Last year, audiences were treated to Kevin Macdonald's One to One, an archival documentary chronicling John Lennon and Yoko Ono's vibrant life in early 1970s New York. That film drew its title from two charity concerts they organized at Madison Square Garden to benefit children abused at the notorious Willowbrook State School—a scandal Lennon discovered through Geraldo Rivera's television exposé. While the box office receipts likely made a difference, the concert also helped catalyze legal reforms strengthening civil rights for children in institutional care.
Live Footage Restored
Now, the actual concert footage has been released as an immersive split-screen film, edited under the supervision of Sean Ono Lennon. Despite the revisionist polish, Yoko Ono's vocal performances remain a point of contention. Her rendition of the bizarre Open Your Box is certainly arresting, with lyrics like "Open your box, open your box, open your trousers…" Yet the film holds historical significance as it captures Lennon's only full-length concert appearances after the Beatles disbanded.
Memorable Performances
The setlist includes a heartfelt version of Imagine and a truly apocalyptic Cold Turkey. Among the old favorites are Come Together, after which Lennon jokes about forgetting lyrics: "I'll have to stop writing these daft words, man, I'm getting old." There is also a raunchy Hound Dog, with Lennon shouting, "Elvis I love ya!"—though whether Elvis was aware of this tribute remains uncertain.
The finale brings a star-studded stage, including Stevie Wonder and the inevitable Allen Ginsberg, whose celebrity mystique was unassailable. For this reviewer, the standout track is the opening number: New York City, Lennon and Ono's homage to the city that offered them sanctuary—a city that would tragically become the site of Lennon's assassination eight years later.
Power to the People: John & Yoko Live in NYC is in cinemas on 29 April and 3 May.
