eBay

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 1,000,000 copies in sales.^[3] 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.

Background[edit]

Toronto rock promoters John Brower and Kenny Walker organised a festival held at Varsity Stadium 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.^[4]^[5] They also booked more modern acts such as Alice Cooper, Chicago, and the Doors.^[5]

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.^[6] Instead, Lennon offered to perform at the show with a new group, the Plastic Ono Band.^[6]^[7]"^[8] 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,^[9] 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,^[6]^[10] along with their assistants, Anthony Fawcett, Terry Doran, and Jill and Dan Richter.^[5] Voormann was a long-time friend of Lennon, but White, who was a respected session musicianin London but did not know Lennon personally, initially thought that someone was prank calling him and only believed that the real John Lennon was on the phone when he called a second time.^[11]^[12]

The group was scheduled to fly to Toronto on 12 September, the day before the concert,^[13] but Lennon, Ono, and Clapton were late to arrive at the airport.^[6] 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.^[6]^[8] Brower managed to reach Clapton personally and told him to contact Lennon and Ono,^[14] who were still in bed.^[6] 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."^[8] The group had two quick rehearsals before appearing on stage.^[15] 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.^[15]^[7]^[10] They had another at the concert venue shortly before appearing on stage.^[15] 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.^[15]

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.^[15]Lennon mentioned this to Clapton at the time, and upon returning to London, he privately told Beatles' manager Allen Klein.^[5]

Recording[edit]

The group played eight songs to a crowd of 20,000 people.^[16] Before the start of the Plastic Ono Band's performance, they were introduced by Kim Fowley,^[5] and Lennon said to the crowd that the group were going to play only songs that they actually knew.^[13] They performed the Beatles' "Yer Blues", because Clapton had performed it with Lennon for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus,^[5]^[17] and his two solo songs, "Give Peace a Chance" and "Cold Turkey", the latter of which had its premiere at the festival.^{[nb 1]}^[17] "Cold Turkey", presented as "the newest song that John wrote" by Ono, had Lennon reading the lyrics off a clip-board.^[5] 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.^[13] Shortly before the band went into "Don't Worry Kyoko", Lennon announced that Ono was "gonna do her thing all over you".^[5] The band closed with an electric version of the Wedding Album track^[1] "John John (Let's Hope for Peace)",^[13] an extended experimental number consisting of her screaming the title repeatedly to the feedback of the electric guitars.^[13]^[19] 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.^[20] With their stage remarks, Lennon and Ono linked their appearance there to their ongoing campaign for peace.^[7]