An archival concert film featuring newly restored footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s historic 1972 shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City will get its premiere at cinemas around the world on April 29 and May 3. Power To The People: John & Yoko Live In NYC documents the two “One To One” charity concerts. Lennon and Ono organized the events, which took place at the famous New York arena on August 30, 1972.
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The concerts were the only full-length performances Lennon gave after the 1970 breakup of The Beatles. John and Yoko were backed by the New York City-based rock band Elephant’s Memory and famed session drummer Jim Keltner. Keltner also was considered a member of Lennon and Ono’s Plastic Ono Band. In addition, several well-known artists made guest appearances at the second show’s finale.
The sold-out concerts were attended by a total of 40,000 people. The events raised more than $1.5 million for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Power To The People presents the One To One performances on multiple screens. The footage was meticulously restored, the audio was remixed, and the movie was re-edited by the Lennon family’s Grammy-winning team. The project was overseen by John and Yoko’s son, Sean Ono Lennon.
Tickets to the Power To The People screenings go on sale Friday, March 20. The date coincides with John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 57th wedding anniversary. Tickets can be purchased online at PowerToThePeopleFilm.com. The movie’s audio will be presented in 5.1 Surround or Dolby Atmos at select locations.
More About the One To One Concerts and the New Film
The One To One concerts originally were filmed by director Steve Gebhardt using multiple cameras. The multi-screen 2026 version of the movie was directed by Simon Hilton. The music was produced by Sean Ono Lennon and was mixed and engineered by Paul Hicks and Sam Gannon.
The shows featured mostly Lennon and Ono solo material, including the classic songs “Imagine,” “Instant Karma!,” and “Cold Turkey.” They also featured renditions of The Beatles’ “Come Together” and the Elvis Presley/Big Mama Thornton hit “Hound Dog.” The second concert ended with a version of the anthem “Give Peace A Chance” during which Lennon and Ono were joined by Stevie Wonder, Melanie, and Sha Na Na.
The updated audio of the concerts was included in John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 2025 box set Power To The People.
In the liner notes to the box set, Ono wrote, “The One To One concert was our effort in Grassroots Politics. It embodied what John and I strongly believed in—Rock for Peace and Enlightenment. And this one in Madison Square Garden turned out to be the last concert John and I did together. Imagine Peace. Peace is Power. Power To The People!”
A documentary called One To One: John & Yoko that focused on the story behind the organization of the benefit concerts was released in 2024.
Sean Ono Lennon’s Comments About the One To One Concerts
Sean Lennon issued a statement about the One To One shows and the impact they had on him and his feelings about working on the restoration and re-release.
“It was a concert that had a legendary status in my mind because it was my dad’s last concert,” Sean Lennon noted. “I remember wanting a Les Paul because he played a Les Paul during that show. I feel very grateful I got to work on [the new film] because he did plan on touring and he didn’t get to, so all we’ve got is this concert.”
He continued, “I think it is very beautiful because it is so unlike what people were doing at the time. Everybody was getting into slicker and slicker stuff in the early ’70s, and I think my dad was already kind of pre-empting the arrival of punk. He just wanted to go back to basics and be raw and spontaneous and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a very cool thing he was doing that was very against the grain.”
Lennon concluded, “Maybe not everyone realizes how special it is for me to hear my dad talking or to see him. I grew up with a set number of images and audio clips that everyone’s familiar with. So to come across things that I’ve never seen or heard is really deep for me, because it’s almost like getting more time with my dad.”
(Courtesy of Trafalgar Releasing/Mercury Studios/UMe)
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