Fact #101654
When:
Short story:
With Yoko Ono tied up in a canvas sack, John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band makes its UK debut with the Peace For Christmas concert at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, England, UK, Europe. George Harrison joins the couple onstage.
Full article:
Roger St Pierre (PR man) : When promoting Black Velvet's 'Peace And Love Is The Message' at Christmas 1969 with a charity concert in aid of UNICEF at London's Lyceum, we sat in the office one dark, dank evening, wondering who we could get to top the bill. The Beatles had just broken up and, tongue in cheek, someone suggested we ask one of them, as they weren't doing anything.
'Good idea,' I responded, and next morning we rang Mike Berry at Apple. 'I'll find out and let you know,' he replied. We put the phone down and forgot about it until the next day when the phone rang and a scouse accent inquired, 'If I do it, can I bring some of my friends along?' The caller was John Lennon, the friends were Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, Keith Moon, Billy Preston, Delaney And Bonnie and Alan White of Yes.
Alan White (drummer) : I think contractually, he'd got himself into a position where he had to do it and he said, 'Let's round the boys up.' I went down there in my little Mini and went on stage at the Lyceum. Just prior to the Plastic Ono Band going on-stage, up turns Eric Clapton with the whole Delaney And Bonnie band, so we had to hustle another couple of drumkits. Then Keith Moon joins me on-stage playing my big 16-inch tom-tom. It was a thing where somebody would hit one chord and it was a jam forever. Through experience of the previous jams I'd been in, when we'd already been playing the song for over half an hour, the best way of getting out is just to speed the number up until nobody can play the thing any more. So I just gradually started picking the tempo up and up and up.
(Source : unknown)
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'Good idea,' I responded, and next morning we rang Mike Berry at Apple. 'I'll find out and let you know,' he replied. We put the phone down and forgot about it until the next day when the phone rang and a scouse accent inquired, 'If I do it, can I bring some of my friends along?' The caller was John Lennon, the friends were Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, Keith Moon, Billy Preston, Delaney And Bonnie and Alan White of Yes.
Alan White (drummer) : I think contractually, he'd got himself into a position where he had to do it and he said, 'Let's round the boys up.' I went down there in my little Mini and went on stage at the Lyceum. Just prior to the Plastic Ono Band going on-stage, up turns Eric Clapton with the whole Delaney And Bonnie band, so we had to hustle another couple of drumkits. Then Keith Moon joins me on-stage playing my big 16-inch tom-tom. It was a thing where somebody would hit one chord and it was a jam forever. Through experience of the previous jams I'd been in, when we'd already been playing the song for over half an hour, the best way of getting out is just to speed the number up until nobody can play the thing any more. So I just gradually started picking the tempo up and up and up.
(Source : unknown)