Early in August 1972, John Lennon had the idea to perform a live benefit for the pupils of Willowbrook School in New York City, a state-run institute for children with mental disabilities. Following three days of rehearsals, two concerts took place on 30 August 1972 at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York City. They were the last full-scale performances given by Lennon in public.
That Madison Square Gardens gig was the best music I enjoyed playing since the Cavern or even Hamburg… It was just the same kinda feeling when The Beatles used to really get into it.
New Musical Express
Lennon had seen Geraldo Rivera’s report for ABC TV on the physical and sexual abuse of the children and the poor facilities at the Staten Island school. He contacted Rivera and suggested they organise a benefit concert. Lennon enlisted the band Elephant’s Memory, with whom he had recently recorded the Some Time In New York City album, and rehearsals took place on 18, 20 and 22 August.
Lennon was, like many Americans, scandalised by the conditions at Willowbrook. He likely also saw it as a chance to rehabilitate his public image, in the light of poor sales of Some Time In New York City and the Nixon administration’s ongoing attempts to deport him. The success of George Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh the previous year may well have influenced his decision to get involved.
The event was part of the One To One Festival, which sponsored the individual mentoring of pupils at the school. Two concerts took place, one in the afternoon and another in the evening. Other guests on the bill included Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, and Sha Na Na, and the Plastic Ono Elephant’s Memory Band were the headline act.
Paul McCartney had been invited to appear at the event, and although he considered accepting, the spectre of Allen Klein in the background was enough to put him off.
Prior to the concerts, Lennon bought $59,000 worth of tickets and gave them away to fundraising volunteers, as he worried that not enough money was being generated. Both shows were sell-outs, however, and the day raised more than $1.5 million for Willowbrook. Proceeds from the tickets, which cost $5, $7.50 and $10, were intended to establish smaller residential facilities in the community for mentally-disabled people.
Initially just one concert had been planned, but an afternoon performance was added after sales for the evening show exceeded expectations.
The setlist for the first show was: ‘Power To The People’, ‘New York City’, ‘It’s So Hard’, ‘Move On Fast’, ‘Woman Is The N—-r Of The World’, ‘Sisters, O Sisters’, ‘Well Well Well’, ‘Born In A Prison’, ‘Instant Karma’, ‘Mother’, ‘We’re All Water’, ‘Come Together’, ‘Imagine’, ‘Open Your Box’, ‘Cold Turkey’, ‘Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)’, and ‘Hound Dog’.
With Lennon relatively unaccustomed to live performance by 1972, the first concert featured some ragged playing and a general lack of energy. Lennon acknowledged as much from the stage, telling the crowd: “Welcome to the rehearsal”.
The evening show featured fewer songs, with several sung by Yoko Ono omitted. The setlist was: ‘Power To The People’, ‘New York City’, ‘It’s So Hard’, ‘Woman Is The N—-r Of The World’, ‘Sisters, O Sisters’, ‘Well Well Well’, ‘Instant Karma’, ‘Mother’, ‘We’re All Water’, ‘Come Together’, ‘Imagine’, ‘Cold Turkey’, ‘Hound Dog’, and ‘Give Peace A Chance’.
In the final song Lennon and Ono were joined on stage by the other stars and the organisers of the concerts. A brief portion of this performance was included on the 1975 compilation Shaved Fish, as a coda to ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’, with Stevie Wonder’s vocals to the fore.
After the event the acts all attended a party held at the Tavern In The Green in Manhattan’s Central Park.
The concerts were filmed by a professional crew, and the superior evening performance was screened in an ABC TV special later in the year, as well as being broadcast in a King Biscuit Flower Hour radio show. ABC bought the rights for $350,000, which also went to the charity.
A selection of recordings from both concerts were issued on the posthumous 1986 album Live In New York City. A one-hour video was released on VHS, Betamax and later Laserdisc, featuring some different versions of the songs, including some by Yoko Ono.
Three songs, along with Geraldo Rivera’s introduction, were included on the 1998 box set John Lennon Anthology. The songs were ‘Woman Is The N—-r Of The World’, ‘It’s So Hard’, and ‘Come Together’.
Also on this day...
- 2019: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Thunder Valley Casino Resort, Lincoln
- 2014: Paul McCartney urges Scots to vote No to independence
- 2003: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
- 2001: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
- 1998: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Salle Des Etoiles, Monte Carlo
- 1989: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: Aladdin Theatre, Las Vegas
- 1969: John Lennon and Ringo Starr travel to the Isle of Wight to see Bob Dylan
- 1968: Recording, mixing: Dear Prudence
- 1968: UK single release: Hey Jude
- 1966: Travel: Los Angeles to London
- 1965: The Beatles live: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
- 1964: The Beatles live: Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
- 1963: The Beatles live: Odeon Cinema, Southport
- 1963: Television: The Mersey Sound
- 1962: The Beatles live: Riverpark Ballroom, Chester
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
- 1960: The Beatles live: Indra Club, Hamburg
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
Would do anything to get my hands on the performance recording of Lennon’s 1972 concert at madison square!
Yeah I agree, whats the holdup?
The afternoon show was great, even though it was delayed. JL was so cool sitting at the electric piano with his guitar strapped on his back singing Imagine I will never forget seeing him 44 years ago today.
Chicken skin gig and packed after party on the Green! R. Flack just blew the house away with her performance. There is a video CD i believe but the remastered music CD is out there. I have both LP & CD His song Women is the N. Of the World was not received well but was a Fact
No one mention the fact that who was in burlap sack during part of night concert. You guess if you where really there. Like Woodstock most everybody will say they where there but if talking of Woodstock there would have been millions there/ cause oh i was there is many whom weren’t even in NY State then days of Woodstock!
Watching the show again after quite some time I noticed some things I never thought of before: John´s funny duckwalk during New York City, John and Yoko blowing kisses to each other ´cross the stage, that the band has two bassists, that there are two people that looks to be on stage and close to a microphone who plays tambourines during Well well well -in addition to a couple of thousand in the audience who had a free tambourine given upon entry, that John says “Did somebody shout ‘Ringo´?”, that it sounds like a choir overdub for the chorus of Instant karma -or it is a good mix of a recording of the audience singing along, that he talks silly after Imagine and mentions the song title of Angel baby which he would record in 1973, that just before Hound dog somebody shouts for Help!, and finally that Yoko´s speech at the beginning of Give peace a chance is a weird piece; she actually speaks in time with the rhytm but one gets the impression she is reading their own statement up until she mentions it was by Adolf Hitler -the reasons for doing this is a mystery to me, and finally, that John Lennon was a hopeless musical leader for the band, he seemed at loss as to how to finish many of the songs, a role that McCartney handled in The Beatles. Still, I wish I had been there.
Oh, and that Jim Keltner played on these shows, I had forgotten that completely. That means he is one of a fab four group of people who can claim to have performed live on stage with each ex Beatle, the others being Eric Clapton, Elton John and Elton´s usual percussionist Ray Cooper.
The trio I was playing with (“Sinful Street”) was tapped to provide the entertainment at the after-party for the performers in this concert. It was going to be “great exposure” for us. Though this website states above, “After the event the acts all attended a party held at the Tavern In The Green in Manhattan’s Central Park,” in fact, only hangers-on showed up; the performers probably attended private get-togethers. Our manager wouldn’t let us start playing till “someone famous” showed up. Somewhere around midnight, as I was walking in the parking lot, a white limo almost ran me over; it was John & Yoko. They came in, sat down, we went onstage, the hangers-on all swarmed around the only two celebrities there…and within a short time J & Y left (I would have, too). Well, no exposure for us, and while we were packing up, someone stole my clarinet! A memorable night – cured me of doing gigs for exposure. I hadn’t realized till I saw this upload that that was John & Yoko’s last major concert together.? Ah, happy days of my youth!
If Paul McCartney was invited to perform, was it John who invited him? I understand that Paul wanted nothing to do with Klein, but looking back it seems a shame that he apparently let that stop him from appearing at this benefit as well as the Bangla Desh concert. Things could have turned out much differently as far as the Beatles playing together again.