Shouting Birds Into Existence: Yoko Ono/The Plastic Ono Band

By Matt Keeley

Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Brooklyn NY
February 15, 2010

Every music geek has a list of bands that they’re certain they’ll never see live, but would just about kill to get the chance. For me, that includes Kraftwerk (seen once), DEVO (seen three times), and The Residents (seen twice). And Yoko Ono (now seen). And not one person killed or even maimed.

Ono’s new album, Between My Head And The Sky, is her best since 1981’s Season of Glass. Between is a much more electronic-sounding record than she’s done in the past—a nod to her success in dance clubs with remixes of songs like “Walking On Thin Ice” and “Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him” (the new version was also released as “Every Man Has a Man Who Loves Him” and “Every Woman Has a Woman Who Loves Her”). Like her two previous albums, Rising and Blueprint for a Sunrise, Between was recorded with her son, Sean Lennon—although it’s the first with Sean as a producer.

Sean was also the musical director of the concert. As music director, not only was he immensely talented, of course, but adorable. Most of the songs he introduced with some variation on “This is one of my favorites of my mom’s songs.”

The concert was split into two sets: the first set was all Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band—mostly cuts from the new album, but also a few older titles. After an intermission, the next set was about half with Yoko, and half with special guests.

The concert I went to was technically a dress rehearsal for the real show the next night—which sold out almost instantly—so I missed out on a few of the guests. Though, looking at the poster advertising the real show, the only one I missed that I would have wanted to see was Gene Ween. (I’m not sure what song he would have done—perhaps “Ask The Dragon” from Rising, which Ween remixed for the Rising Mixes EP.)

The guests that night were Jake Shears and Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters who did a great version of “The Sun Is Down” from Between. Later, drag performer Justin Bond (who’s worked with Bob Ostertag and Otomo Yoshihide on the great Pantychrist album put out by Negativland’s label, Seeland), did the classic “What A Bastard This World Is” from Approximately Infinite Universe, and Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth did “Mulberry” from Blueprint with Yoko, which was pretty amazing, even for someone like me who appreciates Sonic Youth more on paper than when actually listening to them.

Perhaps the treat of the night—well, if you can single anything out, as the entire night was pretty much wall-to-wall treats—was the appearance of Klaus Voormann (famous bassist, member of the original Plastic Ono Band, artist who did the Beatles’ Revolver sleeve) and Jim Keltner (well-known session drummer who’s drummed with three of the four Beatles, Yoko Ono, and the Plastic Ono Band, among lots of other cool folks like Harry Nilsson). With Sean and Yoko, they formed a foursome who did a few old Plastic Ono Band songs, notably “Yer Blues,” “Death of Samantha,” and “Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow).”

One of the most interesting things I found is when Sean Lennon filled in for his dad’s parts (vocals and guitar) he didn’t have the same reverence that most Lennon fans do for the material; he fluffed the lyrics to “Yer Blues” and the riff on “Don’t Worry Kyoko.” Not a bad thing—if I wanted everything exactly as it was, I’d just listen to the records—but actually refreshing. To most of us, John Lennon was a god whose songs were manna from heaven; but, on the other hand, Sean was just doing some of his dad’s music. A nice reminder that John and Yoko aren’t gods, but normal people. Normal people who have a lot of talent, but otherwise, nothing any more special than any of us.

The night closed with everyone coming out on stage and performing “Give Peace A Chance,” which was probably expected, but it’s always amazing to me how such a simple song, a song that’s been parodied and satirized so much, a song that has a simplistic message that itself could be seen as self-parody of the peace movement, has so much real power. It’s a real message—a simple message, sure, but a message that should be simple and obvious. There might not be much more to the song than “What we are saying is give peace a chance,” but there’s something with those words, when combined with the simple melody, that gives it a resonance and strips away any irony that someone may bring in. And to hear it sung by Yoko Ono, a person who hasn’t reneged on her beliefs and work for peace, is all the better.

Yoko Ono has long been one of my musical idols—she gets a lot of grief from people, but I think most of those people haven’t actually HEARD her music. (For an EXCELLENT analysis on the culture of Yoko-hate, please check out Cara Kulwicki’s blog post on The Curvature.)

One of my favorite things to do is play the song “O’Oh” from the Onobox for people, not telling them who it is until afterward. No one guesses the singer’s identity correctly, and they usually come away surprised—pleasantly. Yoko Ono is a brilliant artist and musician and it’s time she got her proper due. If you’re interested in getting started, pick up Between My Head And The Sky and be blown away.

Yoko Ono is involved in an astonishing number of projects. For more, check out her Official Website.