LIVE Peace In Toronto

In retaliation to The Beatles rejecting Cold Turkey as the next Beatle single (or perhaps, with Abbey Road finished recording, understanding that The Beatles were no more) Lennon retaliated by grabbing a rag-taggle band in September 1969, consisting of:

• Eric Clapton (then badly strung out on heroin)
• Klaus Voorman (ex-Hamburg friend and session bass player, who was to replace Paul McCartney on many ex-Beatle recordings in the 1970s) &
• Alan White (who Lennon had seen drumming in a club)

...and headed off to Canada again, (his third trip in the year), this time to play a one-off gig in Tortonto at a Rock'n'Roll Revival show, which included stars like Little Richard, Chuck Berry & Bo Diddley. This recorded concert became LIVE Peace In Toronto. 

John Lennon: LIVE Peace In Toronto

Rehearsals took place on the aeroplane trip over with drummer Alan White drumming on the the back of the seats and the set consisted of about twenty minutes of songs, sloppily played by some of the most respected rock stars in the world. The set consisted of:

• Blue Suede Shoes
• Money
• Dizzy Missy Lizzie
• Yer Blues (from The White Album)
• Cold Turkey (the world premiere, six weeks before its official release) &
• Give Peace A Chance   

Another 20 minutes was scheduled for a Yoko freak-out feedback jam around Don't Worry Kyoko (her "song" for her missing daughter). The performance is about as good as you can expect given the ridiculous circumstances, though it must be said, Lennon's voice held up pretty well. The resultant LIVE Peace in Toronto  album captures the entire happening, from when the Plastic Ono Band first start tuning-up, to the feedback nuttiness at the end. It makes fascinating listening.!

Live Peace In Toronto

"...Stunning is the word to define this CD...it contains the entire LIVE performance that John Lennon and his brand new group, the Plastic Ono Band, gave in September 1969..." Amazon reviewer R. Max. Totten

"...This was a liberating performance for Lennon and Ono, and an oddly riveting one. The band is loose around the edges, never having played together before but they end up creating a powerhouse of sound..." Amazon reviewer A. Customer

"...I've owned this album since it came out - and I was at this concert...Anyway, (it's) musically mediocre, but yeah it's historic too...What you can't hear on the album is during the Yoko "songs", she was getting booed big-time from the audience....Amazon reviewer James K. Nash "jimi"

"...John says to the audience, "Now Yoko's gonna do her thing all over you." And Yoko screeches, moans, and wails for 20 minutes as the audience watched in horror. They booed then, but these twenty minutes gave birth to Bjork, Hole, Nirvana, and pretty much all of alternative and experimental rock. For that very reason, this album is possibly one of the most significant in rock history. A must-have..." Amazon reviewer UntilAfter5Yrs

According to biographer Albert Goldman,  film-maker D.A. Pennebaker recorded the whole concert including the John & Yoko segments and the resultant documentary was planned to be released as Sweet Toronto. 

However Lennon was so thrilled with doing something ouside of The Beatles that he struck a deal where Pennebaker could have the rights to the movie if he & Yoko could release their concert performance as a LIVE album. LIVE Peace In Toronto was rush released by Apple, eventually selling close to  750,000 copies.

When Pennebaker tried to release his film in 1971, John & Yoko reneged on the deal and without the money for a legal war, Pennebaker was eventually forced to release a version without John & Yoko called Keep On Rockin', (presently unavailable). Confusingly, John & Yoko's efforts have now been been released on DVD, and with a bizarre tip of the hat to the past, titled Sweet Toronto. The DVD is a sloppy affair, both musically and visually but for true believers, it's great! 

John Lennon: Sweet Toronto DVD

"...This is a Great Rock-n-Roll DVD...(with) great 50's acts Bo Didley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry...John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band with Clapton...put on a equally rocking set. Loose, spontaneous and John's fantastic Rock-n-Roll voice...fierce and growling..." Amazon reviewer J. Agin "nightfly_54"

"...For the true Lennon fan this concert represents an interesting look at the Plastic Ono Band and at a period in which Lennon redefined his style. The concert as a whole must have been great, because of the atmosphere...(but)...Lennon's performance is clearly below average (as is the quality of the footage) but a below average Lennon concert still gets 4 stars...I would have loved to have a DVD with the complete concert, and with Yoko edited out..." Amazon reviewer Jonne.

For more info, see:

• Wikipedia: LIVE Peace In Toronto
• Disc & Music Echo interview with Plastic Ono Band bass player's Klaus Voorman's on how the Platic Ono Band got together
• Beatles roadie & confidante Mal Evans' account of LIVE Peace
• a fantastic resource site documenting the LIVE Peace concert with some great pictures, too
• a 1970 spiral bound calendar was originally issued exclusively with the first editions of the Live Peace In Toronto album. It contained pictures plus poems and song lyrics taken from John and Yoko's printed works with some being those that John had provided for The Beatles fan club Christmas disc of 1968.