Live Peace in Toronto 1969

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(John Lennon & Yoko Ono)1969John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band1970Live albumLive Peace in Toronto 1969LivePeaceCover.jpgPlastic Ono Band Template:Start date13 September 1969Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Canada*Rock and roll

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Live Peace in Toronto 1969 is a live album by the Plastic Ono Band, released in December 1969 on Apple Records. Recorded at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, it was the first live album released by any member of the Beatles separately or together. John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono received a phone call from the festival's promoters John Brower and Kenny Walker, and then assembled a band on very short notice for the festival, which was due to start the following day. The band included Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and drummer Alan White. The group flew from London and had brief unamplified rehearsals on the plane before appearing on the stage to perform several songs; one of which, "Cold Turkey", was first performed live at the festival. After returning home, Lennon mixed the album in a day.

The album peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and was certified a gold album by the RIAA, representing 500,000 copies in sales.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album did not chart in the UK. The original LP included a 13-month 1970 calendar. A video of several performances, not just the Plastic Ono Band's set, was released. Since its first release, the album has been reissued a number of times.

BackgroundEdit

Toronto rock promoters John Brower and Kenny Walker organised a festival held at Varsity Stadium in Toronto on 13 September 1969, around the notion of a revival of rock and roll stars from the 1950s, booking Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Bo Diddley, and Gene Vincent.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=POB>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They also booked more modern acts such as Alice Cooper, Chicago, and the Doors.<ref name=POB/>

On 12 September, Brower contacted Lennon, who was still a member of the Beatles, to ask him to be the master of ceremonies for the festival.<ref name=Listen35/> Instead, Lennon offered to perform at the show with a new group, the Plastic Ono Band.<ref name=Listen35/><ref name=autogenerated1>Lewisohn 2000, p. 332</ref><ref name=AYNWL85>Template:Cite book</ref> Brower readily agreed, but since Lennon did not actually have a new group, he quickly began making phone calls to potential members to accompany himself and Yoko Ono. He initially approached Beatles band-mate George Harrison to play lead guitar, but Harrison declined,<ref name="beatlesbible.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> so Lennon turned to Eric Clapton, who had previously performed with Lennon in the one-off super group, the Dirty Mac. Bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White soon agreed to perform,<ref name=Listen35/><ref name=Stories14>Template:Cite book</ref> along with their assistants, Anthony Fawcett, Terry Doran, and Jill and Dan Richter.<ref name=POB/> Voormann was a long-time friend of Lennon, but White, who was a respected session musician in London but did not know Lennon personally, initially thought that someone was prank calling. It was only when Lennon called a second time did White realize it was actually him.<ref name=Edge>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The group was scheduled to fly to Toronto on 12 September, the day before the concert,<ref name=JPGR>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but Lennon, Ono, and Clapton were late to arrive at the airport.<ref name=Listen35/> Lennon had talked to Clapton's management, but Clapton himself did not yet know that Lennon had invited him to perform and was not even aware of the concert.<ref name=Listen35/><ref name=AYNWL85/> Brower managed to reach Clapton personally and told him to contact Lennon and Ono,<ref name=Listen35.37>Template:Cite book</ref> who were still in bed.<ref name=Listen35/> Clapton said he got "a phone call on the day we were to leave and he said that someone had asked him to do that concert and it was that night! So I had to make the airport in an hour."<ref name=AYNWL85/> The group had two quick rehearsals before appearing on stage.<ref name=Listen37/> One was during the transatlantic flight from London to Toronto, though they could not hear the music very well since they were playing unplugged electric instruments.<ref name=Listen37/><ref name=autogenerated1 /><ref name=Stories14/> They had another at the concert venue shortly before appearing on stage.<ref name=Listen37>Blaney 2005, p. 37</ref> Lennon later said that the group "didn't know what to play" since they had not previously performed together, and they eventually settled on a set list consisting of older rock and roll standards, three Lennon-penned Beatle and solo songs, and two longer experimental songs featuring Ono.<ref name=Listen37/>

Though preparations for the show were rushed and chaotic, Lennon later said that he gained the confidence to leave the Beatles during those few days.<ref name=Listen37/> Lennon mentioned this to Clapton at the time, and upon returning to London, he privately told Beatles' manager Allen Klein.<ref name=POB/>

RecordingEdit

The group played eight songs to a crowd of 20,000 people.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Before the start of the Plastic Ono Band's performance, they were introduced by Kim Fowley,<ref name=POB/> and Lennon said to the crowd that the group were going to play only songs that they actually knew.<ref name=JPGR/> They performed the Beatles' "Yer Blues", because Clapton had performed it with Lennon for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus,<ref name=POB/><ref name=Listen41>Blaney 2005, p. 41</ref> and his two solo songs, "Give Peace a Chance" and "Cold Turkey", the latter of which had its premiere at the festival.Template:Refn<ref name=Listen41/> "Cold Turkey", presented as "the newest song that John wrote" by Ono, had Lennon reading the lyrics off a clip-board.<ref name=POB/> Ono selected a song that was to be 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.<ref name=JPGR/> Shortly before the band went into "Don't Worry Kyoko", Lennon announced that Ono was "gonna do her thing all over you".<ref name=POB/> The band closed with an electric version of the Wedding Album track<ref name=W&MJL14>Urish; Bielen 2007, p. 14</ref> "John John (Let's Hope for Peace)",<ref name=JPGR/> an extended experimental number consisting of her screaming the title repeatedly to the feedback of the electric guitars.<ref name=JPGR/><ref name=Listen42>Blaney 2005, p. 42</ref> Towards the end of Ono's performance, the audience began to boo and whistle, and the band departed the stage leaving their guitars and bass to resonate until Mal Evans turned off the amplifiers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> With their stage remarks, Lennon and Ono linked their appearance there to their ongoing campaign for peace.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

Lennon went to Abbey Road Studios on 25 September 1969 to mix the album from their eight-track recordings.<ref name=Listen38/> While at the session, Lennon finished the stereo master for the album, although he did go back on 20 October to re-do the "Don't Worry Kyoko" stereo master, removing the majority of Ono's vocals from his songs and Clapton's backing vocals.<ref name=Listen38/> The album is technically a soundtrack recording,<ref name=Listen38>Blaney 2005, p. 38</ref> being part of the audio portion of the documentary film being made of the festival by D.A. Pennebaker, later released as Sweet Toronto. Lennon and Ono made a deal with Pennebaker to license their portion of the show for record, in exchange for rights to include their appearance. According to the Beatles Monthly, due to the adverse reaction to Ono's performance, Pennebaker removed the segments with Lennon and Ono after limited screenings of the film, later re-edited as Keep on Rockin'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Showtime ultimately presented the performance in 1989, and the full movie appeared later on home video and DVD.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

Release and aftermathEdit

Template:Album ratings The album, released on the same day in both the UK and US,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> failed to chart in the UKTemplate:Refn but peaked at number 10 in the US.Template:Refn<ref name=Listen35>Blaney 2005, p. 35</ref> It was released to quash any bootleg versions that Lennon was sure would leak onto the market. US editions of the album wrongly stated that the album was recorded in England.<ref name=Listen38/> The album came with a 13-month calendar<ref name=Listen38/> that had photos, poems and songs in it,<ref name=JPGR/> from Lennon's 1964 book In His Own Write, his 1965 book A Spaniard in the Works, and Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit.<ref name=POB/> In the US, Capitol was reluctant at first to issue the album, after the commercial failures of Lennon's and Ono's experimental albums.<ref name=Listen38/> Lennon recalled in an interview in December 1980 that he had to persuade Capitol to distribute the album: "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.' And they refused to put it out. But we finally persuaded them that ... people might buy this."<ref name=Listen38/> In an interview with Rolling Stone, Lennon said that Capitol "were on the [Paul] McCartney bandwagon, which they were on, and they thought that I was just an idiot pissing about with a Japanese broad and the music we were making, like Toronto, they didn't want to put out, because they didn't like that."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Criticism was directed at side two of the LP, the side consisting entirely of two Yoko Ono songs. In a retrospective assessment, Richard Ginell of AllMusic remarks: Template:Quote

In contrast, fellow musicians over the years remarked how Yoko Ono's half was a lot more inspirational and groundbreaking than the first half. Iggy Pop praised Yoko's part as "the part that stands out. The rest of it‘s just kinda pedestrian." Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction echoed similar feelings, stating that Ono's sound experimentations were a cornerstone of his musical education.<ref>"Perry Farrell and Iggy Pop in Conversation", RAYGUN Magazine, no. 35, April 1996.</ref> Music author Chuck Eddy wrote that despite Clapton's sporadically "really loud" playing, side one's covers were rendered "quaint" by the Flying Lizards' versions ten years later. However, Eddy believed Lennon's "Yer Blues", which features noisier feedback "than the LP's start and end combined", was the album's most disquieting moment.<ref name="Eddy">Template:Cite book</ref> He also described Lennon's grooves on side two as "proto-harmolodic".<ref name="Eddy" />

Lennon later said he "couldn't remember any of the words but it didn't matter—I just made them all up and we made a great wonderful noise."<ref name=AYNWL86>Blake 1981, p. 86</ref> Carl Perkins said to Lennon after the show that he was "so beautiful you made me cry."<ref name=AYNWL86/> A bootleg album of the concert appeared, under the title JL-YO-EC, thanks to an audience recording, which was released about the same time as the official album.<ref name=POB/>

After Lennon's death, the album, along with seven other Lennon albums, was reissued by EMI as part of a box set released in the UK on 15 June 1981.Template:Refn<ref name=Listen203>Blaney 2005, p. 203</ref> The album was reissued in the US in 1982, by Capitol,Template:Refn and again in 1986.<ref name=Listen38/> The album was originally scheduled to appear on CD for the first time in June 1989, but the plan was scrapped.<ref name=JPGR/> Ono, with the help of Rob Stevens from Quad Recording,<ref name=JPGR/> supervised a remix of Live Peace in Toronto 1969 for its compact disc issue,Template:Refn<ref name=Listen38-39>Blaney 2005, pp. 38–39</ref> released on 1 May 1995.<ref name=JPGR/> Two of the remixed tracks feature a variation in Ono's vocals: while "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" has additional backing vocals from Ono, "Money" has fewer backing vocals from Ono.<ref name=POB/> The CD booklet included a 1995 calendar, mimicking the original release.<ref name=JPGR/> The album is also available from the audiophile label Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab,Template:Refn utilizing the same remix. The booklet for the 2006 Mobile Fidelity release also included a calendar for 2007. A 2009 vinyl reissue from Capitol reverts to the original 1970.