Review: From the Big Apple to the Big Easy DVD

On September 20, 2005 hurricane relief concerts were staged at Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall under the banner "From the Big Apple to the Big Easy - The Concert for New Orleans." The MSG event is now available in a two-DVD set.

There are some interesting parallels between George Harrison’s Concert for Bangaldesh in 1971 and the From the Big Apple to the Big Easy concert in 2005.

The venue for both was New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Both were staged to raise money to relieve human suffering. In Bangladesh (then a region of Pakistan) it was flooding caused by torrential rains that affected thousands of refugees already victimized by political turmoil. In New Orleans it was the devastating floods caused by Hurricane Katrina, whose effects are still seen and felt more than a year the floodwaters receded.

Harrison’s was the first of the now common large-scale A-list celebrity benefit concerts. It served as the model for events like Live Aid, Farm Aid, Live 8, and a host of hurricane relief concerts in Katrina’s wake. In addition to Harrison, the Concert for Bangladesh attracted names like Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston and Leon Russell. From the Big Apple to the Big Easy attracted names like Elton John, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, John Fogerty, Elvis Costello, Cyndi Lauper, and a host of New Orleans-based artists, many of them directly affected by Katrina.

The September 20, 2005 concert is documented on a two-DVD set that is the result of a collaboration between Rhino Entertainment, Cablevision and MSG Entertainment. One of the most important things about this release is that 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of the DVD benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. It’s just a happy coincidence that it’s a helluva entertainment experience to boot.

Like other events of its size and status, From the Big Apple to the Big Easy is notable as much for the event itself as for some of the talent pairings that have been seen rarely, never before, or never again, to wit:

• Elvis Costello with the Allen Toussaint Band
• Bette Midler with the Allen Toussaint Band
• Cyndi Lauper with The Dixie Cups and Irma Thomas
• John Fogerty with Bill Clinton
• Jimmy Buffett and Dave Matthews singing a Neil Young song (“Heart of Gold”)
• Jimmy Buffett and Paul Simon singing “Sea Cruise”
• Simon & Garfunkel performing with Aaron Neville
• Elvis Costelllo and Diana Krall (aka Mrs. Costello) performing with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
• Ed Bradley (60 Minutes) joining in a spirited rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In”

High points:

• Bette Midler’s delivery of “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”
• Aaron Neville’s rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” (the biggest applause is from Paul Simon)
• Lauper, Thomas, and The Dixie Cups
• “Levon” – after X,000 performances, Sir Elton manages to pack a lot of emotion into it, and the crowd responds accordingly
• The Neville Brothers and The Meters on “Hey Pocky Way”
• Diana Krall’s interpretation of “I’m Walkin’”
• Everything by Ry Cooder (simply because I’ve been a huge Ry Cooder fan for as long as I can remember and you should be, too)

Low points:

• Scarlett Johansson introducing Elton John – the script is trite, this seems to be the first time she’s seen it, and what the heck is her connection to any of this anyway?
• Cyndi Lauper without Irma Thomas and The Dixie Cups – her main occupation seems to be to shake her ... um ... thaings
• Not his fault, but Art Garfunkel’s vocal range isn’t what it used to be

Did I mention that 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of the DVD benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina? Aside from that, this DVD set is worth having because it’s three-and-a-half hours of pretty solid entertainment, with some combinations of A-list talent that you may never see again.