Concert Mixed Bag

 Concert Mixed Bag

No author listed (no surprise with such a negative review)

Jefferson Parish Times

December 6, 1974

    To enjoy a three-bean salad, one has to enjoy the taste of each bean because each time a bite is taken, at least two of the beans are in that portion. I'm probably going to get criticized for comparing George Harrison's concert in Baton Rouge last week to a bean salad. But along with Harrison were Ravi Shankar (and his 10 Little Indians) and Billy Preston. All three musicians are popular with some of the people, but all three are not popular with all of the people. Nevertheless, the concert was just like the salad. One had to take two at a time instead of listening to three separate floor shows. 

    The show began with Harrison conservatively dressed in Ivy League plaid pants and sporting a middle-class sore throat. After singing a few old Beatles tunes, such as "Something" from the Abbey Road album and a couple of new ones on the Dark Horse label, Shankar and a tribe of Indian friends entered stage left; any reminiscent vibrations one experienced about the Beatle legend were quickly extinguished.

     Shankar is an excellent musician, but his music conjures up scenes of a harem of belly dancers. I'm not sure a concert of total Shankar and sitar is moving. But when one wants to hear Harrison and his amazing guitar, one has to listen to "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom." 

    Disappointment cannot help but surface the primary problem with the concert, which was the lack of continuity. No mood was set. One may argue that a mood is not the objective of a concert, that the objective is to listen to music. I disagree because the music can be listened to on a stereo. A concert is attended for the purpose of being entertained. Jumping from Billy Preston's "Nothing From Nothing" to Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" is hellish on the psyche, and it was evident from the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd that the concert as a whole was a disappointment.