Saturday, May 26, 2018

Live Peace In Toronto

There was a festival concert held in Toronto, Canada which featured a lot of the 1950s era artists including Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, etc.) and the promoter for the concert had contacted Apple in London on September 12 1969 whereby he hooked up via phone with John and Yoko and had asked John if he wouldn't mind flying over for the festival to maybe introduce an act or two. Lennon must have been very impressed as he insisted on playing at the festival. The promoter accepted and arrangements for the flight was made that very day. Lennon decided on his old Hamburg friend Klaus Voorman for bass duties, Alan White (now known as having played in Yes) on drums and Eric Clapton who was asked via telegram.
The next day at 10 in the morning on September 13 1969, the band gathered at the airport and rehearsed on the plane with no previous practice whatsoever. They decided on a few rock and roll oldies and some newer , easy material. The band arrived in Toronto and were escorted to Varsity Stadium. The band took to the stage with a roar from the crowd and off they went with the following oldies: "Blue Suede Shoes", "Money (That's What I Want)", "Dizzy Miss Lizzie", and more recent material such as "Yer Blues" from the year old Beatles' "White Album", the latest recordings "Cold Turkey" and "Give Peace A Chance". Two Yoko songs were also featured including "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)" and "John, John (Let's Hope For Peace)". These songs were mixed in stereo in finally released as "Live Peace in Toronto 1969" by the Plastic Ono Band on December 12 1969; another superior stereo mix was conducted for the 1995 release on compact disc of the same title with the same songs in the same order. You can see the concert on the DVD "Sweet Toronto" with the John/Yoko/Plastic Ono Band footage.

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