— On the first of August, 2025, «The concert for Bangla Desh» (the old spelling of the country) turned 54 years old.
Event, which was able to shed a ray of truth on the troubles and catastrophes that happened to Bengalis, arranged by «ordinary» rock musicians, not by politicians or activists of any kind (although the actions of the musicians were quite suitable for the last term)
The concert was attended by George Harrison (the author of the idea of holding the concert), Ravi Shankar (the great sitarist who told the ex-beatle about the troubles of Bengals), Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner and Klaus Voormann, and also with a group of backing vocalists from Don Nix. Phil Spector helped with the arrangement.
John Lennon was unable to attend the concert, allegedly because Harrison did not allow Yoko Ono to participate in this. Paul McCartney refused because he was plagued by legal issues after the breakup of The Beatles.
The set that the musicians played during the afternoon show of the concert:
• «Bangla Dhun» by Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakh, Kamala Chakwarati, Ali Akbar Khan
• «Wah-wah», «Something», «Awaiting On You All» by George Harrison
• «That's The Way God Planned It» by Billy Preston
• «It Don't Come Easy» by Ringo Starr
• «Beware of Darkness» by George Harrison with Leon Russell
• «While My Guitar Gently Weeps» by George Harrison with Eric Clapton
• «Jumpin' Jack Flash» by The Rolling Stones and «Young Blood» by The Coasters, Leon Russell sang the all songs; George Harrison, Don Preston and Claudia Lennear join the vocalist later
• «Here Comes The Sun» by The Beatles, Pete Ham, George Harrison and Don Nix's gospel choir sang (this is the first live performance of this song)
• «A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall», «Blowing In The Wind», «It Takes Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry», «Love Minus Zero/No Limit», and «Just Like a Woman» by Bob Dylan
• «Hear Me Lord», «My Sweet Lord» and «Bangla Desh» by George Harrison, the whole band was singing
The evening show was similar to the daytime show, only with some changes:
After «Wah-wah» followed «My Sweet Lord», further «Awaiting On You All» and «That's The Way God Planned It», «Hear Me Lord» removed from the program; Bob Dylan reversed the positions «Blowin' in the Wind» and «It Takes Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry», instead of «Love Minus Zero/No Limit» the folk musician played «Mr. Tambourine Guy». The show closed with two final songs – «Something» and «Bangla Desh».
The concert drew the attention of ordinary viewers to the tragic fate of an entire nation – «The concert for Bangla Desh» went down in world history as the first humanitarian rock concert. It was a concert by a «quiet beatle» that inspired Bob Geldof to stage and perform «Live Aid» in 1985.
It was extremely difficult for Harrison to get the recording industry to transfer the rights to the musicians to perform together, and even the millions of dollars earned from the album and the film were kept in IRS escrow accounts for years, but the concert was still recognized as a very successful and influential project, moreover, due to the proceeds from the album «The concert For Bangla Desh» about $12 million was sent to the unhappy country at that time, and sales of the concert LP DVD are still making a profit to the George Harrison Charitable Foundation for UNICEF.
Bengalis are a grateful people who could not just ignore such an incredible significance in their history of George Harrison: seven years after his death, Bangladesh began to consider awarding the former member of The Beatles the title of hero of the Bengali nation, and Bill Harry complained about the lack of recognition from the British awards system for charitable and humanitarian activities.
The sculpture in the form of a bust of Harrison is located in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
It's precisely such events that restore faith in the world and our humanity.
