'This song's about pain': Watch John Lennon's final UK gig, featuring Eric Clapton, George Harrison ...

On December 15, 1969 John Lennon made what would be his final appearance on a UK stage, when the Plastic Ono Band performed their only European show at a Unicef benefit Peace For Christmas concert at the The Lyceum in London.

On the night, which also featured appearances by Desmond Dekker and The Aces, the Young Rascals and more, Lennon and Yoko Ono were backed by an all-star band including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Keith Moon, keyboard players Billy Preston (The Beatles/The Rolling Stones) and Nicky Hopkins (Led Zeppelin/The Rolling Stones) and sax player Bobby Keyes (The Rolling Stones). The group played just two songs - a seven-minute version of Cold Turkey, Lennon’s dark depiction of heroin withdrawal, introduced by the singer with the words “This song’s about pain”, and a mammoth, intense, hard-riffing 40-minute version of Don’t Worry Kyoko, which, according to legend, caused half the Lyceum audience to walk out of the venue, much to Lennon’s amusement.

The singer later described the performance of Don’t Worry Kyoko as “the most fantastic music I’ve ever heard… 20 years ahead of its time”.

Source: Paul Brannigan

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