundraising events of recent years. To quote the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "George and his friends were pioneers."
Besides George himself the concert features some of his friends, including: Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell and Billy Preston.
The DVD will be released by WMG (Warner Music Group) in the US on October 25th, 2005, and October 24th in the rest of the world, as a 2-disc package, including the original 99-minute film restored and remixed in 5.1, as well as 72-minutes of extras. The extras feature a 45-minute documentary "The Concert For Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison & friends", about the background to the two shows with exclusive interviews and contributions from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Sir Bob Geldof. There is also previously unseen footage: "If Not For You", featuring George and Bob Dylan from rehearsals, "Come On In My Kitchen" featuring George, Eric Clapton and Leon Russell at the sound check and a Bob Dylan performance from the afternoon show of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", not included in the original film.
Apple Corps/WMG will also simultaneously release a special deluxe version (limited to 50,000 copies worldwide) that will feature a 64-page book and other collectibles.
For full details, see www.georgeharrison.com