On 13 September 1969, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and their new band, playing live for the first and last time during the "Toronto Rock and Roll R...
On 13 September 1969, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and their new band, playing live for the first and last time during the "Toronto Rock and Roll Revival", a one day, twelve hour music festival held in Varsity Stadium, at the University of Toronto, before an audience of over 25,000 people. It featured a number of popular musical acts from the 1950s and 1960s, including Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, and Gene Vincent and also booked more modern acts such as Alice Cooper, Chicago Transit Authority and The Doors.nnToronto rock promoters John Brower and Kenny Walker contacted John Lennon to see if he would be willing to be the master of ceremonies. Lennon responded that if he came over at all, it would be to play, "only if you let me bring my new band so we can play." He hastily assembled a band under the Plastic Ono Band moniker, consisting of his wife Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and drummer Alan White. nnThe band had two rehearsals: one was during the transatlantic flight from London to Toronto and the other shortly before appearing on stage at the actual festival. Before the start of the Plastic Ono Band's performance, they were introduced by Kim Fowley and Lennon said to the crowd that the group were going to play only songs that they actually knew. They performed three classic rock and roll songs ("Blue Suede Shoes", "Money (That's What I Want)", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"), the Beatles ("Yer Blues") and his two solo songs, ("Give Peace a Chance" and "Cold Turkey")nnYoko selected a song which had been the B-side of "Cold Turkey," "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)", which also had its premiere at the festival. Shortly before the band went into the song, Lennon announced that Yoko was "gonna do her thing all over you".nnFilm maker D. A. Pennebaker, who had made the 1967 documentary "Don't Look Back", concerning Bob Dylan's 1965 UK tour, and the 1968 documentary "Monterey Pop", concerning the 1967 "Monterey International Pop Festival", also filmed the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival. The Plastic Ono Band's performance resulted in the release of the "Live Peace in Toronto 1969" album and become the soundtrack recording, being part of the audio portion of the Pennebaker's documentary film being made of the festival, released in 1971 as "Sweet Toronto". John and Yoko made a deal with Pennebaker to license their portion of the show for record, in exchange for rights to include their appearance. Due to the adverse reaction to Yoko's performance, Pennebaker removed the segments with John and Yoko after limited screenings of the film, later re-edited as "Keep on Rockin". Showtime ultimately presented the performance in 1989, and the full movie appeared later on home video and DVD.nnnDirected by : D.A. PennebakernProduced by : Matt Friedman, Peter Hansen and Mark WoodcocknCinematography : D.A. Pennebaker, Roger Murphy and Richard LeacocknEditing by : BMGnMusic by : The Plastic Ono BandnnnPersonnel :nnJohn Lennon : lead vocals, rhythm guitarnYoko Ono : vocals, bagnEric Clapton : lead guitar, backing vocalsnKlaus Voormann : bassnAlan White : drumsnnnn"John, John (Let's Hope for Peace)" [Live] [1969] : Less
