The new Carole King concert documentary, Home Again: Live in Central Park, is set to premiere on January 19 at New York’s IFC film center. The showing will be followed by a wider release on February 9 via The Coda Collection.
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The new concert documentary features exclusive interviews and never before seen performance footage from King’s landmark May 26, 1973 concert on Central Park’s great lawn in front of 100,000 fans.
Directed by George Scott and produced by Lou Adler and John McDermott, the film presents the complete multi-camera 16mm footage filmed and recorded by Adler in 1973 but never before released.
“We wanted to do something special with Carole in New York,” remembers Adler. “I got in touch with Ron Delsener and told him that Carole was coming home to New York. This was where her upbringing took place and where she got her start in music. New York was everything to her and she wanted to give something back to both her hometown and devoted fans.”
Adler adds, “I brought Hank Cicalo, my recording engineer from Los Angeles, out to Central Park to record the show as it might possibly become an album. Then I had the notion, having done the film Monterey Pop [Adler had produced the groundbreaking 1967 music festival together with John Phillips] I felt that something this big should be filmed. I had no idea what I was going to do with the film at that time, but I felt that something this important should be documented.”
King presented her performance on the lawn in two parts—first alone, on piano, and then fronting a powerhouse 11-piece band. In the aftermath of the Central Park performance, Adler took the film and recordings back to Los Angeles where it remained unreleased for 50 years.
“Recently, John McDermott came to me and said, ‘This should be a film. This performance should be seen.’” explains Adler “His interest excited me and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ I contacted Carole and we got started.”
“Tapestry had become such a huge hit, and I really wanted to give something back to the people,” remembers King. “When I first walked on stage, in Central Park, in front of the Great Lawn, and it’s full of people…it was kind of terrifying for a minute. Then the crowd began to cheer, and it was like a wave coming toward me. There was just so much love. It was too much to take in, but I realized all I had to do was sit down and start playing. They were there to hear me. I knew how to deliver, and that’s what I sat down to do.”
The film will be available to stream exclusively on February 9 on The Coda Collection.
On February 10, a live album, Home Again, will be released digitally via Ode Records and Legacy Recordings. Pre-save the album HERE.
Home Again setlist
1. Beautiful
2. Been To Canaan
3. Way Over Yonder
4. Smackwater Jack
5. Home Again
6. Sweet Seasons
7. It’s Too Late
8. Fantasy Beginning
9. You’ve Been Around Too Long
10. Being At War With Each Other
11. That’s How Things Go Down
12. Haywood
13. A Quiet Place To Live
14. You Light Up My Life
15. Corazón
16. Believe In Humanity
17. Fantasy End
18. You’ve Got A Friend
Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage
