Handled with care

This is nothing more than a filmed record of the Albert Hall concert in November 2002 in which a group of old musos got together to pay tribute to their friend, the late former Beatle, George Harrison. Under the loose leadership of Eric Clapton, artists such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ravi Shankar, keyboard player Billy Preston, Jeff Lynne, a disturbingly youthful Joe Brown, surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and

even most of the Monty Python gang (sportingly joined by Tom Hanks in a Mountie's uniform for The Lumberjack Song), trooped on stage to deliver versions of Harrison's best-known songs.

With the minimum of camera jiggery-pokery, David Leland does a fine job of interspersing backstage chat and gentle reminiscence with the main point of the evening: the songs. Something, For You Blue, Handle with Care, plus a real kick-ass version of Carl Perkins's Honey Don't are all rendered with great care and affection. The whole evening, from the moment Harrison's widow, Olivia, walked on stage to light a candle, was clearly suffused with good will and exquisite musicianship.

The concert moves imperceptibly, one might almost say organically, towards the climax when the modest Clapton finally lets rip on a duct-welling version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Of the many curious sights on stage, few were more poignant than Harrison's son, Dhani, whose resemblance to his father is spooky; and few more amusing than Tom Petty's lead guitarist who bore an uncanny resemblance to Ken Dodd. How appropriate that they played Taxman.

Concert For George
Cert: certPG