By the end of the Beatles’ run, their best touring days were well behind them. That left room only for spontaneous, one-off performances. The most famous Beatles pop up show took place on top of Apple Corp. But there is another, occurring several months later, that was even more consequential. Why? Because it marked the beginning of the end for the Beatles.
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John Lennon decided, with very little thought, to perform at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in 1969. Without his fellow Beatles in tow–given they were stricken with in-fighting at the time–he needed to pull together a backing band. Despite the small window of preparation time, he managed to pull it off. Moreover, he secured the name of the band he would play with post-Beatles: Plastic Ono Band. Learn more about their first concert, below.
The John Lennon-Formed Band That Marked the End of the Beatles
In 1969, the Beatles were nearing their end. They all were more focused on their own pursuits than ever before, slowly separating the foursome until there was really no chance of survival. Lennon had played a couple of shows without the Beatles prior to the Plastic Ono Band’s debut, but none of them had the same, lasting impact.
The original lineup of the Plastic Ono Band nearly included George Harrison. If he hadn’t declined the offer, we could’ve potentially seen a Beatles spin-off band. Despite not getting Harrison on board, the lineup he ended up with wasn’t too shabby. Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and Alan White. The band would take many shapes over the years, but this puzzle-pieced foursome started it all.
Plastic Ono Band
“You’ll have to explain this a little to me,” Voormann once said about Lennon’s plan for the Plastic Ono Band. “I have no idea what the Plastic Ono Band is. Is that Yoko’s band? Do we have to go naked onstage or what?’ I had no idea in my mind.”
Lennon didn’t give his new bandmates much time to iron out the specifics. He had 24-hours to find a band before the gig in Toronto. Luckily, Voormann stopped asking question, Clapton signed on quick, and White was a shoo-in. In fact, the only person who seemed to not be completely game for this supergroup was Lennon.
“John was very, very nervous,” Voormann added about the Plastic Ono Band’s inaugural performance. “He had no idea what was coming. He’d never played with Alan White before. We hadn’t really rehearsed. So as we were walking to the stage, he said, ‘Hang on, boys, hang on!’ And he went in the corner and vomited. Okay, it was partly the drugs he was taking, but partly it was stage fright.”
According to the bassist, Lennon questioned his place in a post-Beatles world. “‘My God, I’m John Lennon, I was with the Beatles and now I’m going out there with a band,’” Lennon reportedly said. “‘Is that really the thing to do?’”
Little did he know, he would go on to have a thriving solo career soon after. The Plastic Ono Band, as a concept, never reached the height of the Beatles, but it is nonetheless revered for its place in rock history.
(Photo by Murphy/Daily Herald/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
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