A historic concert that, surprisingly, sometimes goes under the radar in the history of some British rock royalty took place at London’s Lyceum Theatre on 15 December 1969.

As you can see from the rare poster above, it was a charity event for UNICEF, the United Nations’ international fund, called Peace and Love for Christmas. It marked the live debut of the extended Plastic Ono Band, on this occasion featuring the incredible line-up of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie, Billy Preston and various other Beatles and Clapton alumni, with a brief appearance by Keith Moon.

The concert turned out to be Lennon’s last live appearance in his home country, and it’s also the answer to what could be a memorable trivia question, about the night Lennon and Harrison were on a bill that also featured Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, the Young Rascals and UK hitmakers Blue Mink. Tickets cost £1 each, and others joining the stellar cast included Klaus Voorman, Bobby Keys, Jim Price and Alan White, all regular collaborators to this extended family. BBC Radio1 DJ Emperor Rosko MCd the evening.

Source: Paul Sexton/udiscovermusic.com

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An audio recording of Yoko Ono has emerged online and dated back to 1968.

The audio was discovered by cultural historian Simon Wells who has, throughout his career, dedicated his time to writing multiple books on The Beatles, cult films, Charles Manson, The Stones and more.

Having uploaded the audio to YouTube, Wells noted: “During the early days of her relationship with John Lennon, Yoko Ono would dictate her thoughts on life with Lennon into her own personal recorder – presumably to be given to John later.

“This, often personal, tape was made during the overdub session for ‘Revolution 1’ at EMI Studio number 3 on 4th June 1968. Parts of Yoko’s tape would be later used in the sound collage ‘Revolution 9’.”

Source: faroutmagazine.co.uk

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The Dakota Winters isn't a novel set on frozen prairies, but in the rarefied precincts of perhaps the most famous apartment house in New York: the Dakota, on the Upper West Side, the place in which luminaries lived — and one of the brightest, John Lennon, also died, shot to death just outside the entrance.

Tom Barbash's new novel tells the story of Anton Winter, who returns to his parents' apartment in the Dakota in 1980, after a spell in the Peace Corps in Africa — and a spell of malaria. His father, a late-night talk show host named Buddy Winter, has just walked off his show and into a breakdown. Father and son pal around Manhattan, and hob-nob with Kennedys, John and Yoko, and other bold-faced names as Buddy Winter tries to figure a way back into the limelight.

Source: Scott Simon /npr.org

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Late in the summer of 1968, Pope Paul VI came out forcefully against the birth-control pill, putting a moral crimp in the decade’s libido. London, however, was still swinging strong, and the Beatles decided — perhaps as Communist lark rather than Christian tithing — that it was truly better to give than to receive. In the August 8, 1968, issue of the Village Voice, part-time theater critic Charles Marowitz reported that the world’s most popular rock group was shuttering its Apple store (named for its record label) and giving away all of the shop’s existing stock. One mother walked in with her two children “just to windowshop and walked out with new dresses, summer suits, and other assorted goodies.” As she left, the mom said, “Give Ringo a big kiss for me.” The Voice correspondent noted, though, that not everyone was happy. “In the past few days, I have heard the Beatles maligned more viciously than they ever were at the height of their controversial pop success.

Source: The Voice Archives/villagevoice.com

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Paul McCartney returned home last night for a performance at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Macca recruited the youngsters from the LIPA Choir for the first in-concert rendition of his holiday song, “Wonderful Christmastime” since 2012 as part of the evening’s encore.

The three-hour, sold-out concert featured a total of 40 songs spanning nearly every era of the musician’s career. McCartney did keep to a similar setlist as other stops on his Freshen Up tour. The big difference came during the eight-song encore. After opening the final portion of the show with “Birthday” and welcoming a pair of concert winners from Finland to help sing the Beatles classic “I Saw Her Standing There,” Paul led his band through “Wonderful Christmastime.”

Artificial snow fell on the capacity crowd as McCartney & Co. worked through their first version of the holiday gem since a 2016 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Source: Scott Bernstein/jambase.com

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A rare group of photographs documenting the Beatles’ historic visit to Rishikesh, India, in 1968 have surfaced in a portfolio compiled by Pattie Boyd, the former wife of George Harrison and the celebrated model of “Swinging Sixties” London. 12 of the 16 black-and-whte photographs in Pattie Boyd and The Beatles in Rishikesh have never been exhibited.

John and Cynthia Lennon attending a private lecture with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Prev. unexhibited photo: © Pattie Boyd; used with permission)

During her ten-year marriage to George Harrison, Pattie Boyd was a prominent member of the Beatles’ inner circle and enjoyed the kind of access to the group that only a handful of people would ever know. Boyd introduced Harrison to Transcendental Meditation in August 1967, and she accompanied the Beatles the following year when they made their historic trek to Rishikesh, a small town near the foothills of the Himalayas. Well known as a religious center that has attracted yogis and gurus for centuries, Rishikesh was home to the ashram of TM’s progenitor, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Source: Best Classic Bands Staff

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