Het Grote Beatles Topic - Deel 46

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Op dinsdag 16 februari 2010 18:22 schreef Aisumasen het volgende:
Om over opnames nog maar te zwijgen.

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Op woensdag 17 februari 2010 10:07 schreef Aisumasen het volgende:
Gisterenavond was de reunie van de Plastic Ono Band in New York. Yoko speelde eindelijk "Walking On Thin Ice" weer eens, en van "Yer Blues" en "Don't Worry Kyoko" door Sean Lennon, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman en Jim Keltner wil ik graag beelden zien!

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so, I was on the line with my ticket, to get into the rehearsal show. I had a balcony seat "obstructed view," but it was to see Yoko, so who cares? I gave my ticket, but instead of telling me where to sit, the attendant sent me to get a new ticket inside the operahouse. This new ticket was a bit closer. Front row closer!

It seems they did not put the front rows for sale, as they quickly filled up with other excited concert goers who had expected to sit far up in the balcony.

Twenty minutes in, and the lights dimmed, and the big projector screen, which had been playing an animated version of the poster, showed a short film on Yoko's life, from clips of her childhood, all the way to Imagine Peace. It was very cool and fun, and conjured some laughs (such as a scene where Yoko is talking about putting paintings on the floor, and stepping on them. John is beside her, playing guitar, but he speaks up with a quip, "no respect for art.") The film continues to mix professional footage with home videos, all soundtracked with Yoko's songs. It turns particulary poignant with John's death, and the main clips there are Yoko accepting the Grammy, and then do a press meeting for Strawberry Fields.

The film ends, and the projector goes up. Yoko walks out to a thunderous applause, and stands in front of the mike. She calls out to Sean, who is behind the still unlifted curtain. "Give me a G." He obliges, and then Yoko gives an a cappella verse of It Happened. The curtain lifts, and reveals the full band, which bursts into her latest's albums killer opener, Waiting For The D Train. Yoko is as fierce as ever, screaming and wailing. And she still has some moves too, dancing and strutting around like she was thirty years younger.

And this goes on for the remainder of act I, Yoko doing her songs with the current Plastic Ono Band. They are a tad sloppy, and don't always know what song is next. Yoko reads her lyrics off a teleprompter, but they are all lively, and between songs, Yoko is very jovial. They do Between My Head & The Sky, Rising, Walking On Thin Ice, Moving Mountains (a bit of a duller moment, but it jumps into...), Calling, Mind Train, and finally the piano ballad Higa Noboru. Sean and Yoko bow, and leave the stage.

A short intermission follows, before act II. With many of the guests absent at this rehearsal, it is abbreviated, but the people who are there do a great job. The Scissor Sisters sing The Sun Is Down backed by the Plastic Ono Band. Justin Bond comes out, in drag, for a very ironic twist on What A Bastard The World Is.

Perhaps the highlight of the show follows now, with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, along with Yoko, performing Mulberry.


Yoko does Death Of Samantha too, although I can't remember who she plays it with on this night. But, to finish the set, Sean introduces what he calls the O.G. Plastic Ono Band (slang for original.) Sean fills in for his father, while Klaus Voormann and Jim Keltner take the stage. Yoko comes out in a black bag. Sean bursts into Yer Blues, and Yoko steps out of the bag screaming. Sean channels his father well, and it helps having Klaus and Jim with him. They finish that, and move to the close, Don't Worry Kyoko. Sean is on slide, but he mentions that another guitarist will be helping out with the song the next night....

The show does not end before a rousing encore of Give Peace A Chance, where everyone messes up the verses, and it is as fun and cheerful as it should be.

The next night the place is more crowded. I don't get to trade my ticket for front row this time. The balcony view is not so bad, though. the theate is small enough that even the back is still not too far. The first act is the same as the day before, although the band seems tighter, and Yoko holds back nothing, (I suppose the night before, she was saving it up for this). It is just as excellent and exciting, but now act II is where we get some new developments.

The Scissor Sisters and Justin Bond do their thing, also a bit tighter and rehearsed. Then, Sean introduces the song Mulberry, but on fact, it is actually his turn to take the stage, to perform an acoustic duet of Oh Yoko with Gene Ween. It is touching.

Thurston and Kim come out to do Mulberry as the night before, and it is still so amazing and noisy and loud.

Bette Midler is next with her rendition of Yes I'm Your Angel. It suits her.

Paul Simon and son Harper (who is Sean's age) do an acoustic duet of Silverhorse, which segues into Hold On. According to Sean, it is Haper and Paul's first performance together.

We get the original Plastic Ono Band performance again, but this night, there is an extra player, a Mr. Eric Clapton. He is met with a deafening applause. They go through Yer Blues, mostly sans Yoko, who has a dead mike for most of the song. They do Death Of Samantha, which Clapton gives such a stinging guitar line to. Finally, they attack Don't Worry Kyoko. Sean obviously turned his guitar down, so Clapton would stand out, and although Sean was doing a good job, it was nice to see his respect for the elders Wink

Yoko's introductions for Eric were comical, as she tells her story of how she met him. "It was 1966," she says. "You would not remember it" she says to Eric, "I was in a restuarant and someone said to me 'look, there's Eric.'" "Not a very good story," she says, making the audience laugh.

Yoko gives a speech of thanks, and also encourages people who think they are getting too old, like forty, to look at her, almost 77, still doing what she does. The stage fills for the Give Peace A Chance encore (minus Eric) and the show is over.

And that's how it went, more or less.