Captured on record and film, the Concert for Bangladesh made a far reaching and powerful impression ...not least on the teenage Bob Geldof, who was inspired by the achievements of George Harrison.
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With the new DVD and re-mixed CD of the Concert For Bangladesh coming in a year that has seen the Live8 concerts eclipsing even the global impact of Live Aid twenty years before, their organiser, Bob Geldof, acknowledges his inspiration.
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At the end of 1970, the area of East Pakistan - called Bangladesh by those fighting for independence - had been battered by a cyclone that caused catastrophic flooding and claimed half a million lives. Within months the devastating effects of this natural disaster were compounded by the horrors of war ...as sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar explains.
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George Harrison released a single just a few days before the Concert For Bangladesh took place on August 1st , 1971. Simply called 'Bangla Desh', his song - like the concert - was written in response to a plea for help from his friend Ravi Shankar.
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The Concert For Bangladesh came at a prolific time for George Harrison and the great success of his triple album All Things Must Pass - still high in the charts after a long run at Number One - showed he was on a creative roll and firmly established as a successful solo artist.

Now he faced another challenge...as the Concert for Bangladesh had to be organised in just a few weeks, he dedicated himself to make it not only an event but a musical triumph...as Ringo Starr remembers
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During 1971, George Harrison was enjoying huge success with his triple LP All Things Must Pass - a record that was characterised by its powerful sound. Once the word was out about the Concert For Bangladesh, the 20,000 tickets for each of the afternoon and evening shows at Madison Square Garden in New York had sold out within hours.

Jann Wenner - editor of Rolling Stone magazine at the time - remembers how from then on, excitement about the Concert for Bangladesh intensified.
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In August 1971, The Concert For Bangladesh was momentous not only for the appearance of two Beatles on an American stage for the first time in five years but also because George Harrison had persuaded Bob Dylan to perform. Apart from a brief appearance at a Woody Guthrie tribute, an American audience had not seen him play live since his motorcycle accident in 1966.
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When Bob Dylan performed at the Concert For Bangladesh, he was joined on stage by George Harrison, Leon Russell...and Ringo Starr.
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When Bob Dylan performed in The Concert For Bangladesh, his set list consisted of nothing released after 1966 but during the sound check the previous day, he and George had tried out a song they had each recorded in 1970.

Now available for the first time on the DVD release of The Concert for Bangladesh, here they are rehearsing the Bob Dylan song 'If Not For You'.
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During the Concert For Bangladesh organ player Billy Preston stirred up the band and the audience with a spirited rendition of his hit single 'That's The Way God Planned It'.
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The commercial success of the album recorded at the Concert For Bangladesh was emphatic and unprecedented - a triple LP box set that topped charts around the world. The quality of the music was recognised by a Grammy Award for the Album of the Year. But, as Eric Clapton explains, the event occupies a special place in rock history for another reason.
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Jann Wenner was editor of Rolling Stone magazine when the Concert For Bangladesh took place on 1st August, 1971 and recalls its significance for the music world at that time.
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The money raised by the Concert for Bangladesh was channelled into UNICEF - a voluntarily funded charity established by the United Nations sixty years ago. Its current president is Chip Lyons, who is in no doubt about the enduring significance of the event that George organised in 1971.
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It was George Harrison's understanding of the power and responsibility that rock musicians could wield in the world that has given the Concert For Bangladesh such a lasting influence.
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Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, believes the Concert For Bangladesh had an impact which has continued to echo through the generations.
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