"The first live performance of The Plastic Ono Band was the result of a spur of the moment decision that saw the makeshift group fly across the Atlantic a day after agreeing to a last-minute invitation.
"This compilation attempts to collect all recordings that have been released from that day's festival, officially or otherwise, to put The Plastic Ono Band's famous gig back into the context of that day's concert proceedings."The Toronto Rock & Roll Festival was unique among 1960s music festivals in that it featured so many acts that were straight out of the 1950s. Now you can hear the juxtaposition of John Lennon playing alongside Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper alongside Bo Diddley, The Doors alongside Little Richard—all the sounds of what made the young history of rock and roll in 1969. Here they are, all in one place for the very first time."This "Collected and Incomplete" title includes everything from that day that is known to circulate among collectors. If you know where to find any of the rest of it, please share!The Plastic Ono Band at the Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival Festival
At the end of 1969, the psychedelic rage was over. Over the course of the previous year, major acts like Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys and the Beatles all had returned to the their roots: Rhythm & Blues and Rock 'n' Roll. New groups like The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Delaney & Bonnie followed in their footsteps.
In Canada some people thought it might be the right moment for a revival concert. The day-long event was to take place in the Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto, Ontario on Saturday September 13. The promoters Walker-Brower contacted as many of the top Rock & Roll stars of the 'fifties that they could find: Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent, along with Little Richard, Fats Domino and Bo Diddley. Some contemporary acts like The Doors and Chicago Transit Authority were added. Plus Lord Sutch, Tony Joe White, Doug Kershaw and Alice Cooper. The show was billed as the Toronto Rock & Roll Revival Show.But the ticket sales were inadequate. Rock revival shows had come and gone before. The novelty of seeing the veterans had worn thin. Only a dismal 800 tickets were sold by Monday September 8. On the verge of causing embarrassment and financial loss - one of the promoters, John Brower, made a desperate last minute phone call to Apple Corps in London. He asked for the Beatles, who hadn't by then, performed in three years. But only John could be reached. Brower then asked John Lennon if he could come over just to watch his idol, Chuck Berry, on stage. He immediately went one better and agreed to come… to perform.
But then he had to face the problem of organizing an ad-hock band. George's personal assistant, Terry Doran started making some phone-calls. First the rhythm section. Ringo was still recovering from an operation. Klaus Voormann, a friend from the Hamburg days, and at that time playing bass with Manfred Mann was duly located. Ex-Alan Price drummer Alan White came next. “John had seen me playing in a club with my band, Griffin, the evening before," recalls White, "I think it was at the Rasputin Club in Bond Street. A person who worked for him contacted me and said, ‘John wants you to work with him, to go and play with The Plastic Ono Band tomorrow in Toronto.’ I said, ‘Oh come on.’ He said, ‘No, seriously.’ I dismissed it. Then he called back later and said, ‘We’re sending a limo for you tomorrow to do this gig.’ I was supposed to be playing that night with my band and they got really upset because we had to cancel.
But the chosen lead-guitar player proved to be harder to find. John particularly wanted Eric Clapton. The guitarist had only returned back to England a week before, after a tiresome North American tour, with Blind Faith. Doran had already tried Clapton's home many times and got no answer. He worked right through the night trying to trace Eric until, finally, at 5.30 in the morning, he sent a telegram to Clapton's house and went to bed.The plane was due to take off at 10 am. By 9.30 most of the musicians and assistants had arrived at London Airport and clocked in. But there was no sing of Clapton nor … John and Yoko. A phonocall learned John had second thoughts about performing. “Send them flowers, Love from John and Yoko, we can’t come.”
Right then Terry rushed up with Eric Clapton behind him. Apparently, Eric had gone to bed at 11 o'clock and just hadn't heard the telephone. Fortunately his gardener opened up the telegram, woke him up and told him about the concert. Clapton managed to persuade John that they’d better made it on the next flight.
The party canceled the flight and re-booked on the 3.15 p.m. By that time the group had grown to
ten people:
John and Yoko, Eric Clapton, Alan White, Klaus Voormann, Anthony Fawcett (John's personal assistant), Mal Evans, Terry Doran plus Jill and Dan Richter. The Richter's had been busy putting all John and Yoko's recent activities on to film. They were due to make a permanent record of the Toronto concert.As a result of the rescheduled flight, there were only three first class seats available. So while John, Yoko and Eric settled in the front of the plane, the rest had to take place in the back. After the meal the three of them walked down the aisle to join the others to have their first rehearsal in the back of the plane. “It was one of the old Boeing 707s," remembers Alan White, "And it wasn’t full so we all went to the back of the plane and they sat around playing acoustic guitars while I played the drum parts on the back of the seat – I had a pair of drumsticks. Then we decided on the versions of the songs we were going to do – a lot of them were standards – and we were ready.” “With the noise of the jet engines nobody could hear my bass at all,” ads Klaus Voormann.
A set list was worked out on the back of an airline menu: some classics John remembered from the Cavern days, fleshed out with some recent compositions.
Yoko had some difficulty getting through Customs because she hadn't been vaccinated but, finally, the Immigrations let her through At the airport, a couple of limousines were waiting to transport the party the 18 miles to the Varsity Stadium.
Alan White confirms: “We got met at the airport by a whole entourage of cars, four or five limos. We ended up at the stadium and I got to meet Little Richard, Gene Vincent, and a bunch of people. It was like a dream."
At about 9:pm local time, the spotlights turned from the stage to the stands and focused on the press booth to show John & Yoko to the punters. The promoters had faced a lot of trouble persuading the public that the famous Beatle really would appear in person at the festival - even after phone calls from Fawcett and Lennon himself. A message from Allen Klein to categorically denies the appearance didn’t help either. But… the concert was a sell out - all 21,739 seats – just in case…
There was some discussion who was going to play as last act. John and Yoko didn’t want to follow The Doors and neither did Little Richard. In the end, it was decided that Little Richard would play before and The Doors after The Plastic Ono Band.
The stage was a 12 foot dais in the middle of the pitch facing half of the arena where the audience would sit.
They quickly gathered together back-stage and plugged all the guitars into one small amp and started running through the numbers they were going to perform.
Backstage tension mounted. John was getting physically sick with nerves during these rehearsals. The plane trip and the excitement of the whole thing became to much. This problem was perhaps exacerbated by his recent withdrawal from Heroin. The singer, producer and songwriter Kim Fowley, who acted as compere: “John threw up. And he started to cry. He said, ‘I’m terrified. Imagine if The Beatles were the only band you’ve ever been in, the first time you are to step on stage with people that aren’t The Beatles. Please do something so people won’t know how afraid I am to go out there.’ He was in a bad way.”
The Lennons asked Brower for some coke. He came up with six bottles of soda. Yoko had to explain to the naive young man that they didn’t need Coca-Cola, but cocaïne!
When the time came for John to go on stage, Kim Fowley had worked out something to make it easier.
“I had seen a movie a decade before,” explains Fowley, “Our Lady Of Fatima, where the Blessed Virgin appears in the sky and all the people light torches. So I figured, they all think John Lennon is God and this is a religious experience. So why don’t I take this to a religious level, subliminally, by recreating Our Lady Of Fatima with fire. I asked the Varsity Stadium to please turn off the lights and when I say the words ‘Plastic Ono Band’ I want everybody to light matches simultaneously to welcome John in a very friendly, beatified way. On the live album you’ll hear ‘Get your matches ready… Brower and Walker present The Plastic Ono Band, and 20,000 matches were lit. It was a beautiful amber glow and everyone let out a collective gasp. Lennon realized that here’s the moment that will take away the nervousness, and it was clear sailing for him all the way until the end.”
It was an unbelievable sight when thousands of little flickering lights shone all over the huge arena. ”It was fantastic," agreed John Lennon, "It was just getting dark. The lights were just going down. This was the first time I ever heard about this – I’d never seen it anywhere else – I think it was the first time it happened – they all lit candles, or lights…”
"Then John, Yoko Eric, Alan and Klaus were on stage, and lined up just like the old Beatles set-up," recalled Mal Evans, a month later, in Beatles Book, "Bass on the left, lead guitar next, then John on the right with the drummer behind. Each guitarist had two big speakers, one on either side of the stage, and the sound was really fantastic right from the moment they began." Drummer Alan White doesn't agree: “I never saw the drum kit until I walked on-stage, I had to readjust things as we were going out there. So it took us four or five minutes to tune up, get the snare drum in place and so on. I must admit it was not perfect.”
Lennon wearing his trademark white suit, long hair, granny glasses and full beard apologized quickly: "We're just goin' to do numbers we know, as we've never played together before". They kicked off the performance with Carl Perkins's 'Blue Suede Shoes'. ”I can’t remember when I had such a good time,” recalled Lennon later, “Yoko was holding a piece of paper with the words to the songs in front of me. But then she suddenly disappeared into her bag in the middle of the performance and I had to make them up because it’s so long since I sang them that I’ve forgotten most of them. It didn’t seem to matter.” “I think all of us were busking to a degree,” agreed Alan White, “but it went down in history.”
Two more rock 'n' roll classics followed: 'Money' and 'Dizzy Miss Lizzie' - both recorded and issued by the Beatles. From under her sheet Yoko kept adding impromptu and rather intrusive squeals and yells.
.John urged Yoko to come back out of her sack because he needed the lyrics sheet for the next couple of recent songs. The White Album song, 'Yer Blues' was the first of these. Eric Clapton was already familiar with this tune as he had played it live with John at the Rolling Stones Rock 'N' Roll Circus. It was an anguished, if slightly shaky version.
‘Cold Turkey’ was introduced with the words, "Never done this number before… Best of luck". As the pedestrian performance reached a fumbled conclusion, John rather impatiently gibed at the audience’s lack of reaction: "Come on - wake up!".
For the intro to ‘Give Peace A Chance’ John told the crowd, "This is what we came for really, so sing along". He then proceeded to apologies that he could remember the chorus but not all the bits in-between! Not surprising it all was a bit chaotic.
Then John warned the audience "And now Yoko's gonna do her thing all over you". A storming performance of her message to her estranged young daughter ‘Don't Worry Kyoko’ was well received. Yoko wailed, cried and howled. Had they left the stage there and then, they could have expected a wild standing ovation. Instead, unaccompanied, she cried out the words “Oh John, Lets Hope For Peace” in agonizingly extended breaths, before the two guitarists forced gales of piercing feedback from their instruments, with sporadic bursts of percussion from Andy White. Nothing less than an assault on the ears. Promoter Bumps Blackwell, who was backstage remembers: “When Yoko started squalling, she sounded like a bull moose in mating season. Horrible. Like she was in pain. The kids started booing and then they started walking out. They bombed totally.”
“I remember they booed the Lennons” agrees Brian Simmons: “Especially Yoko.”
Mid-way through the piece John's nerves get the better of him and, in an attempt to placate some of the increasingly irritated members of the audience, he began to act the clown - shakin' his hips Elvis-style.
Then Yoko broke into a long series of sharp screams. After a few minutes John whispered something in Yoko’s ear - probably that it was time to make their exit. He placed his guitar against his amplifiers (thus continuing the feedback), and helped his wife of stage with his arm around her and a half-hearted wave goodbye. The band members followed his example, and walked to the back of the stage. Because they had already started the feed-back process, the sound continued while Klaus, Allan and Eric grouped together and lit cigarettes. Then Mal Evans walked on stage to turn off each of the swirling white noise generators one by one, to a mixed and confused reception from the perplexed audience.
Nevertheless, the band, despite the nerves and some of the reaction, had thoroughly enjoyed the experience. “It was a great gig,” confirms Eric Clapton, “We did an hour of solid rock numbers like ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’.”
There was a ten minute Press conference to conclude the day. "When it was over," recalled Mal Evans in Beatles Monthly, "We all piled into four big cars and drove for two hours to a huge estate owned by a Mr. Eaton, who is one of the richest men in Canada. His son had actually picked us up after the show so that we could stay overnight at his house.
The next day we got into golf-carts and went all over the estate. It really is a wonderful country. Miles and miles of trees, hills, lakes and green frogs."
During his stay there, John came to the decision that it was high time to finish the Beatles. He had clearly outgrown them, he informed Eric Clapton the next day, on the plane. Upon arrival he phoned Klein to break the news. But Klein convinced him to wait until the new contract with Capitol would be validated.
"After Plastic Ono Band's debut in Toronto we had a meeting in Savile Row," recalls Ringo Starr, "Where John finally brought it to a head. He said: `Well, that's it lads, let's end it'."
"I felt the split coming," explained Paul in March 1971, "And John kept saying we were musically standing still. One night, Linda and I were lying there, talking about it, and I thought, 'That's what I miss, and what they miss too: playing.' Because we hadn't actually played for anyone for a long time. And being an actual good musician requires this contact with people all the time. The human thing. So I came into the idea of going to village halls which hold a couple of hundred people. Have someone book the hall and put up posters saying, maybe, 'Ricky and Redstreaks, Saturday Night.' And we'd just turn up there in a van and people would arrive and we'd be there. I thought that was great. John said, 'You're daft.'
At this time John's thing was playing for 200,000 people because he'd been at a big festival or something. So he wanted to do that. And I can see now what he thought. I can see which way John sees progress. I see it sometimes another way.
We were talking in the Apple offices. Ringo was there - he agreed - and maybe George wasn't there. So then John says, 'Anyway, I'm leaving the group.' He said, 'I want a divorce.' He literally said, 'I want a divorce.' And for the first time ever, he meant it. So that just hit everyone. All of us realized that this great thing that we'd been part of was no longer to be. This was the chop. That hits anyone, no matter what it is. It's like leaving school, and you love it then it hits like a chop. Or whatever your thing is. Our thing was the Beatles."
It probably was the last time the four of them were together in the same building.
***
Of course the Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival Festival was recorded and filmed. Not only on videotape by the Richters, but also on 16 mm, by D.A. Pennebaker, using eight cameras. But at the insistence of Allen Klein and John Lennon, the performance of the Plastic Ono Band was omitted from the film Keep On Rockin’.
An album Live Peace in Toronto was produced by John and Yoko. "We tried to put it out on Capitol, but Capitol didn't want to put it out,' recalled John Lennon, "They said, 'This is garbage! We're not going to put it out with her screaming on one side and you doing this sort of live stuff.' But, we finally persuaded them that people might buy this. Of course, it went gold the next day. Klein had got a deal on that record that it was a John and Yoko/Plastic Ono Band record and not a Beatles record, so we could get a higher royalty, because The Beatles' royalties were so low. Capitol said, 'Sure you can have it. Nobody's going to buy that crap!' They just threw it away and gave it to us. It came out, it was fairly successful and it went gold."
The album sleeve was once again designed by John Kosh, and first editions included a John and Yoko calendar for 1970. The calendar had pictures, poems and songs. Curiously, it only featured pictures of John and Yoko from their first year together in 1968 - no more recent 1969 shots. The poems were taken from John (In His Own Write & A Spaniard In The Works) and Yoko's (Grapefruit) printed works. Particularly interesting are the poems by John on the top leaf, which originally appeared in recorded form on the Beatles 1968 Christmas record, they appeared in print for the first time here.
Live Peace in Toronto was worldwide released on December 12th 1969. It failed to chart in the UK, while in the USA it reached the Top Ten. First pressings - with stapled calendar is worth about € 110.
Although the LP was deleted in November 1989, a cd was not issued by EMI until may 1995, several years after all of John's other musical offerings had been issued on the silver disc. The cd cover indicates that it was re-mixed from the original 8-track tapes by Rob Stevens at "Quad Recording" and digitally remastered by George Martino at Sterling Sound. A 32 page booklet is included, with the 13 month calendar.
In 1988 Pennebaker's movie could finally be released, with the complete Plastic Ono Band concert in it's place. The title was now changed to Sweet Toronto. Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard were each represented with one song. There was no footage from The Doors as they had refused to give permission to be filmed. Interestingly, the mix used for the video makes Yoko's contributions to tracks like 'Yer Blues' much more obvious.
Ten years later, Sweet Toronto was also released on DVD (PA-98-584-D). The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix was created by Ted Hall using the original two track mix. The only real extra on the DVD is the opening with Yoko Ono. It is a clip taken from when John Lennon's art was being exhibited in London in 1988. Yoko tells about how they met, what it was like to be in Toronto in 1969 and the naming of the Plastic Ono band.
