♪ JOHN L.: I wanted The Beatles' thing to end.

♪ I felt as though I couldn't breathe if it went on any longer.

♪ (phone ringing) We got this phone call from Toronto on a Friday night.

JOHN B.: It's John Brower calling.

♪ JOHN L.: That there was a Rock & Roll Revival show with 100,000 audience, or whatever it was, (crowd cheering) ♪ and that Chuck was gonna be there.

CHUCK: Let me hear you say "peace."

CROWD: Peace!

(crowd cheering) ♪ JOHN L.: And Jerry Lee was gonna be there.

JERRY LEE: It's a great pleasure to be here at the Revival of Rock & Roll, and I'll guarantee you, if it ain't revived today, we'll never have it revived.

(crowd cheering) ♪ JOHN L.: And all the great rockers that were still living, CHUCK: Right now, we're gonna take you back to the year of 1955.

Have mercy.

LITTLE RICHARD: Ladies and gentlemen, the legend to the true rock 'n' roll!

JOHN L.: I think The Doors were top of the bill.

CLAUDJA: It was monumental.

I did feel like I was a part of a bigger moment.

It was something that I would not forget.

KIM: The ninth wonder of the world, Alice Cooper!

(crowd cheering) ALICE: It was upsetting the system on every level.

♪ A lot of tension going on.

SHEP: It was a social phenomenon.

For Toronto, this was their Woodstock.

GEDDY: The combination of people on the stage at that particular point in time is, without question, historic.

You can't see a seismic shift happening when you're a kid in the middle of it.

(crowd cheering) ♪ KLAUS: This was far too much ahead of its time.

JOHN L.: Okay, we're just gonna do a number that we know, you know, because we've never played together before.

(crowd cheering) ♪ ♪ JOHN B.: The Rock & Roll Revival, did it really happen?

Did John Lennon really- was he really here last night?

It was so under the radar, it was almost a non-event, until all of a sudden, it was the biggest thing in the world.

♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ (car horns honking) ♪ ♪ REPORTER: This is the office of two of the most unlikely show-business impresarios you're likely to meet.

Ken Walker, 23, business manager.

(phone ringing) KEN: We are thinking right now of maybe doing something in the fall.

REPORTER: And John Brower, 22, producer and talent scout.

JOHN B.: They're now in Toronto, and they're just changing and getting ready for the concert tonight.

Brower-Walker had been the principal concert promoters in Toronto for about a year.

A lot of people coming and going.

That office was all about rock festivals.

There was this excitement in the air that, like, we have an office.

You know, we have a clubhouse.

SHEP: Promoters weren't corporate like they are today.

They were kids who had passion for music.

They were looking to have some fun, get some people in, and make a few bucks, and eat lunch.

♪ JOHN B.: This was after penicillin and before AIDS.

You know, free love was free love.

It was out there.

♪ Agents were talking about, "There's gonna be big rock festivals for the Summer of '69," and we were putting on the pop festival.

You've seen the news footage.

Well, it's the first pop festival in Canada, and I think it's got a talent lineup that hasn't been beaten.

(crowd cheering) ♪ SHEP: John Brower had a spark.

He could turn a really difficult negotiation and conversation, he'd always have a little twist.

JOHN B.: We're bringing in 28 groups and over 200 performers.

♪ The Toronto Pop Festival was the first festival of 1969.

There were probably 25 bands.

Not a bad show.

♪ It was amazing that Chuck Berry, one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers of all time, ended up the magic of the show.

He brought just incredible joy to the afternoon when he played.

There was this excitement in the air.

We sold that show out and made a ton of money on that show.

It created such a phenomenal buzz in Toronto.

REPORTER: It's been called the first real pop festival Canada has ever seen.

JOHN B.: We needed a show for the fall.

My thought was, "If Chuck Berry can do this, we called around, and lo and behold, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent, all available on the same day as Chuck, and that became September 13th.

(line ringing) And in a meeting, the concept was created, let's put all of these guys together on the same bill.

And that was the seed of the Toronto Rock & Roll Revival.

ROBERT: I was a rock critic.

I respected and cared for the artists of the '50s.

The idea that Chuck Berry was a great artist was one I started selling to my editors in '64, '65.

♪ A great performer.

A great guitarist.

The Beatles, they told everybody that they came out of Chuck Berry.

JOHN L.: I like Chuck Berry, Elvis, and Little Richard, Eddie Cochran.

Many.

Bo Diddley.

ROBERT: Let me tell you, sitting across the table from John Lennon, it's very impressive, and what we discussed there is that we talked about many of the other artists of the '50s.

JOHN L.: He made "Hound Dog" real.

ROBERT: And then there was Gene Vincent.

JOHN L.: Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula," one of the first songs I ever sang, and the first day I sang it in public with a real band is the day I met Paul, and it's always been one of my all-time favorites.

♪ JOHN B.: We needed a back-up band for Gene Vincent.

SHEP: When I met John, they had this idea of a big festival.

In order to get the gig, John said, "You have to back up some of the bands."

ALICE: When we got with Shep, it was always just, "Get us on stage and we will build that audience."

KIM: Alice Cooper!

(crowd cheering) SHEP: Alice was an unknown quantity.

We couldn't get work anywhere.

ALICE: We had zero money.

JOHN B.: So Shep wanted to get as much money as possible, so he got us to book them on the show as Alice Cooper, and then to pay them again to be the back-up band for Gene Vincent.

ALICE: Totally unknown band, and they said, "Okay."

SHEP: So, off we went.

JOHN B.: We were full-tilt boogie on the Rock & Roll Revival.

Everybody was talking about this was gonna be earth-shattering, ground-breaking.

A few weeks later, tickets were not selling.

It was a terrible shock and it was a personal blow because I was the one that created this show.

♪ Truth be told, the kings of rock 'n' roll were playing hotels and motels along the Vegas strip.

JOHN B.: I looked at the show and said, "That's what's wrong."

We did not have superstars.

"We need somebody big here," and that's when we got The Doors.

♪ DIRECTOR: Take two.

ROBBY: '69, "Hello, I Love You" had just come out and made number one.

We were playing, like, the big places.

That was kind of the top of our career at that point.

♪ JOHN B.: Kenny did not want to spend any more money.

"We don't need anybody else.

Things will pick up."

The Doors wanted $25,000, that was a lot of money, and the only person I knew that had that kind of money was Edjo, the leader of the Vagabonds Motorcycle Club.

(motorcycle engine revving) EDJO: I don't remember as much as I should about that era.

Gotta remember, there was a lot of marijuana smoked in them days.

♪ At that time, there was 105 Vagabonds, plus about 25 guys that wanted to be in the club.

♪ JOHN B.: Kenny said, "Go ahead, borrow the money from whoever you want, but if it's a bomb, it's on you."

EDJO: Your word's your bond in my business.

You say something, you mean it.

You don't need a contract, or you never did in them days.

JOHN B.: There were no limit to what Edjo would do.

EDJO: Nobody needs enemies.

♪ (camera shutter clicking) JOHN B.: I thought The Doors would be huge, so I called New York.

It's John Brower calling.

And got a contract for The Doors.

Everybody was very excited.

The Doors were coming to Toronto.

ROBBY: Right about the time that Toronto happened, just before, we had to play in Miami.

It turned out to be kind of a weird night.

Jim got a little bit too drunk before the show, which wasn't that unusual.

As the show went on, he starts berating the audience.

"Oh, you guys didn't come here just to- "for music, did you?

"You just, you want to see something, right?

You want to see this?"

And he never did whip it out, but it was a crazy show.

Three or four days later, they arrested Jim, indecent exposure, indecent language.

That was the first night of a tour and we had at least 10 or 15 dates after that.

Every one of them canceled, but luckily, we got to do the Toronto show.

JOHN B.: The publicity around The Doors in Miami and the felony charges, that did not translate into ticket sales in Toronto.

Tickets just were not moving.

Everything was just frozen.

A week before the show, we had 2,000 tickets sold and we needed almost nine to break even.

It was my brilliant idea, that turned out to be not quite so brilliant.

It needed a little help.

RITCHIE: I was a journalist working for The Globe and Mail in Toronto, and John Brower was trying to call about the Toronto Rock & Roll Revival.

JOHN B.: Ritchie Yorke was the top rock writer in the city.

He was one of our confidants.

He said, "You've gotta bring Rodney Bingenheimer, "the Mayor of Sunset Strip.

Rodney's famous."

♪ Talking about the Mayor of the Sunset Strip ♪ RODNEY: Got your radios on?

It's time for "Rodney on the ROQ."

JOHN L.: And Kim Fowley, who was a legendary madman.

KIM: Ladies and gentlemen, they hear some applause.

Let's start applauding now.

Now!

Now!

JOHN B.: "You've gotta bring them up here "to be the MCs and let them do promotion.

They do great interviews."

And so, for a couple of plane tickets, we had two certifiable Hollywood legends on the bill promoting the show.

Even that didn't help.

Didn't make any difference at all.

RODNEY: You notice I got the Toronto shirt on?

♪ KIM: Rodney Bingenheimer!

(crowd cheering) RODNEY: I think the promotion wasn't as strong as it should've been.

Ticket sales weren't doing that well.

JOHN B.: Investors were saying, "We're out.

"Cancel everything.

The deal's off," and it just came out of nowhere.

All of a sudden, the show's gonna be canceled.

"This is a disaster.

Stop it now."

Who's gonna pay Edjo?

Where's the money for Edjo if the show's canceled?

The pressure that night was intense.

It was just beyond anything I could imagine.

In going to the hotel to tell Kim Fowley and Rodney Bingenheimer that they may as well get packed because we're going to fly them back tomorrow, Kim Fowley went into a tirade, storming around the hotel suite.

"You can't cancel this show!

"This is a classic show!

"This is ridiculous!

"If it was at Dodger Stadium, it would sell out!

"Here's what you need to do.

"You need to call John Lennon tomorrow at Apple "and invite he and Yoko to be the MC, "because he loves Chuck Berry and Little Richard," and I mean, Kim Fowley was walking around the room preaching to me and he got me.

There was so much tension that night because I had to hold off until the next morning and see if we could get John Lennon on the phone.

(tone beeping) ANTHONY: So, before we start, can I just get a tiny bit more red wine?

PRODUCER: Mm-hmm.

ANTHONY: If that's okay.

Is that a cigarette?

No.

PRODUCER: Mm-hmm.

ANTHONY: No, it's not.

(laughs) Toronto Rock & Roll, nineteen- was it or 1969 or '70?

When was it?

It was a long time ago.

(laughs) This is Anthony Fawcett here in Bag Productions.

How can I help you?

♪ London in the mid-'60s was really colorful.

We all mixed together.

You know, we'd go to the same clubs, we'd go to Tramp and The Stones would be in one table, and, anyway, you need to edit me and get me back to John and Yoko, so "Cut."

(laughs) I grew up with The Beatles, never even imagining that one day I would be one of the closest people in the world to John Lennon, and actually living with him, literally.

They always used to say, "Anthony is the only one that comes between John and Yoko."

Lucky me.

You know, 20-year- old art critic.

Can you imagine?

JOHN L.: Just tell us what's going on today.

ANTHONY: It's all Japanese today.

JOHN L.: Yeah, and what about the evening?

When do we finish?

ANTHONY: Two more Japanese.

John was in a really bad state.

He was very depressed.

I think he missed playing live.

I mean, actually, for John, playing live, probably in his whole life, that- that's what he loved best, on the stage.

He'd thrown off the mantle of The Beatles.

JOHN L.: Ringo's left once.

George had left once for a couple of days or something.

Yeah.

It's complete chaos.

ANTHONY: You have to imagine Bag Productions in the Apple building.

There's a big black leather desk.

John and Yoko behind it.

I'm sitting here on the side.

We have a fire going in the office, a burning-log fire.

So I'm screening everything for John Lennon and Yoko.

(phone ringing) It was really weird for a 20-year old to be the conduit to John Lennon and Yoko.

So if I get a phone call from the Prime Minister, if I get a phone call from Salvador Dali, if I get a phone call from John Brower in Toronto, I take the call.

JOHN B.: The next morning, I've gotten Kenny, myself down at the office at six o'clock in the morning.

It's now 11 o'clock in the morning in London.

(phone dialing) (phone ringing) ANTHONY: Hello.

JOHN B.: This is John Brower.

I'm calling from Toronto.

You need to tell John Lennon all these people are playing on the same bill this Saturday in Toronto, and we would like to invite John and Yoko to come and be the MCs.

ANTHONY: So I told John right away, "Hey, we just got a call in from Toronto.

They want you to play in a rock 'n' roll festival."

There's someone on the line from Canada inviting you to come this weekend at some big rock concert in- JOHN L.: In Canada?

ANTHONY: Yeah, for a big rock concert.

JOHN L.: Well, get a bit more detail.

Find out who's on.

ANTHONY: He says, "Well, find out more."

So I start getting calls from Ritchie Yorke.

Ritchie was a writer like me.

RITCHIE: I happened to be at Apple because I had an interview planned for the Monday morning with George.

John was being hassled by John Brower on the phone to come over and be at this Rock & Roll Revival.

JOHN L.: Was that John Brower that just phoned?

ANTHONY: John Brower.

JOHN L.: Was it?

ANTHONY: John Brower, yes.

JOHN L.: It was John Brower?

ANTHONY: Yes.

JOHN L.: Okay, and he's the organizer, isn't he?

ANTHONY: He's the producer of it.

JOHN L.: The producer.

Great, okay.

RITCHIE: Basically, John wanted to know if they were good people doing it.

Could he trust them?

Would it be okay to go?

JOHN B.: Had Ritchie Yorke not been at Apple, John Lennon might've thought that we were just a couple of crazy kids calling him on the phone.

(hand knocking on door) ANTHONY: I've got Ritchie Yorke outside.

JOHN L.: Maybe he knows a bit about Canada, then.

ANTHONY: Very likely.

JOHN L.: Hi, how are you?

RITCHIE: A-ha!

There's a Toronto Rock & Roll Revival on tomorrow which has Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent, and Little Richard, and all, you know, they've got them all together, and Kim Fowley, and The Doors.

and, you know, it's a nice little scene.

And I know the two guys who are running it.

John Brower.

ANTHONY: Oh, he's the one that was on the phone just now, John Brower.

RITCHIE: Oh, really?

JOHN L.: Find out how much, too.

(tone beeping) JOHN B.: And there's a pause.

Now, this is on a speaker phone.

We are looking at each other, like, "Are you hearing this?"

Now, Kenny starts going like this, and I go, "You know, we can't pay you," and he says, "Oh, no, no, that's okay," and Kenny starts going like this, and I go, "But we'll get you plane tickets, first class," and Kenny goes... JOHN L.: They'll give us a chartered plane of 30 to go and play at a rock concert.

We could get a group together to take over.

YOKO: George and Eric might go.

JOHN L.: Could you ring George and ask, could he get me a group together for tomorrow night in Canada?

It sounds about good, this Canadian thing.

YOKO: Yes, it does.

ANTHONY: To cut a very long story short, John said, "Yeah, we'll do it."

KIM: The CHUM News Watch for Sid Silver formal rentals.

Currently- JOHN B.: Of course, where were we running?

Right up to CHUM Radio with the news.

♪ C-H-U-M 1050 Toronto ♪ JOHN B.: The radio support was CHUM Radio.

That was it.

It was radio, radio, radio.

"I just got off the phone "a few hours ago with John Lennon.

"He's coming over on Saturday.

They're gonna play."

And they're just, like, looking at us, like, "Your show's bombing here and John Lennon's coming?

And you want us to go on the air with that?"

(elevator dinging) At which point, they threw us out of the station.

(elevator doors close) Now, Kenny's going, "We're in trouble."

I said, "Look, John Lennon is gonna tell us "who's in his band.

"We will tape that phone call.

We'll come up here and we'll show these guys."

Kenny goes, "Okay, good."

So now, we have to wait 24 hours.

♪ (drawer slides open) ♪ ♪ KLAUS: The start of the whole story, I'm gonna start right from the very start, which is John called me.

"Klaus, we have a band "called the Plastic Ono Band.

"There's gonna be a rock 'n' roll festival and the Plastic Ono Band's gonna play there," and I thought, "Oh.

The Plastic Ono Band?"

And I thought maybe you have to get up on stage naked.

♪ So I was a little hesitant, then he started saying, "Eric already said yes.

He's gonna be in the band," and then Yoko was in the background saying, "Yeah, we're gonna go there for peace," and I said, "When's that?"

"Well, tomorrow morning."

(phone ringing) ALAN: He called me up in at my house in London.

JOHN L.: And I said, "Look, there's this thing on in Toronto.

You wanna come?"

ALAN: I didn't think it was him, so I kinda put the phone down, and then he called back 10 minutes later.

He said, "No, no, no, really.

"This is John Lennon.

♪ "I'm gonna do a show in Toronto.

Can you be at the airport tomorrow?"

I said, "Sure."

ANTHONY: John Lennon was incredibly fast.

Everything happened in a split second.

He just liked the idea that "I can play live again."

We have to remember, John hasn't played live for a long, long time, and he had to decide who he would play with.

John asked me to try and find Eric Clapton to see if he'd come or not.

Literally, the day before.

DAN: Having Klaus, and Eric, and Alan White there, that was the first time that John really had a Plastic Ono Band.

JOHN L.: The band is our Plastic Ono Band, which Yoko and I formed.

The band will expand, depending on how many people want to play with us, so the Plastic Ono Band will- could be four people or 10 people.

Only the Plastic Ono Band will be constant.

John and Yoko are bigger than John Lennon.

John and Yoko are bigger than George Harrison.

John and Yoko are bigger than Paul McCartney.

So that's our power now, and the power is for the people instead of for The Beatles, and we destroyed the myth.

DAN: I was over in the kitchen at Ascot.

John came down the stairs and said, "They've just asked us to go over "to this Rock & Roll Revival "in Toronto and it's tomorrow.

You wanna come with us?"

♪ Yoko was one of the founders of the Fluxus Movement, which is pretty rarified air.

The avant-garde of the avant-garde.

People like George Maciunas and Jonas Mekas.

ANTHONY: She'd worked with Ornette Coleman.

She'd worked with Andy Warhol.

When she came to London, she was very well established in the art scene, so we all knew her.

DAN: The '60s opened all these doors and behind one of the doors was Yoko Ono.

She believed in her art totally.

YOKO: I, myself, in my own way, was coming to a point where I was feeling that I'd explored all the things that I could explore in the avant-garde world, and I was looking for something else.

DAN: Really, it wasn't until she did her Film "No.

4," which is also known as "Bottoms."

That film created some notoriety.

The world found out about her at that point.

YOKO: And every day, I was talked about in the newspaper.

In fact, in a way, I was ostracized by the avant-garde world by then.

ROBERT: At that time, Yoko really didn't get much respect from anybody.

YOKO: Because I was getting too famous for a serious artist, but I wasn't famous enough for the Lennon league, I suppose.

DAN: And it was just at that point where she and John met.

Yoko said to John, "When you sing 'I wanna hold your hand,' "100 million people around the world hear those words, so why don't you say something important?"

He said, "Yoko can give me the words through conceptual techniques.

We can do this together."

John would do his rock 'n' roll kind of thing in one and Yoko would do her conceptual thing as one.

They just fell head over heels for each other.

It's like they'd been missing a part of themselves and they found it.

♪ JOHN B.: Then the next morning, we're back down at the office, the tape recorder ready.

Call Apple Records.

(line ringing) Hello, this is John Brower.

I'm calling for John Lennon.

He's expecting my call.

The phone is picked up.

ANTHONY: Hello, it's Anthony Fawcett.

I'm Yoko's assistant and I've got the names for you.

JOHN B.: Okay, what am I gonna say?

Well, no, I need John Lennon on the phone?

I mean, we're kinda stunned, but we got a guy on the phone, he's giving us the names.

John Lennon.

Yoko Ono Lennon.

Eric Clapton.

Klaus Voormann.

Alan White, and this guy, Anthony Fawcett.

And the next morning, Kenny and I go up to CHUM.

We're pretty smug now.

Punch the button.

Tape plays.

ANTHONY: Hello, it's Anthony Fawcett here in London.

I've got the names now coming on the travel to Toronto.

JOHN B.: Now the program director stands up.

"You know something?

"We've been promoting shows for you guys here, "and you would come up here "with this **** on this tape, "with a guy with a pretty good English accent, "and you want us to go on the air with this?

I don't even wanna look at either one of you."

And they just walked out.

Well, now Kenny is about ready to faint, and I have one last thought, I need to get Russ Gibb in Detroit on the phone.

RUSS: Russ Gibb, jumping up and down, and we're inviting you to hang in there.

JOHN B.: I dial him from the boardroom and I play him the tape.

ANTHONY: Do you have a pen?

I've got the names now.

John Lennon.

Yoko Ono, JOHN B.: Russ Gibb is promoting this as the Second Coming.

This is the greatest thing to happen in rock 'n' roll.

The next day, all the tickets in Detroit-Windsor are gone.

(car horns honking) In New York, (phone ringing) D.A.

Pennebaker, who had made two brilliant documentaries... ♪ Pennebaker contacted our office and said, "I wanna come up and film the Rock & Roll Revival."

Well, this was amazing.

Not only were we gonna have John Lennon, now we're gonna have a movie.

D.A.

: I went up there because those four guys were playing.

I thought it was a great film to do and I was happy to do it, because I think that's an extraordinary history of rock 'n' roll.

♪ MOLLY: Everybody somehow met at the airport.

There were a lot of people that came.

If there was a plane ticket provided, you just went.

I mean, it wasn't like you were gonna get paid.

Molly filming.

Roll 4A, wild sound.

And Penne said, "Take a Super-8 cam and then maybe get some backstage stuff," but I'm going, "That's great, I'll go."

You know?

So, yeah, I just went.

CHRIS: So off we flew to Toronto.

JOHN B.: Pennebaker was in town.

They were getting ready to roll.

MOLLY: Entering stadium at gate.

Stadium, Penne.

CHRIS: We're just gonna set up, we'll have daylight, we'll have spots on the stage, and we'll do it.

What could be simpler?

(film roll sounds) JOHN B.: I called Edjo and I said, "Ed, I've got a great idea.

"John Lennon is coming.

"He's bringing a band.

"They're gonna play at the show.

"How 'bout you get some of the bikes "and we escort him in?

Bikes in front, bikes in back."

Edjo loved it.

So Edjo organized 80 motorcycles, but, of course, during the week, the talk all around Toronto is that John Lennon is not coming.

In fact, CHUM had called Capitol Records, who called Allen Klein, The Beatles' manager in New York, who told them, "John Lennon doesn't do anything "I don't know about.

"It's not true.

He's not going to Toronto."

Some of the Vagabonds sold pot to some of the people at CHUM and they heard that story, and they go back and tell Edjo.

So Friday night, Edjo comes to my place, and he's had a few drinks and he's had some smoke, and he pounds on my door and he just barges in, and I go, "Ed, what's up?"

and he goes, "Look, man, I'm really pissed off.

"How could you ******** me?

I've been backing you up all week on this thing."

"John Lennon is coming.

We got him plane tickets."

Ed goes, "Look, if I have 80 bikes out there tomorrow "and there's no John Lennon, there's guys "that are gonna come here and they're gonna ******* beat the **** out of you."

ANTHONY: As always, I go up to the bedroom to see if they're ready to come out to the airport, and they're in a really bad mood.

"We're not feeling so well.

"I don't think we can do it.

"I think you're gonna have to cancel it.

Send some flowers."

(sighs) Deep breath.

Klaus, I think, had said yes, was at the airport.

Alan White was at the airport.

We hadn't heard back from Eric.

Whether he even knew about it, whether he could come, he hadn't replied.

JOHN B.: So at four o'clock in the morning, my phone rings (phone ringing) and it's Anthony Fawcett.

He's trembling on the phone right now, and he's just talked to John Lennon at Tittenhurst Park where John lives, who has told him that he and Yoko can't make it and that he's to send flowers to the festival, "Love: John & Yoko."

I don't know what to say except, "No."

If John Lennon doesn't show up, I have to leave my city.

I have to leave my country.

I am ruined.

(bell tolling) I said to him, "He has to come."

ANTHONY: After that first call, I went back downstairs to the kitchen.

I decided not to do anything.

KLAUS: Terry Doran went up to Eric Clapton's house.

They called him, tried everything.

He didn't hear the telephone, and he banged on the door, and he got him.

So he turned up at the airport at the last minute.

ANTHONY: And I said, "John, you know what?

"Eric got the message.

He wants to come," and John, he suddenly, "What?

Eric said yes?"

I said, "Yeah."

I said, "He woke up.

"He was sleeping late.

"Eric's on his way to the airport, so what shall I say?"

And John suddenly got excited, and he looked at Yoko, he says, "Okay, let's go.

We're doing it."

(phone dialing) (line ringing) So I call the airport and I say, "We're coming.

Get us on the next flight."

So suddenly, it's on.

JOHN B.: So he and Yoko get out of bed, and get in the limo, (car horn honking) and they arrive at Heathrow Airport, and, of course, they're mobbed, and John begins a little press conference.

"Yes, we're going to Toronto.

"We're going to play at a rock show.

It's gonna be the Plastic Ono Band's first show."

(trumpets blasting) So this goes out immediately.

"John Lennon.

"Heathrow Airport.

"Announces on his way to Toronto for a rock festival."

(airplane engine sounds) ANTHONY: We get on the plane.

We're with the band.

KLAUS: We're all sitting in the back.

We got the last row.

So this one's the Toronto flight.

So this is Eric, this is John, that's Alan White, and me trying to play bass in an airplane.

No amplifier.

Very, very difficult.

ANTHONY: We're on the way to Canada to play at a rock 'n' roll concert and no-one actually knows what we're gonna play.

They had to make the playlist on the plane.

JOHN L.: Now, we didn't know what to play, 'cause we never played together before.

On the airplane, we're running through these oldies with electric guitars.

ALAN: They just grabbed the guitars.

We went down to the back of the plane and I was playing on the seat.

KLAUS: And Alan was hitting on the headrest.

(imitates drums) When you sit there and you play and you hear John, he's a fantastic rhythm guitar player.

And then Yoko's gonna do her thing, and then she came down the aisle of the plane and said, "Can we do my song now?"

and John got up and said, "Let's go and have a cup of tea."

So no rehearsal with Yoko.

He kept it really away from us.

He just wanted us to be surprised.

ANTHONY: I can't imagine what the air hostesses were thinking.

They must have thought they were in heaven.

♪ For the first time in his life, coming to play live with a new band, not The Beatles, he was so excited about that.

(plane engine roaring) (indistinct chatter) ♪ GEDDY: We were all suburban kids still.

We didn't live downtown.

(indistinct chatter) ♪ Even coming downtown to see a band was an adventure.

♪ That was the vibe of the times.

♪ Which is how I came to be at the Rock & Roll Revival.

I got a call from John Rutsey, our drummer, and he said, "Let's go to this show.

It should be great."

We got together and went down to the show.

♪ (crowd cheering) CLAUDJA: The Toronto Rock & Roll Revival was something that you'd never heard about before.

It was, like, "What?

"I gotta go.

"I gotta go.

I gotta go."

(crowd cheering) And I heard about Little Richard, and I thought, "Oh god, yes," and I said to my brother, "Oh, come on, we gotta go," so we both snuck out, primarily to see the Black guys.

(crowd cheering) The excitement was amazing.

I had not experienced something like that before.

I don't remember ever being in such a big crowd before.

We were just laughing and having a grand time.

I was thinking, "My god, this is very scary," because there were so many people.

I'm pretty sure my brother and I were the only two Black people there.

JOHN B.: The show was on.

Everything was going.

The stage is good.

Everything was set up.

We're all good there.

There were thousands of people down there.

Edjo, who had been given an entire section in the stadium, and it was now filled with about 300 bikers and their friends who were partying absolutely madly, ♪ ROBERT: Then I spent the entire day in the press pit, right up front on a very hot day in Toronto, and I watched the whole thing.

It was a remarkable experience.

(crowd cheering) GEDDY: Everyone was so nice that day.

Walked around and around and around listening to all these amazing bands.

The music was incredible.

JOHN B.: We had a great show.

We had great bands.

KIM: Ladies and gentlemen, this group said they wouldn't play until they hear some applause, so start applauding now.

Now!

Now!

(crowd cheering) BO: Right now, we're gonna take you back to the year of 1955.

Have mercy.

♪ ♪ SINGER: Let's get those hands together out there.

BO: Come on, get it together now.

Come on.

Hmm!

SINGER: Do anything you feel like doing.

This is your day!

BO: Getting good as it go on!

Come on!

Tasting all right.

Come on!

♪ Oh!

ALICE: If you watch the old guys, when they hit that stage, they brought it like it's the last show you're ever gonna do.

♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ ♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ ♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ ♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ ♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ MOLLY: I just couldn't believe I had the good fortune to see Bo Diddley.

Of course, the guys that originated everything that anybody ever did, they're heroes, you know?

BO: Yeah!

♪ ♪ I called the other night on the telephone ♪ ♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ ♪ Your mama said you're not alone ♪ ♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Hey, Bo Diddley ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ GEDDY: The music was important.

Your ears pricked up over artists like that.

You could see they were digging it.

♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ ♪ Yeah, let's be together ♪ ♪ Let's be together, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, let's be together, yeah ♪ (crowd cheering) Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Have mercy.

Alright.

(crowd cheering) GEDDY: And the day just went on, and on.

All these great bands kept coming out.

(crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) JERRY LEE: Whoo!

Thank you very much, neighbors.

I'll guarantee you one thing.

It's a great pleasure to be here at the Revival of Rock & Roll, and I'll guarantee you, if it ain't revived today, we'll never have it revived.

(crowd cheering) Whoo!

Look out, child!

(rolls tongue) Here's one we done pretty good with.

♪ ♪ Hmm, I got a woman mean as she can be ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ Whoo ♪ ♪ I got a woman mean as she can be ♪ ♪ Oh, sometimes I think she's almost mean as me ♪ ♪ I ain't braggin', but it's understood ♪ ♪ Everything I do, I sure do it good ♪ ♪ I got a woman ♪ ROBERT: Jerry Lee Lewis did some wonderful stuff.

Absolutely superb showman.

♪ ♪ I drink coffee ♪ ♪ I drink tea ♪ ♪ Jerry, Jerry, it's the thing for me ♪ ♪ I got a woman mean as she can be ♪ ♪ Now, my gal, I'm-a braggin' ♪ CLAUDJA: He was so commanding.

He was so in control.

(crowd cheering) JERRY LEE: Whoo!

Look out, child!

I love you like a hog loves slop, and I need you.

I couldn't do it without you.

God bless you.

(crowd cheering) KIM: Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?

ROBERT: Chuck Berry, who was renowned for going to the airport, getting his Cadillac, and playing with a pick-up band that he'd never see again.

A great performer, a great guitarist.

(crowd cheering) GEDDY: Chuck Berry was awesome.

We were kind of glued to him.

I think it was Chuck Berry who was backed up by some of the guys from Nucleus.

I think maybe Hughie Leggat played bass for him that day.

♪ HUGH: I had no idea that I was gonna end up playing the bass for Chuck Berry.

I said, "Give me your bass and get out of my way."

You know?

(laughs) That was it.

DANNY: I didn't go to the Rock & Roll Revival with the notion that I was gonna play with anyone.

CREW: Danny Taylor interview, take one.

Common mark.

DANNY: When we were in the dressing room area, our management said, "You guys wanna play with Chuck Berry?"

I was nervous, and I said, "Hughie, make sure you cue me.

"I'm not sure of the arrangements of some of these songs."

And he goes, "Well, you know, don't worry."

He said, "I'll cue you."

I go, "Okay, great."

(crowd cheering) KIM: Are you ready for the Guitar King of Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry!

DANNY: The first time I saw him that whole day, he came walking out of the side of the stage with his guitar.

I hadn't even talked to him before that point, and he walks up, doesn't even look at the band and goes, "Olé!"

CHUCK: Olé!

CROWD: Olé!

CHUCK: Olé!

CROWD: Olé!

CHUCK: Olé!

CROWD: Olé!

CHUCK: Let me hear you say, "Peace."

CROWD: Peace!

CHUCK: Peace!

CROWD: Peace!

CHUCK: Peace!

CROWD: Peace!

CHUCK: Oh, how beautiful, how beautiful.

With no further ado, let's go on with a little of this stuff.

HUGH: He didn't tell us what key he was in or- or anything, you know?

CHUCK: (chuckles) One of my band members said, "What key is it, baby?

What are we playing?"

I said, "I don't know yet."

HUGH: All you heard was... ♪ Oh, give me some of that rock 'n' roll music ♪ ♪ Any old way you choose it ♪ ♪ It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it ♪ ♪ Any old time you use it ♪ ♪ It's gotta be rock 'n' roll music ♪ ♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪ ♪ If you wanna dance with me ♪ ♪ I have no kick against modern jazz ♪ DANNY: All of a sudden, we're on stage and I'm sitting behind a kit of drums that I had never played before.

♪ And change the beauty of the melody ♪ ♪ And make it sound like a symphony ♪ ♪ That's why I go for this rock 'n' roll music ♪ DANNY: Man, it was like the rollercoaster ride was about ready to begin and we didn't know what was coming next.

(laughs) I just was hanging on, like, petrified.

You know, "Wha, what's gonna happen next?"

♪ Hear 'em play a sambo ♪ ♪ Way too late for the congo ♪ ♪ You're too early for a mambo ♪ DANNY: I'm looking around at Hughie and the other guys, going, and they're all looking at me like I'm supposed to know what's going on.

And then, all of a sudden, I got it.

♪ Any old way you choose it ♪ ♪ It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it ♪ DANNY: He looks at me and he goes... (laughs) And at that point in time, he realized that "Hey, man, these little kids," 'cause we're 18, "they can play."

♪ If you want to dance with me ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ CHUCK: Thank you.

Thank you.

I kinda think we're tuned up now.

We'll open the show... we'll open the show with a cool one.

Yeah, now this is a cool one.

Dig it.

ALICE: Modern rock 'n' roll was based on Chuck Berry.

They were the architects.

Even then, we bowed to them.

That's royalty.

(crowd cheering) CHUCK: Ah, have we shook a groove?

Now, do we dig this groove?

Shall we lay in this groove?

Did I hear "Maybellene?"

(crowd cheering) ♪ Oh, Maybellene, why can't you be true ♪ ♪ Maybellene, can't you be true ♪ ♪ You done started back doing the things ♪ ♪ You used to do ♪ ♪ JOHN B.: It's John Brower calling.

The Doors have arrived.

They're now in Toronto and they're just changing and getting ready for the concert tonight.

♪ Oh, Maybellene, can't you be true ♪ ♪ Oh, Maybellene, can't you be true ♪ ♪ You done started back doing the ♪ HUGH: While we're doing that groove, you know, "doo-doo, doo-doo," I look to my right, past Chuck Berry, and right next to him was Jim Morrison.

He's standing watching us.

♪ You started back doing the things you used to do ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Maybellene, why can't you be true ♪ ♪ Oh, Maybellene ♪ ROBBY: Chuck Berry, and he was just on fire, man.

That was, like, amazing.

ROBERT: His show was one of the best live shows he'd given in that era.

♪ The motor cooled down, the heat went down ♪ ♪ That's when I heard that highway sound ♪ ROBERT: Clearly, at that moment, he was putting out.

It was a great performance.

A thrilling performance.

♪ Sittin' still ♪ ♪ Oh, Maybellene, why can't you be true ♪ ♪ You started back doing the things ♪ ROBBY: Besides the fact that he was duck walking all over the place, he was just really on that night.

I'm so lucky to have seen that show, I think, you know?

That was one of the best rock shows I've ever seen.

(crowd cheering) ♪ (crowd cheering) GEDDY: Throughout the day, Kim Fowley, who was making announcements about a special guest.

"Well, the special guest is boarding a plane," and "The special guest is getting close to Toronto," and "The special guest is landing."

MOLLY: Penne said I had to go out to be with the motorcycle people.

That took a large part of the day.

It was kinda scary 'cause I was 24.

Roll 3A.

Wild sound.

Motorcycles outside airport.

And that's when Edjo, he's the kind of person that's an innate gentleman.

He looked a little scary to me at the time, but he's a defender, a gentleman by nature.

(indistinct chatter) EDJO: I sorta fell in love with the camera girl.

(chuckles) She says, "I wanna go with him," so she jumped on my bike.

MOLLY: It's kind of cool to be riding in with a motorcycle gang.

(motorcycle engines revving) JOHN B.: My whole agenda was getting Edjo's bikes to the airport, but I was mostly focused on getting John Lennon at the airport and getting him to the stadium.

(airplane jets roar) ♪ ANTHONY: And then, of course, we land.

♪ We get off the plane, and immediately, there's a huge crowd.

(crowd cheering) (indistinct chatter) We get John and Yoko in the limo.

EDJO: Pulled up with our bikes out in front of the airport.

(motorcycle engine revving) JOHN B.: John looks up and he sees all these motorcycles, and he reaches over and he pushes down the two door locks, and I said to him, "Well, John, this is your escort into Toronto."

And he looked at me, his eyes wide, and Yoko looks at him, and we pull slowly into the center where Edjo has left a big space for the limo.

(motorcycle engine rumbling) EDJO: Then John Lennon pulls up.

Made him roll down the window and made sure it was him.

JOHN B.: The window goes down and Edjo looks in and sees the real John Lennon and Yoko.

♪ EDJO: John Lennon would roll down a window and wave.

It sorta confirmed it in my own head that it was for real.

JOHN B.: (laughs) He gave me a look of like, "I don't know how you did it, man, but that's the real people."

♪ And he just goes, "John, Yoko, welcome to Toronto," and he puts his hand up in the air and goes around like that, and vroom, 80 bikes fire up and off we go into Toronto.

(motorcycle engines revving) (engine noises) ♪ ANTHONY: We come in high spirits, the airport, motorcade, fans.

♪ EDJO: Away we went with the procession.

(motorcycle engines revving) JOHN B.: So when the bikes came into the city, it was two by two by two so they could proceed safely.

(motorcycle engines revving) 'Cause now, you've got John Lennon in this limo.

(motorcycle engines revving) ♪ (motorcycle engines revving) It was complete pandemonium on the highway because these bikes were just riding right through red lights and driving around cars, snaking down through the city, and the police having traffic stopped so they could proceed safely through.

(siren wailing) ANTHONY: When our car's coming up into the stadium, it's very hard for the car to get in 'cause there's all these crowds of people and kids and they're, "Oh, it's John Lennon."

RODNEY: And a girl yells out, "It's one of The Beatles!"

You always see in those newsreels people banging on the window, people on top of the car even.

(crowd cheering) ♪ People were going crazy.

I got to witness all that.

JOHN B.: When we pulled into that northwest gate, I felt a feeling I'd never felt before in my life.

It was a thrill of a lifetime.

♪ We actually have John Lennon and Yoko Ono sitting here, and I know Eric Clapton and the band are down the hall.

♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ KLAUS: And we went into one of those dressing rooms, just a barren room.

You know, only took our suitcase and the guitars and went in, and one amplifier for all three of us.

In the middle of the room, you had a half a drum kit, which was a hi-hat, a snare, that was the drum kit.

And a bass drum.

No, no bass drum.

Was there a bass drum?

ANTHONY: So we had to write down the lyrics to put in front of everyone, you know?

JOHN L.: And that's what we did.

We just wrote this list.

I hadn't got the words to any of the songs.

I said, "Once we get onto Yoko's riff, just keep hitting it."

♪ SHEP: Traffic was backed up coming into Varsity Stadium and I was getting really nervous 'cause they weren't there and they were supposed to go on with Gene Vincent in about 30 minutes, so I remember running out and running down the road and I found them.

They were dressed in their really crazy stuff.

I got him out of the car and we ran into Varsity Stadium, and it was on that walk when we were running back to the stadium that there were feral chickens, don't know why, don't know how, and I went over to the security guys.

I said, "Can any of you throw one in a pillow case, and tie it up and bring it back here?

I just kept it in a room that nobody was in.

I brought them into the backstage area to get together with Gene Vincent 'cause they were very late.

That was the first time they ever backed anybody up.

(crowd cheering) KIM: You wanna hear more?

Okay!

(crowd cheering) Hey!

(crowd cheering) Here we go.

(crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) ♪ GENE: Thank you.

Thank you so very much.

Lord, Lord, here we go.

(crowd cheering) Thank you.

Thank you so very much.

Lord, I was just talking to ol' John Lennon backstage, and I was kinda thinking on these old songs we used to do, you know.

ALICE: Backing up Gene Vincent was a very cool thing.

It was really kind of a feather in our cap.

Nobody ever asked us to back them up before.

It kind of made us into a, "Wow."

And we were a pretty good rock 'n' roll band, so we went, "Sure."

You know, "Be-Bop-a-Lula," "Woman Love," all those songs, that would be a privilege for us.

♪ Be-bop-a-lula, I don't mean maybe ♪ ♪ Be-bop-a-lula, she's my baby ♪ ♪ Be-bop-a-lula, I don't mean maybe ♪ ALICE: I always really dug Gene Vincent.

He was sort of the dark side of the '50s.

Even then, he was an older Greaser.

The bad boy.

♪ She's the woman that I know ♪ ♪ She's the woman that could love me so ♪ ♪ Be-bop-a-lula, she's my baby ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ MOLLY: And then, for some reason, we were all up on the stage dancing.

(crowd cheering) ♪ EDJO: I think a lot of people partied a little bit too much, myself included.

(chuckles) Time flies as long as you're having fun.

(crowd cheering) ♪ ALICE: Thank you, goodnight.

KIM: Gene Vincent and Alice Cooper, ladies and gentlemen.

And the Vagabonds!

And the Vagabonds from Toronto.

The Vagabonds, Gene Vincent, and Alice Cooper.

Thank you.

(chicken clucking) (crowd cheering) The ninth wonder of the world, Alice Cooper!

(crowd cheering) ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ ALICE: We were always the underdog, so when we get on the stage, you're never gonna forget this show, musically and visually.

We were just sort of this thing that existed that nobody could define, some sort of dark, hard rock vaudeville.

We were an affront to everybody.

We were the future.

(crowd cheering) ♪ SHEP: So much of Alice's stage show comes from his love of Salvador Dali.

For them, it was like a Dali painting.

It was art.

It was abstract.

I think in their brains, it was performance art.

ALICE: We did this thing where it revved up into, basically, white noise.

It was mayhem up on stage.

(crowd cheering) ♪ CLAUDJA: I just remember he had a- a half a watermelon and I just didn't know why.

(crowd cheering) ♪ It was so chaotic.

It was energetic, but so chaotic.

I thought, "Somebody's gonna die."

(crowd cheering) ♪ They're fighting and hammering and it's like when you're in a scary movie sometimes, you don't wanna see the- the axe murder is coming, so you had your eyes covered most of the time.

SHEP: That show was very historic in Alice's career.

At the end of the show was a feather pillow that got sprayed across the stage and blew the feathers up, 'cause it gave a beautiful effect on the lights.

ALICE: Feathers everywhere, it looked like a snowstorm, and then you hit it with CO2 and it even becomes more of a snowstorm.

So The Doors are over here and John and Yoko's over here, and they're like, "Yeah!"

You know, they're seeing this as art.

It was truly art.

(crowd cheering) ♪ SHEP: The music was (imitates playing guitar) and the feathers are flying, and the CO2.

(crowd cheering) ♪ When I saw the chicken, I said, "Let me just surprise Alice and we'll see what happens."

I just (whooshes) picked up the pillowcase, went up to the side of the stage and let it loose.

(crowd cheering) ♪ ALICE: And the next thing you know, there's a chicken on stage.

(Shep imitating chicken) It seemed, in the mayhem, that it had feathers and wings, it should fly, and I picked up the chicken.

I figured, "Well, I'll throw this in the audience, and somebody will catch it, take it home, and it'll be a pet and they'll call it 'Alice.'"

(chicken clucking) Chickens don't fly as much as they plummet.

JOHN B.: Everybody knows chickens don't fly, but Alice is from Detroit.

He claims to not know anything about chickens.

RODNEY: Just somebody bit a chicken's head off or something.

ALICE: Of course, the next day in the paper it said, "Alice Cooper Kills Chicken."

JOHN B.: So of course the story went out around the world that Alice had bitten a head off a chicken and this created the myth of the "chicken incident."

(crowd cheering) ♪ ALICE: Toronto Rock & Roll Revival, that show, in particular, was what launched us.

♪ There was no villain in rock 'n' roll.

There was all these Peter Pans and no Captain Hook, and I went, "Well, I'll gladly be Captain Hook.

I love the villain part."

♪ KIM: Alice Cooper, ladies and gentlemen.

Alice Cooper!

The group of the future!

Alice Cooper!

(crowd cheering) ALICE: Thank you.

(crowd cheering) SHEP: That moment lighted the path for the next 25 years of the career, which I get a lot of credit for, but it was very lucky.

ALICE: He never copped to it.

He never ever said, "No, I threw the chicken on stage."

For 53 years he's never copped to that to me.

I just said, "Where'd the chicken come from?"

"I don't know."

(laughs) MOLLY: John and Yoko.

(indistinct chatter) HUGH: Everybody was hanging out in a communal dressing room area.

Everybody was there, and all of a sudden, the doors burst open and it's John Lennon with Yoko Ono, and all the police and all the flashbulbs going.

It's the press, you know?

And Little Richard yelled out- LITTLE RICHARD: Are you enjoying Little Richard tonight?

When I'm finished, I wanna hear you!

Let me know that I'm finished by your applause!

My, my, my, my.

Are you ready- MOLLY: Little Richard was getting ready to perform and he didn't wanna go out.

He said, "I can't go out 'cause I don't have my light."

He then puts on a mirrored vest and he said he's not gonna go out until he gets his light.

So there's quite a little bit of interaction, "You gotta go on.

You gotta go on."

MOLLY: Little Richard.

Live filming.

No beginning signal.

LITTLE RICHARD: See, my outfit is not effective without lights, you know, with the lights on, my outfit just does nothing.

MAN: I just have the feeling that the guy who knows how to turn it off isn't even listening.

He's probably asleep."

LITTLE RICHARD: Could you turn out the lights on the stage, please?

Could you turn the lights out on the stage?

The lights on the stage, would you turn them out?

No lights on the stage at all.

Just the spotlight.

All the lights out.

MOLLY: And so then though they finally did get that organized.

Way up in the top of the stadium, a giant spot came down and hit him.

(crowd cheering) LITTLE RICHARD: Thank you.

Are you having a good time?

(crowd cheering) Let it all hang out!

My, let all the womenfolk say, "Whoo!"

CROWD: Whoo!

LITTLE RICHARD: And all the men say, "Uh!"

CROWD: Uh!

LITTLE RICHARD: Oh, my soul.

♪ Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball ♪ ♪ Ooh, golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball ♪ ♪ You're rockin' and a-rollin, yeah ♪ ♪ Can't hear your mama call ♪ ♪ Whoo ♪ ♪ Golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball ♪ CLAUDJA: The excitement was amazing, ♪ and I wanted to see Little Richard.

I'd never seen a Black guy with a pompadour.

I mean, he had a big pompadour.

I looked at my brother and I said, "You need hair like that."

♪ ♪ Ow ♪ ♪ CLAUDJA: His presence was so commanding.

Uh!

Ow!

♪ Well, I'm going to the corner ♪ ♪ Gonna buy a diamond ring ♪ ♪ Hugging me and kissing me ♪ ♪ Make me ting- a-ling-a-ling ♪ ♪ Good golly, Miss Molly, whoo, sure like to ball ♪ ♪ When you're rockin' and a-rollin' ♪ ♪ Can't hear your mama call ♪ ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ CLAUDJA: He was like a train going at a million miles an hour.

He really was a personality that I'd never experienced close up and personal.

(crowd cheering) ♪ When I saw Little Richard, I said, "Oh."

You know, I sort of exhaled because I said, "Yeah, I feel now.

I see where I'm supposed to be."

♪ ROBBY: Little Richard just tore it up.

I remember he did the last couple of songs standing on the piano.

(crowd cheering) ♪ ROBBY: I was standing with Jim and he goes, "Man, we gotta follow that?"

(chuckles) (crowd cheering) ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ ANTHONY: I noticed very quickly John has a very nervous disposition.

♪ KLAUS: There you have John Lennon, a member of The Beatles, going out there for the first time playing by himself.

He's the front man, which he never was.

Through all his life, he was not a front man.

♪ There he was, suddenly in that situation.

I was nervous too, I must admit, and Eric was nervous too.

I could see it in his face.

(laughs) (indistinct chatter) MOLLY: End of John and Yoko.

JOHN B.: Kim Fowley created a moment at that show that has become iconic in rock 'n' roll history.

So Kim goes out on stage and says, "When they come out here, "I want everybody to get your "matches and lighters out, and let's give them an incredible welcome."

(crowd cheering) KIM: Ladies and gentlemen, the Plastic Ono Band.

Get your matches ready.

Toronto welcomes the Plastic Ono Band.

Toronto, Brower-Walker presents the Plastic Ono Band.

Give peace a chance.

Give peace a chance.

(crowd cheering) ♪ JOHN L.: They all lit candles or lights up and it was really beautiful, you know, and the vibes were fantastic.

RODNEY: Little tiny lights going on and on and on.

He changed history of rock 'n' roll that everybody's doing now.

(crowd cheering) And I ended up on stage on the side, and you can just hear the crowd.

(crowd cheering) ♪ John and Yoko were getting ready to walk on stage.

If you notice Yoko, that's the set list she's holding.

(crowd cheering) ♪ KLAUS: We went up to the stage and John went out.

"Just hang on a second, boys."

Went in a corner and he puked, and then we plugged into the amplifiers.

(crowd cheering) JOHN L.: Good evening!

(crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) ♪ Okay, we're just gonna do a number that we know, you know, 'cause we never played together before.

(crowd cheering) ROBERT: I would say that, historically speaking, the John and Yoko performance was the most important thing that happened in Toronto.

John and Yoko decided that that was where they wanted to debut their band.

As a statement, it was historic.

And the aura was there, especially for somebody like me.

I was only 40 feet away.

(crowd cheering) ♪ Well, it's a-one for the money ♪ ♪ Two for the show ♪ ♪ Three to get ready, now go, cat, go ♪ ♪ But don't you step on my blue suede shoes ♪ ♪ Well, you can do anything ♪ GEDDY: The perspective of a kid standing in the audience, being surprised by the presence of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Alan White, Klaus Voormann, and Yoko Ono was a kind of awe.

The light shining from John Lennon left you kind of with your jaw dropping.

He was a Beatle and that had an aura about it, imbued everyone with a kind of awe, the fact that we were in the same vicinity as him and he was playing for us.

KLAUS: At the time, we didn't have any idea, you know, what we were gonna do.

We just played whatever came to our mind.

But then, John said, "I've got this song.

It's called 'Cold Turkey.'"

♪ YOKO: This is the newest song that John wrote.

It's called "Cold Turkey."

JOHN L.: We've never done this number before, so best of luck.

♪ It's called "Cold Turkey."

♪ ♪ The temperature's rising ♪ ♪ Fever is high ♪ ♪ Temperature's rising ♪ ♪ Fever is high ♪ KLAUS: I said, "Whoa, what a great song."

♪ Ah ♪ ♪ A-hah ♪ (Yoko vocalizing) KLAUS: Ah!

This scream came.

I said, "She must have stepped on a nail or something."

(Yoko vocalizing) ♪ Ah ♪ (Yoko vocalizing) ♪ KLAUS: And Eric looked at me, "What's this?"

(laughs) (Yoko vocalizing) ♪ KLAUS: And the audience didn't applaud, and then he said, "Wake up."

JOHN L.: Come on, wake up.

(crowd cheering) ♪ KLAUS: And then Yoko came along.

(crowd cheering) ♪ ROBBY: I really thought it was cool that Yoko decided to do the whole show in a laundry bag.

I really gained respect for her for that.

(crowd cheering) ♪ You know, it sounded like ****, but... (laughs) MOLLY: First of all, she got in a bag and I thought, "Now, that's interesting.

She's in a bag."

(laughs) ANTHONY: One of Yoko's conceptual pieces was called "Bagism."

It's a very conceptual art idea.

Getting in a bag, you lose yourself.

When you're inside a bag, are you John Lennon and Yoko?

But, anyways, it's part of the whole event.

ALAN: And all of a sudden, I was on stage on this drum kit I'd never played before, with all these people and Yoko lying in a bag on stage in front of me, and I'm going, "Whoa, this is way over my head."

♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ That's what I want ♪ ♪ RODNEY: John and Yoko did "Give Peace a Chance," and that was the first time that he did it live on stage.

JOHN L.: This is what we came for, really.

(John speaking German) It's "Give Peace a Chance," so sing along with it.

YOKO: Yeah, let's sing together.

JOHN L.: I've forgotten all those bits in between, though.

I know the chorus, so... ♪ (John speaking German) ♪ ♪ Everybody's talking 'bout Bagism, Bagism, Bagism ♪ ♪ This-ism, that- ism, ism, ism, ism ♪ JOHN B.: People were jumping up and down waving the peace sign when they were singing "Give Peace a Chance."

♪ All we are saying is give peace a chance ♪ ANTHONY: Peace was the most important thing that they wanted to promote.

The peace campaign had already been full swing for many, many months.

John got to love Canada.

Canada became his mouthpiece to spread the peace message all over the world, especially to America, via Canada.

♪ All we are saying is give peace a chance ♪ ALICE: Everything was revolutionary.

Everything about that generation was upsetting the system.

Toronto Rock & Roll Revival just happened to be right in the pivotal crosshairs of that.

(crowd cheering) JOHN L.: Now Yoko's gonna do her thing all over you.

ANTHONY: Yoko used to sing in this very primal voice.

She trained classically.

Yoko's voice is like an instrument.

(Yoko vocalizing) ♪ KLAUS: Funny thing is that when I was up there, I suddenly was behind Yoko, and I felt suddenly what she was doing.

She was actually telling the people, in her way, that all those people are dying.

Those tanks and bombs falling and dead bodies lying about.

(explosions booming) ♪ (Yoko vocalizing) KLAUS: What she was doing was really, really felt like a dying bird.

(squawking) (Yoko squawking) She couldn't have stood there and talked about it and said, "Yeah, peace.

Just think of Vietnam."

No.

(Yoko squawking) This was far ahead of its time.

The audience didn't understand a thing.

JOHN L.: A lot of the audience walked out, but the ones that stayed, they were in a trance, man.

They just all came to the front.

(crowd cheering) SHEP: I don't know if the audience got it at all.

Like, I think they were just, like, but they stayed with it and he supported her.

It was her show.

But I was very impressed by his love for her and his dedication to her.

KLAUS: The two twins being together, John and Yoko, so when she was doing her song, John went up to her and he hugged her.

D.A.

: Yoko's thing at the end was so ballsy, and John is out there daring anybody to yell out and complain.

I mean, he's like a wild man.

He's like a warrior, you know?

The whole thing was an amazing production.

(Yoko vocalizes) ♪ JOHN L.: I just said, "Look, at the end.

Lean your guitars on the amps and let it keep howling," because you can't very well go cha-ching like The Beatles and bow at the end of screaming.

D.A.

: He left those amps full out, so it sounded like a 707 about to take off.

It was such a fantastic ending.

It was like that was the end of The Beatles.

(Yoko vocalizing) (feedback ringing) (feedback ringing) ANTHONY: The Toronto Rock & Roll Festival gave John Lennon a completely new lease of life.

"This is my future.

The Beatles is yesterday."

He was a new man with a new band, and I think he loved Toronto for that.

And I think Toronto loved John.

(chuckles) (feedback ringing) JOHN L.: I told Alan I was leaving.

I told Eric Clapton and Klaus that I was leaving.

I announced it to myself and to the people around me.

"It's over."

(feedback ringing) (feedback ringing) (feedback ringing) ♪ ROBBY: Having John Lennon there was amazing.

We'd been signed up as the headliners, so he said, "No, you guys go last," you know.

♪ I'm trying to find out is who decided not to film us.

It might've been Jim's idea.

He was pretty particular about getting filmed.

We changed our setup a bit.

We actually did "The End" first, as an opener, because Jim wanted to talk about the guys.

He was just trying to tell people about how he was affected by those guys when he was a kid in the '50s, and that was the perfect place to do it.

♪ JIM: I can remember when rock 'n' roll first came on the scene, and for me, it was a- a very liberating experience because it burst open whole new strange catacombs of wisdom that I couldn't remember and I didn't know about, and I couldn't see any equivalent for in my surroundings.

ROBBY: That was the whole reason for the concert, was to give them their due.

They were the true beginners.

JIM: And that's why, for me, this evening has been really a great honor to perform on the same stage with so many illustrious musical geniuses.

♪ ♪ KIM: Are you ready for the Guitar King of Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry!

BO: Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

JERRY: It's a great pleasure to be here at the Revival of Rock & Roll.

GENE: Here we go!

Love me some play!

LITTLE RICHARD: Ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to the true rock 'n' roll.

JOHN B.: The Toronto Rock & Roll Revival, The Beatles broke up, and they broke up in front of our eyes on stage.

♪ And it was only by a set of unforeseen circumstances that it happened at all.

JOHN L.: Sounds about good, this Canadian thing.

YOKO: Yes, it does, you know.

It's just like, it's a trip that we went through.

We both suffered because people didn't appreciate what we were doing, and we were always, sort of, inspired by each other.

♪ JOHN B.: This was a moment that transformed rock 'n' roll.

This was history.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪