John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band: Sweet Toronto

The Plastic Ono Band comes on stage near, if not at the end of a night of 100% rock and roll at the Toronto Rock And Roll Revival Festival featuring performances by Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bo Diddley among others. The fact that The Plastic Ono band seems to be headlining this event must be due to John Lennon's enormous draw because the band is a far cry from headlining material. Playing a generic and slow set of Blue Suede Shoes, Money (That's What I Want), Dizzy Miss Lizzy and ending with a few Beatles songs and then Yoko's "thing," it's understandable why some of the audience left as the band performed their final song of the evening. Had the band ended with their covers of the Beatles' tracks, the night might have been overlooked as a small footnote in Lennon, Clapton, Voorman and White's long and lauded musical career, however it is Ono's eight minute opus which closes the performance that draws the most attention and criticism.

At the beginning, Ono curiously chose to hide herself under a white sheet in the middle of the stage as the band kicked off their set, though she had walked out on stage with the band. When she appeared again, her only musical contribution was to wail and moan under and sometimes over the vocals of John Lennon. What was obviously musical experimentation must have horrified the rock and rollers who had just sat through the phenomenal sets of Little Richard and Bo Diddley, etc, for Ono is truly not a rock and roll singer. As she sings, the cameramen and women of the film lock in on the face of Lennon. In what must be the most interesting editing choices in a music film, we watch, or appear to watch Lennon react to Ono's performance. It's hard to tell what he's thinking as we observe his often emotionless face. We the audience can interject anything we want into his psyche as the film presents us with the glancing eyes of Lennon juxtaposed to Ono's squealing. What was he thinking? Was he accepting of Ono's singing or did those eyes reveal some condescension? A follow-up interview to this performance with some of the band members would have been great.

The final song of the performance presents the audience with the biggest set of challenges. Lennon basically gives the stage over to Yoko who begins another series of wails with the band backing her up. Musically it begins generically enough, with Clapton and Lennon playing a slide guitar riff, but about five minutes in Lennon edges closer and closer to the amps and begins to adjust his guitar to generate feedback. What some might say quickly devolves into noise is actually a fascinating duet between Lennon and Ono. Matching each other with their own forms of noise, the two banter back and forth, experimenting with different pickups and amp settings in the case of Lennon, and Ono adjusting her vowels to make new noises. It is understandable why many many people found this too much and left or turned off their television set, and I must admit I too wanted at times to shut it all off, but what held me to the screen was Lennon and Ono's relationship and play. Here we see John Lennon, a man who claimed more popularity than Jesus seemingly slumming it up with an average band and a crazy woman singer. And yet he sticks with it to the very end. And not only does he stick with it, he encourages it as he hands the stage over to Ono for the final song of the night.

Sweet Toronto is an engaging film by a talented filmmaker that gives a unique perspective to an effervescent musical group. I highly recommend the film to all Lennon and Ono fans and to experimental music fans.

Recorded on 9/13/69 at the University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium, D.A. Pennebaker's filmed document of that day's Rock 'n' Roll Revival Festival gives posterity less than 60 minutes of what was supposedly a 12-hour event. Featuring an impressive roster of rock 'n' roll's early greats, as well as John Lennon and his Plastic Ono Band in their only documented performance, the resultant "Sweet Toronto" is most assuredly another feather in Pennebaker's cap, if not nearly as impressive as his "Don't Look Back" or "Monterey Pop." The director has given his film a look similar to that of "Monterey Pop," with numerous shots of the wildly boogying crowd of 20,000 and intimate close-ups of the performers; a pity, though, that the length of the film is so short and the tunes showcased somewhat erratic. As for the music itself, those early rock 'n' roll greats are only given one song apiece to demonstrate their stuff. Bo Diddley opens things with a wildly raucous, fast-stepping, longish version of, uh, "Bo Diddley." The Killer himself, Jerry Lee Lewis, next pounds out a very high-energy rendition of Lieber & Stoller's "Hound Dog." Chuck Berry is his usual duckwalking, athletic self, his "Johnny B. Goode" resulting in a well-deserved standing ovation. As night descends on the stadium, Little Richard appears, bedecked in a mirrored jacket, to provide a short but intense rendition of "Lucille." And then Lennon, in his first live appearance since the legendary 8/29/66 Fab 4 show at Candlestick Park, comes out with his Plastic Ono Band. Sporting long hair and beard, granny glasses and white suit (in other words, looking exactly as he soon would on the cover of "Abbey Road"), he is joined by his new bride Yoko on vocals, Klaus Voormann on bass, Alan White on drums and some dude named Eric Clapton on guitar. One would have imagined that Lennon would be eager to play after such a lengthy hiatus, but strangely enough, his set consists of only eight songs.

First up, the Carl Perkins classic "Blue Suede Shoes," featuring some wicked picking by Eric. Then, three songs that had been recorded by the Beatles: a pretty tough little version of "Money," a short but impressive "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" and, from the "White Album," "Yer Blues," highlighted by some surprisingly great guitar work from John himself. The soon-to-be-released single "Cold Turkey" is up next, during which Yoko caterwauls like a constipated banshee, and a nicely strummed "Give Peace a Chance" follows. The final two songs of the set are the ones that have proved the most problematic over the years for most listeners. On "Don't Worry, Kyoto (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)," John and Eric get into a deep groove while Yoko yodels and screams most impressively, while on "John, John (Let's Hope for Peace)," Yoko engages in even more grating primal scream therapy (of the type that Dr. Arthur Janov would have approved of) while Clapton and Lennon coax some bizarre feedback from their instruments. Equal parts hilarious, excruciating and awesome, this longest number of the set--equivalent, I suppose, to the Grateful Dead's later "Space" segments--brings the festival to a literally screeching halt. I half expected the lights to come up at that point to reveal a completely cleared-out stadium (that WOULD have been pretty funny, right?), but as the sound of Lennon's still feedbacking guitar fades, so does Pennebaker's film itself. In all, a too-short but nevertheless essential glimpse at this pivotal moment in Lennon's career. My advice: Equip yourself with some earplugs and enjoy!

John Lennon: Sweet Toronto (1988)

** (out of 4)

Another concert/document from director D.A. Pennebaker, this one looking at Lennon's set at the Toronto Peace Festival. There's a lot to talk about in this hour long film but Lennon's set is decent, although I found the band to be quiet lame and that includes the playing by Lennon and Eric Clapton. I'm curious to know how many drugs were taken before jumping on stage. The stuff with Yoko Ono was absolutely horrible. Her high pitches squeals and screams grounded my nerves and nearly pushed me over the edge. The best moments happen at the start of the show when we see clips from Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.

I didn't realise for a long time that my "Live Peace In Toronto" Lennon /Plastic Ono Band album had actually been filmed and by esteemed "rockumentary" maker D A Pennebaker at that, so it was a rare treat to pick up this bargain DVD at my local music store.

The story goes that Lennon only agreed to top the bill to help ailing ticket sales for a show containing some of his favourite rock and roll acts from his youth and so put together a pick-up band (admittedly a crack one!) to blast out some down-home rock before he unleashed Yoko to do her extemporising (I'm being kind) thing all over the crowd as he actually puts it himself.

Lennon's set is enjoyable, certainly ragged most of the time, but the band hits its stride on "Yer Blues", while the premiere of his superb drug-song "Cold Turkey" on the other hand fails to really take off and significantly doesn't inspire Lennon into the harrowing screams of pain and release on the recorded version. I'm no fan of Mrs Lennon's supposed music however and wish I could have had at least one more song from each of the great early rockers in her stead. That said, the fact that this represents almost certainly the only time Eric Clapton went avant-garde does give it some curiosity value.

Of the early rockers, Bo Diddley impresses most with his flashing feet and Tina Turner influenced dance routine with a female backing singer, although Chuck, Jerry and Richard all acquit themselves admirably (they could barely have been in their forties any of them and yet they still come across as veterans).

As a viewing experience this is obviously for Lennon die-hards only (that means me!) but I'll take JL's warts and all, no holding back approach to his music as documented here over the mythological pretensions of his rival from Duluth in Pennebaker's earlier ego-stroking "Don't Look Back".