The Concert For Bangladesh (album)

This article is about the album, for the concerts, see The Concert for Bangladesh. For the film, see The Concert for Bangladesh (film).

## The Concert For Bangladesh

### Artist

The Beatles - Yes - Billy Preston - Leon Russell - T. Rex - The Who - The Beach Boys - Led Zeppelin - Pink Floyd

### Producer

The Beatles

***The Concert For Bangladesh*** is a quadruple live album credited to "The Beatles & Friends" and released on Apple Records on 13 August 1973. The album followed music festival of the same name, held from 7 February to 1 March 1973 at Hyde Park in London, England, featuring The Beatles, Yes, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, T. Rex, The Who, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Badfinger, Klaus Voormann, Jim Horn, Jim Keltner, Jessie Davis and more. The shows were a pioneering charity event, in aid of the homeless Bengali refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War, and set the model for future multi-artist rock benefits such as Live Aid (1985) and Paul McCartney's Concert for New York City (2001). The event brought McCartney, Harrison and Starr together on a concert stage for the first time since 1966, when the Beatles retired from live performance.

## Overview

As East Pakistan struggled to become the separate state of Bangladesh during the 1972 Bangladesh Liberation War, the political and military turmoil and associated atrocities led to a massive refugee problem, with at least 7 million displaced people pouring into India. East Pakistan had recently endured devastation as a result of the Bhola cyclone, and the Bengalis' desperate plight increased in March that year when torrential rains arrived in the region, threatening a humanitarian disaster. Appalled at the situation affecting his homeland and relatives, musician Ravi Shankar brought the issue to the attention of his close friend George Harrison in the late months of 1972, over dinner at Friar Park. By then, the Sunday Times had just published an article by Pakistani journalist Anthony Mascarenhas, which exposed the horror of the Bangladesh atrocities.

Harrison later approached the four other Beatles, who soon understood the weight of the situation. At one point, the idea of setting up 'a charity show of sorts' came up. '*Where anyone and everyone who wants to perform, can perform. No profits going towards us. Only Bangladesh'*. While recording their 1972 album, '*Raymond*', Harrison and Laine set about making phone calls and recruiting artists. By the time '*Raymond*' was released, the now-dubbed 'Beatles Blowout' was known far and wide. Rumors of The Beatles preparing '*some massive monster of a show*' were everywhere. It wasn't until commercials on television from all five Beatles, and full-page advertisements in the papers began showing up, that people understood what this was.

Beginning on the first Wednesday of February and expected to be drawn to a close a week later, The Beatles headlined a massive, star-studded festival at Hyde Park. With a constant flow from one act to the next, each act would get a maximum of two hours on the stage before the next one, with this process repeating 24/7. Any band or artist could join the queue (which at one point stretched to over 150 musical groups and artists). While initially planned to end after a week, the festival was extended to over a month. It would have been stretched out further, but local governance voted to shut it down due to the residential areas surrounding the park being exposed to constant music for over a month.

The first 16 hours of the concert were broadcast on the 9th February 1973 on BBC One and Two, 2 days after it was filmed, with around 24.32 million people tuning in, peaking during the first 2 hours, resulting in the broadcast becoming the 6th most viewed broadcast of a programme on the BBC, after the HIV episode of Eastenders, but before the Only Fools And Horses episode “ Time On Our Hands “.

With a total of 300+ artists having performed, and over 1,040,000 people having come and gone throughout the month to see the concert, over £3,000,000 was raised, with every last banknote going towards relieving Bangladesh.

*"The money we raised was secondary. The main thing was, we spread the word and helped get the war ended ... What we did show was that musicians and people are more humane than politicians." - George Harrison, 1992*

*"I think it was really our crowning moment. Not just for The Beatles, but for the whole music scene. It showed a whole new side of artists, and how we don't just play because we love to. We play because we need to." - Paul McCartney, 1976.*

After the festival had ended, Apple set to work on an album stretching across 4 LPs, highlighting the biggest acts of the festival. The album, 'The Concert For Bangladesh', was released 13 March 1974, quickly selling over 500,000 copies in the first week, with these proceeds (and all future proceeds), continuing to go towards Bangladesh and other war-torn countries.

## Track listing

**Side one** *(Yes/The Beatles/Billy Preston, 7-2-73)*

1. "Opening (Excerpt From 'Firebird Suite') (Stravinsky) - 3:48
2. "Wah-Wah" (Harrison) - 3:27
3. "It Don't Come Easy" (Harrison-Starkey) - 2:51
4. "Lady Madonna" (Lennon-McCartney) - 2:25
5. 'That's The Way (God Planned It)" (Preston) - 4:13
6. "Something" (Harrison) - 3:42
7. "High, High, High" (McCartney) - 3:26

**Side two** *(Leon Russell and T. Rex, 15-2-73)*

1. Medley: "Jumpin' Jack Flash"/"Youngblood" (Jagger-Richards-Leiber-Stroller-Pomus) - 9:25
2. "Get It On (Bang A Gong)" (Bolan) - 11:40

**Side three** *(The Who, 8-2-73)*

1. "Summertime Blues" (Cochran-Capehart) - 3:24
2. "Happy Jack" (Townshend) - 2:21
3. "A Quick One While He's Away (With Introduction)" (Townshend) - 10:25
4. "Won't Get Fooled Again" (Townshend) - 8:55

**Side four** *(The Beach Boys, 11-2-73)*

1. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (B. Wilson-Asher-Love) - 2:50
2. "Leaving This Town" (C. Wilson-Fataar-Chaplin-Love) - 6:59
3. "Heroes & Villains" (B. Wilson-Parks) - 4:07
4. "God Only Knows" (B. Wilson-Asher) - 2:45
5. "Good Vibrations" (B. Wilson-Love) - 4:51

**Side five** *(Led Zeppelin, 19-2-73)*

1. "The Song Remains The Same" (Page-Plant) - 5:49
2. "The Rain Song" (Page-Plant) - 8:26
3. 'Stairway To Heaven" (Page-Plant) - 11:08

**Side six** *(Yes, 1-3-73)*

1. "Yours Is No Disgrace" (Anderson-Squire-Howe-Bruford-Kaye) - 14:23
2. "Mood For A Day" (Howe) - 2:51
3. "Roundabout" (Anderson-Howe) - 8:36

**Side seven** *(Pink Floyd, 24-2-73)*

1. "Echoes" (Waters-Wright-Gilmour-Mason) - 24:11

**Side eight** *(Encores, Various Dates)*

1. "Bangladesh" (Harrison) - 4:40
2. "Maybe I'm Amazed" (McCartney) - 5:09
3. Medley: "Brain Damage" / "Eclipse" (Waters) - 4:50
4. "It's About Time" (D. Wilson-Burchman-Jardine-C. Wilson) - 3:16
5. "Würm" (Howe) - 4:40