It was 41 years ago today when the Concert for Bangla Desh was held at New York's Madison Square Garden. I never knew how, but Michael Held got tickets to this
concert. For weeks the city had been abuzz with rumors of a hastily arranged
concert for the victims of the disasters which were then taking place in Bangladesh
(originally spelled as two separate words) a province located in India. Together
with the fleeing refugees from Pakistan, there had also been a devastating
cyclone in 1970; and coupled with these two tragedies, there was a Civil War
going on, with massive atrocities committed against innocent civilians.
After
seeing the power of Woodstock in 1969, George Harrison’s friend Ravi Shankar;
who was originally from the affected area; approached him, asking if he thought
that something could be done within the world of entertainment to help
alleviate the misery and devastation being experienced by the hundreds of
thousands of victims.
There were two concerts held that day, which was a Sunday.
The first show was at noon, with the second show beginning at 7 PM. 40,000
lucky people got to see this historic event, and contribute to the relief of
the people in Bangladesh.
The stage was alive with all of rock and roll’s royalty. But
the intimate video above is one of my favorite parts of the concert. Bob Dylan
being backed by Leon Russell on bass, with George Harrison on his white Fender
Stratocaster, accompanied by Ringo Starr on a tambourine, playing Dylan’s “Just
Like a Woman.” Does it ever get better than that?
This concert was the blueprint for all of the benefit
concerts since then. From Live Aid to Farm Aid, all have their roots in this
one event. The immediate effect was over $250,000 being administered by UNICEF,
for relief in Bangladesh. After some of the initial problems had been ironed
out, the concert continued to generate revenue for the agency, through movie
and recording royalties, all of which found its way to the victims for whom it
was intended.
But I still don’t know how the hell Michael got that ticket!
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