Plastic Ono Supergroup

“Peace for Christmas” concert in aid of UNICEF – December 15th, 1969 at the Lyceum ballroom, London.

John Lennon said of this show “I thought it was fantastic, I was really into it. We were doing the show & George (Harrison), Delaney & Bonnie, Billy Preston, all that crowd turned up. They’d just come back from Sweden. George had been playing invisible man in Delaney & Bonnie’s band, which Eric Clapton had been doing, to get the pressure off being famous Eric & famous George. They became the guitarists in this. They all turned up. It was again like the concert in Toronto. I said ‘Will you come on?’ They said ‘Well, what are you going to play?’ I said ‘Listen, we’re going to probably do a blues…or “Cold Turkey”, which is three chords’. Eric knew that. & “Don’t Worry Kyoko” which was Yoko’s, which has three chords & a riff. I said ‘Once we get on Yoko’s riff, just keep hitting it’. It was a fantastic show, it was fantastic….very heavy! A lot of the audience walked out, but the ones that stayed, they were in a trance. They just all came to the front because it was of the first real heavy rock shows…it’s only to be expected that some people were disappointed in that we only did two long numbers, but we play 1984 music! I don’t know what they want. I’m trying to get it across that the Plastic Ono Band plays the unexpected”

The full line-up for the Plastic Ono Supergroup was:
John Lennon – vocals & guitar
George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney Bramlett – guitars
Klaus Voorman – bass
Jim Gordon, Keith Moon & Alan White – drums
Billy Preston – organ *
Bonnie Bramlett & ‘Friends’ ** – percussion & brass

* Sadly, Billy’s organ was buried in the original recording, and Nicky Hopkins’ overdubbed an electric piano in 1971 in New York when the songs from the concert were released on the “Some Time in New York City” album bonus LP.

**’Friends’ included: Bobby Keys – saxophone; Jim Price – trumpet; with Bobby Whitlock & Carl Radle), also assisting was ‘Legs’ Larry Smith (from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) & Dino Danelli (the drummer from The Young Rascals)