Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 21, 2016 12:37:54 GMT -5
My Recollection Of The John Lennon 1972 Performance At Madison Square Garden
First of all, I have no memory how I obtained my tickets. I was 18 years old, I had a summer job that August but money was tight and I doubt I paid exorbitant scalper prices. So I must have been fortunate enough to hear the concert announced early enough to be able to grab 2 tickets through normal means. At that time I was an avid listener to the local FM Rock station WNEW-FM and Lennon, living in NYC, would from time to time pop into that station's studio impromptu for an interview. So That could have been how I was made aware
Geraldo Rivera at that time was a TV investigative reporter and had just made a name for himself by exposing the horrendous conditions at a mental health asylum in NYC. His expose' ran all week long on the local news evening edition resulting in prosecutions and the closing of the institute. A charity fund was started to address the situation. John Lennon was a well known activist for many causes besides anti-Vietnam and was recruited to help. He organized the one-day only benefit concert at the Garden.
There were 2 shows for that one-day event. I had gotten my tickets for the early show. I distinctly remember how strange it felt to leave at the end of a rock concert and it would still be daylight. So my girlfriend and I arrived at about 1PM for the show not sure who else might be appearing. Rumors I'm sure were plentiful and , of course, a Beatles reunion was on everyone's mind
The opening acts I recall-Geraldo Rivera was first, welcoming everyone to the show and spoke briefly about the charity. Roberta Flack performed. She just had her big debut with the song "First Time I Ever Saw His Face". Stevie Wonder also did a solo set. His song "Superstition" was the big crowd pleaser as well as "Living For The City". I was amazed at how during his set he would be led to different areas of the stage to play the drums on one song, piano on another, organ on another and so on
Who else appeared I don't remember. Lennon and Yoko came on stage. The back up band was a local pick-up bar band from the east Village called Elephant's Memory. They probably preceded Lennon with a few of their own numbers but they were just an average bad musically speaking. Looking at an internet write-up on the concert I see the group Sha-Na-Na performed as well. Sounds right but don't recall
Again, Lennon concentrated mostly on his solo works and seemed reticent with doing Beatles songs. I do remember him finally performing Come Together and apologizing for not remembering all the lyrics. He made the remark that songs with nonsense lyrics are hard to remember. The audience would verbally groan when it was time for Yoko to do her own songs. Good time for a bathroom break. It was obvious that Lennon was out of practice being on stage and made mention of that fact a few times. There seemed to be long breaks between songs too. But the concert was quite exciting for his presence. How would we have every guessed that it would be the last full concert he would perform?
Lennon and his guest stars probably gathered together on stage for the finale. I dimly recall it being Give Peace A Chance. I don't recall any encore granted. My girlfriend and I exited, must have been about 4-5 PM, the sun was bright, we were flying high and we must have went somewhere cheap for dinner that night. That evening I'm sure the sex was great.
All in all, a great day
First of all, I have no memory how I obtained my tickets. I was 18 years old, I had a summer job that August but money was tight and I doubt I paid exorbitant scalper prices. So I must have been fortunate enough to hear the concert announced early enough to be able to grab 2 tickets through normal means. At that time I was an avid listener to the local FM Rock station WNEW-FM and Lennon, living in NYC, would from time to time pop into that station's studio impromptu for an interview. So That could have been how I was made aware
Geraldo Rivera at that time was a TV investigative reporter and had just made a name for himself by exposing the horrendous conditions at a mental health asylum in NYC. His expose' ran all week long on the local news evening edition resulting in prosecutions and the closing of the institute. A charity fund was started to address the situation. John Lennon was a well known activist for many causes besides anti-Vietnam and was recruited to help. He organized the one-day only benefit concert at the Garden.
There were 2 shows for that one-day event. I had gotten my tickets for the early show. I distinctly remember how strange it felt to leave at the end of a rock concert and it would still be daylight. So my girlfriend and I arrived at about 1PM for the show not sure who else might be appearing. Rumors I'm sure were plentiful and , of course, a Beatles reunion was on everyone's mind
The opening acts I recall-Geraldo Rivera was first, welcoming everyone to the show and spoke briefly about the charity. Roberta Flack performed. She just had her big debut with the song "First Time I Ever Saw His Face". Stevie Wonder also did a solo set. His song "Superstition" was the big crowd pleaser as well as "Living For The City". I was amazed at how during his set he would be led to different areas of the stage to play the drums on one song, piano on another, organ on another and so on
Who else appeared I don't remember. Lennon and Yoko came on stage. The back up band was a local pick-up bar band from the east Village called Elephant's Memory. They probably preceded Lennon with a few of their own numbers but they were just an average bad musically speaking. Looking at an internet write-up on the concert I see the group Sha-Na-Na performed as well. Sounds right but don't recall
Again, Lennon concentrated mostly on his solo works and seemed reticent with doing Beatles songs. I do remember him finally performing Come Together and apologizing for not remembering all the lyrics. He made the remark that songs with nonsense lyrics are hard to remember. The audience would verbally groan when it was time for Yoko to do her own songs. Good time for a bathroom break. It was obvious that Lennon was out of practice being on stage and made mention of that fact a few times. There seemed to be long breaks between songs too. But the concert was quite exciting for his presence. How would we have every guessed that it would be the last full concert he would perform?
Lennon and his guest stars probably gathered together on stage for the finale. I dimly recall it being Give Peace A Chance. I don't recall any encore granted. My girlfriend and I exited, must have been about 4-5 PM, the sun was bright, we were flying high and we must have went somewhere cheap for dinner that night. That evening I'm sure the sex was great.
All in all, a great day
