Fifty-four years ago this month, George Harrison headlined the star-studded charity event, The Concert for Bangladesh. The show took place August 1, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Harrison organized the benefit show with Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar to raise money to help refugees displaced by the Bangladesh Liberation War and those affected by the 1970 Bhola cyclone.
The concert featured Harrison’s first public performance after the breakup of The Beatles. It also marked the first time George had ever performed some of his classic Fab Four tunes and solo songs.
One of the famous Beatles tunes that got its live premiere during The Concert for Bangladesh was one of Harrison’s most-beloved and enduring compositions, “Here Comes the Sun.”
The performance featured Harrison playing a note-perfect rendition of the tune as an acoustic-guitar duo with Badfinger frontman Pete Ham. The bridge featured backing vocals by a soul choir that included Claudia Lennear, Joe Greene, Jeanie Greene, Marlin Greene, and Dolores Hall.
The Concert for Bangladesh featured early and late sets, and Harrison played “Here Comes the Sun” at both. You can check out video of one of the performances at the late Ham’s official YouTube channel.
More About The Concert for Bangladesh
Besides Harrison, featured performances by Shankar, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, and Billy Preston. The backing band for the event included all four members of Badfinger, as well as guitarists Jesse Ed Davis and Don Preston, bassists Klaus Voormann and Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Keltner.
The concert was recorded and filmed for an album and movie. The album was released as a triple-LP set in December 1971 in the U.S. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The film premiered in March 1972 in the States.
More About “Here Comes the Sun”
“Here Comes the Sun” originally appeared on the 1969 Beatles album Abbey Road. The song was not released as a single by the Fab Four. That being said, “Here Comes the Sun” is the most-streamed song by The Beatles on Spotify, having amassed more than 1.6 billion streams to date.
Harrison’s live version of “Here Comes the Sun” from The Concert for Bangladesh also was included on the 2009 compilation Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison. The album was issued on vinyl for the first time, as a two-LP set, on July 11.
