All language subtitles for Revival69.The.Concert.That.Rocked.The.World.2022

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[###]

[John Lennon] I wanted
the Beatles thing to end.

I felt as though
I couldn't breathe

if it went on any longer.

[telephone rings]

We got this phone call
from Toronto

on a Friday night...

It's John Brower calling.

[Lennon] ...that there was
a Rock & Roll Revival show

with 100,000 audience,
or whatever it was...

[crowd screaming]

[###]

...and that Chuck
was gonna be there.

Let me hear you say "peace!"

[crowd screaming] Peace!

[###]

[Lennon] ...and Jerry Lee
was gonna be there...

[Jerry Lee Lewis]
It's a great pleasure to be here

at the revival of rock 'n' roll,

and I'll guarantee you,

if it ain't revived today,
we'll never have it revived.

[Lennon]
...and all the great rockers

that were still living...

[Bo Diddley] Right now,
we're gonna take you back

to the year of 1955!
Have mercy.

[Little Richard]
Ladies and gentlemen,

you are listening to
the true rock 'n' roll!

[Lennon] He added The Doors
were top of the bill.

[Claudja Barry]
It was monumental.

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

It was something
that I would not forget.

[Kim Fowley]
The ninth wonder of the world,

Alice Cooper!

[Alice Cooper]
It was upsetting the system

on every level.

A lot of tension going on.

[Shep Gordon]
It was a social phenomenon.

For Toronto,
this was their Woodstock.

[Geddy Lee] 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.

This was far too much

ahead of its time.

Okay, we're just gonna do
a number that we know, you know,

'cause we've never played
together before.

[crowd roaring]

[###]

[John Brower]
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 roaring]

[###]

[heavy traffic, cars honking]

[###]

This is the office

of two of the most unlikely
show-business impresarios

you're likely to meet.

Ken Walker, 23,
Business Manager...

[###]

[telephone ringing]

[Ken Walker]
We are thinking right now

of maybe doing something
in the fall.

[reporter]
...and John Brower, 22,

producer and talent scout.

[John Brower]
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.

[reporter]
No wall-to-wall carpets,

no mahogany desks,

and for the visitor,

instead of the big cigar
in the humidor,

you can just reach

into any number of
a group of crates around here,

pick yourself an apple,
a pear, an orange...

[Brower] There was
this excitement in the air

that, like, we have an office.

You know, we have a clubhouse.

They said in the ads
for the festival,

"If you want tickets,
send bread."

Well, some people
did just that.

White and sliced.

The surprising thing is,
they got the tickets.

What are you going to do
with the bread?

Well, I can't bank it,

so I guess
I'll have to eat it. [laughs]

[Shep Gordon]
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.

[typewriter clacks]

[typewriter dings]

[Brower] Back then,

we started out
just for the music.

This was so new.

[Gordon] In the '60s,
it wasn't the music business,

it was just music.

It was really about
A) eating lunch,

and B) not working
in a normal job.

[Brower] 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]

[Gordon]
John Brower had a spark.

He could turn
a really difficult negotiation

and conversation--

he'd always have a little twist.

We're bringing in 28 groups

and over 200 performers.

[crowd cheering]

[Brower]
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.

[newscast] It's been called
the first real pop festival

Canada has ever seen.

[Brower]
I think we felt invincible.

Kenny and I could've gone out
and played the ukulele,

and we would have sold out
Varsity Stadium.

We needed a show for the fall.

My thought was,

"If Chuck Berry can do this,

what would it be like
to have Little Richard..."

# Tutti frutti
oh, rootie, woo! #

# Tutti frutti
oh, rootie #

[Brower] ...Jerry Lee Lewis...

Shake!

Shake, honey, shake!

[Brower] ...Gene Vincent...

# All right
You get your gal... #

[Brower] ...Bo Diddley...

[###]

[Brower] All of them
on the same stage

at the same time,

and that was the seed

of the Toronto
Rock & Roll Revival...

[###]

...and in a meeting,

the concept was created,

"Let's put all of these guys
together on the same bill."

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.

The definitive sound
of the '50s,

and there probably isn't
a musician

in the whole wide world

that hasn't consciously
or unconsciously

been influenced by his music.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Chuck Berry!

[applause]

Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen,

and I shall do for you first

a song that I first recorded...

[Robert Christgau]
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.

I like Chuck Berry, Elvis,

and Little Richard,
Eddie Cochran. Many.

Bo Diddley.

[Christgau] 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.

He made "Hound Dog" real.

And then there was
Gene Vincent.

# Be-bop-a-lula
I don't mean maybe #

# Be-bop-a-lula
She's my baby #

[Lennon] 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 favourites.

[###]

[Brower] We needed
a back-up band

for Gene Vincent.

[Christgau]
The people who put on

the Toronto Rock & Roll Revival

did hedge their bets.

Not only did they hire

many of the other artists
of the '50s,

they hire Alice Cooper,

who at that time
was completely unknown.

[Gordon] 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 Cooper]
When we got with Shep,

it was always just,
"Get us on stage,

and we will build
that audience."

[Kim Fowley] Alice Cooper!

[crowd cheering]

[Gordon]
Alice was an unknown quantity.

We couldn't get work anywhere.

We had zero money.

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 backup band
for Gene Vincent.

Totally unknown band,

and they said, "Okay."

So, off we went.

[Brower]
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.

There was a sense
that many of these artists,

while they may have been
living legends,

were no longer
of contemporary relevance--

what would today be called
a meme.

The notion that rock was dead

in the hippie
artistic community.

Their artistic heyday was gone.

[bus honking]

[Brower] 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.

[Robby Krieger]
# People are strange #

# When you're a stranger #

# Places look ugly #

# When you're down #

Take two.

[Krieger] '69,

"Hello, I Love You"
had just come out

and made number one.

# Hello, I love you
Won't you tell me your name? #

# Hello, I love you #

# Let me jump in your game #

We were playing, like,
the big places.

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

[###]

[Brower] 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 rumbling]

[###]

I don't remember as much
as I should about that era.

Gotta remember,

there was a lot of marijuana
smoked in them days.

[chuckles]

At that time,
there was 105 Vagabonds,

plus about 25 guys
that wanted to be in the club.

[###]

[Brower]
Kenny said, "Go ahead,

borrow the money
from whoever you want,

but if it's a bomb,
it's on you."

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.

[Brower] There were no limit
to what Edjo would do.

Nobody needs enemies.

[###]

[Brower] 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.

[Christgau]
I don't know exactly how

Brower got The Doors
on his bill,

but it was a coup.

The Doors were a real draw.

They were legendary
at that moment.

[Krieger] 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.

[Jim Morrison] You're all
a bunch of fucking idiots!

[crowd shouting]

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?

[crowd shouting and jeering]

[Morrison] What do you want?

[crowd booing]

[Morrison] Huh?

I can't hear you!

[Krieger]
I didn't think he was serious,

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 cancelled,

but luckily,

we got to do the Toronto show.

The publicity
around The Doors in Miami

and the felony charges,

that did not translate
into ticket sales in Toronto.

Of course, there were
some newspaper ads.

There were flyers.

There were posters.

It was a very tough sell.

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 Yorke]
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.

[Brower] 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 Bingenheimer]
Got your radios on?

It's time for
Rodney on the ROQ.

[Brower] And Kim Fowley,

who was a legendary madman.

[Fowley] Ladies and gentlemen,
I hear some applause.

Start applauding now!
Now! Now!

[Brower] "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.

You notice I got
the Toronto shirt on?

[###]

[Fowley]
Rodney Bingenheimer!

[crowd cheering]

I think the promotion

wasn't as strong
as it should've been.

Ticket sales
weren't doing that well.

[Brower] 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 cancelled.

"This is a disaster.

Stop it now."

Who's gonna pay Edjo?

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

The pressure that night
was intense.

It was just beyond
anything I could imagine,

and 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 in Dodgers 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.

So, before we start,

can I just get a tiny bit
more red wine?

-Mm-hmm.
-If that's okay.

Is that a cigarette? No.

-Mm-hmm.
-No, it's not, no. [laughs]

Toronto Rock & Roll...

19...
Was it 1969 or '70?

When was it?

It was a long time ago.

This is Anthony Fawcett
in Bag Productions.

How can I help you?

[###]

[Fawcett]
London in the mid-'60s

was really colourful.

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."

[distant crowds cheering]

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?

Just tell us
what's going on today.

It's all Japanese today.

Yeah, and what about
the evening?

When do we finish?

Two more Japanese.

[Fawcett]
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's what he loved best,
on the stage.

He'd thrown off
the mantle of The Beatles.

[Lennon] Ringo's left once.

George had left once

for a couple of days
or something. Yeah.

Complete chaos.

[Fawcett] 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.

[telephones 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.

[Brower] The next morning,

I've gotten Kenny and myself

down at the office
at 6:00 in the morning.

It's now 11:00
in the morning in London.

[beeping]

[telephone rings]

Hello.

"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."

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 cur this weekend

at some big rock concert in--

[Lennon] In Canada?

[Fawcett] Yeah,
for a big rock concert.

[Lennon] Well,
get a bit more detail.

Find out who's on.

He says,
"Well, find out more,"

so I start getting calls
from Ritchie Yorke.

Ritchie was a writer like me.

[Yorke]
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.

Was that John Brower
that just phoned?

-John Brower.
-Was it?

John Brower, yes.

It was John Brower?

Yes.

Okay, and he's the organizer,
isn't he?

He's the producer of it, yes.

The producer.
Great, okay.

Basically, John wanted to know

if they were good people
doing it.

Could he trust them?

Would it be okay to go?

[Brower] 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.

[knock on door]

[Fawcett] I've got
Ritchie Yorke outside.

[Lennon] Maybe he knows a bit
about Canada, then.

Hi, how are you?

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.

I know the two guys who are
running it. John Brower.

[Lennon] Oh, he's the one
that was on the phone just now,

John Brower.
-[Ritchie] Oh, really?

[Lennon]
Find out how much, too.

[call ringing]

[Brower] 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...

[Lennon] 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 Ono]
George and Eric might go.

[Lennon]
Could you ring George and ask,

could he get me
a group together

for tomorrow night
in... for Canada?

It sounds about good,
this Canadian thing.

[Ono] Yes, it does.

To cut a very long story short,

John said, "Yeah, we'll do it.

[scanning through
radio stations]

...on the CHUM News Watch

for Sid Silver formal rentals.

Apparently...

[Brower] Of course,
where were we running?

Right up to CHUM radio
with the news.

# C-H-U-M 1050 Toronto #

[Brower] 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 dings]

At which point, they threw us
out of the station.

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.

[Klaus Voormann]
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 going to be
a rock 'n' roll festival,

and the Plastic Ono Band's
gonna play there,"

and I thought, "Oh, shit.
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."

[telephone ringing]
[Alan White] He called me up

at my house in London.

[Lennon] And I said, "Look,

there's this thing on
in Toronto, you wanna come?"

[White]
I didn't think it was him,

so I kinda put the phone down,

and then he called back
ten minutes later.

He said, "No, no, no, really,
this is John Lennon."

"I've gotta do a show
in Toronto.

Can you be
at the airport tomorrow?"

I said, "Sure."

[Fawcett] 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.

[Brower] Having Klaus,

and Eric,

and Alan White there,

that was the first time

that John really had
a Plastic Ono Band.

[Lennon] 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

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 Richter] 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?"

[Richter]
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.

[Fawcett] She had 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.

[Richter] The '60s
opened all these doors,

and behind one of the doors
was Yoko Ono.

She believed in her art totally.

[Ono]
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.

[Richter] 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.

[Ono] 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.

At that time,

Yoko really didn't get
much respect from anybody.

[Ono] Because
I was getting too famous

for a serious artist,

but I wasn't famous enough

for the Lennon league,
I suppose.

[Richter] He wanted to be
around real artists,

and Yoko was as real an artist
as you can get.

Yoko said to John,

"When you sing
I wanna hold your hand..."

[Beatles sing]
# I want to hold your hand... #

[Richter] "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, uh, for each other.

It was like they'd been missing
a part of themselves,

and they found it.

[Brower] The next morning,

we're back down at the office,

the tape recorder ready.

Call Apple Records.

[call ringing]

"Hello, this is John Brower.

I'm calling for John Lennon.

He's expecting my call."

The phone is picked up.

"Hello, it's Anthony Fawcett.

I'm Yoko's assistant,

and I've got the names for you."

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.

Hello, it's Anthony Fawcett
here in London.

I've got the names now

coming on the travel
to Toronto.

[Brower] 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 bullshit 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 Gibb]
Russ Gibb, jumping up and down,

and we're inviting you
to hang in there.

I dial him from the boardroom,

and I play him the tape.

[Fawcett on recording]
Do you have a pen?

I've got the names now.

John Lennon, Yoko Ono...

[Brower]
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.

[traffic, horns blare]

In New York...

[telephone rings]

...D.A. Pennebaker,

who had made two
brilliant documentaries...

[###]

[Brower] 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. Pennebaker]
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.

[###]

[Christgau]
A brand-new magazine

called "Show"

asked me to write a profile
of Pennebaker.

Pennebaker gave me
the journalist's dream,

total access.

Nothing off the record?

That's a very rare privilege
for any journalist to get,

and I took advantage of it.

The Show
agreed to pay my airfare.

I was following the story.

That was what I was
supposed to do, and I did.

They didn't paste any limits
on what I could report.

[Chris Dalrymple]
When Bob Christgau

arrived in the office

to do the profile of Penne,

I had never met
a rock journalist before.

My first
and only impression of him

was him trying
to gain my confidence,

and possibly give him
some inside dirt.

You know, once he couldn't
get anything out of me,

he was through,
and moved on to somebody else.

[film set bell rings]

[Molly Davis]
All right, quiet on the set!

[cameraman] Camera speed.

[Davis] 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.

[Dalrymple] Very quickly,
it was, "Pack everything up,

and we're leaving."

Penne would use his friends.

If he called, they'd go.

'Cause everybody wanted
to go everywhere with Penne.

Why not?

And Penne said,
"Take a Super-8 cam,

and then maybe get
some backstage stuff,"

and I'm going, "That's great,
I'll go," you know, so...

Yeah, I just went.

[Dalrymple]
So off we flew to Toronto.

Pennebaker was in town.

They were
getting ready to roll.

Pennebaker had been given

these little movie cameras,

and he'd given them out
to people.

[Davis] Penne didn't
do anything on the fly.

[claps]

Penne had rented
practically an entire motel.

[Davis]
Saturday morning, hotel.

Outside hotel with Penne.

[Dalrymple] Got to the hotel,

just dropped everything,

went right to the stadium.

[Davis]
Entering stadium at gate.

Stadium, Penne.

[Dalrymple] It was just like
a weekend in the country.

[Pennebaker]
One started at half.

Okay, ask him to bring 'em up
to three-quarters.

That's what I want to see.

I just want to get 'em even.

[Dalrymple]
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?

After that, it was just
a matter of waiting around

till the sun went down.

[Pennebaker]
We just raised it,

just raised it.

I know that, but just see
where the light's coming from.

That's the end of your spots.

You can't see the spotlight.

[Brower] 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 about 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.

[kissing]

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 bullshit 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 fucking
beat the shit out of you."

[Fawcett] 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."

[exhales]
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.

So at 4:00 in the morning,

my phone rings,

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."

[church bell tolls]

I said, "He has to come."

After that first call,

I went back downstairs
to the kitchen.

I decided not to do anything.

[Voormann] Terry Doran
went up to Eric Clapton's house.

They called
and 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.

[Fawcett] And I said,
"John, you know what?

Eric got the message,
and 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."

[call dialing]

[call ringing]

So I call the airport,

and I say, "We're coming.

Get us on the next flight."

So suddenly, it's on.

[Brower] So he and Yoko
get out of bed

and get in the limo--

[car honks]

--and they arrive
at Heathrow Airport,

and, of course, they're mobbed,

and John, he gives
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."

[fanfare sounds]

So this goes out immediately.

"John Lennon.
Heathrow Airport.

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

[Fawcett] We get on the plane.

We're with the band.

[Voormann]
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.

[Fawcett]
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.

[Lennon] Now,
we didn't know what to play,

'cause we'd never
played together before.

On the airplane,

we're running through
these oldies

with electric guitars.

They just grabbed the guitars,

and we went down
to the back of the plane,

and I was playing on the seat.

[Voormann] And Alan was
hitting on the headrest

[imitates drum beats]

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.

[Fawcett] 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.

[Geddy Lee] We were all
suburban kids still.

We didn't live downtown.

Even coming downtown
to see a band

was an adventure.

Especially when you would
normally drop acid,

as we would, quite often.

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 literally got together,

dropped acid,

and went down to the show.

[crowd cheering]

[Claudja Barry] 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.

[Lea Harper]
On the day of the festival,

we hopped on a bus
not far from where we lived.

We had our cigarettes
and our lighters,

and that was about it...

[###]

...and the whole place
was on their feet.

We never sat down.

We were on our feet
for 12 hours.

These four guys
whose names we never learned,

we took turns sitting
on their shoulders

and swaying to the music.

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...

[Christgau] 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 screaming and cheering]

[Lee]
Everyone was so nice that day.

It was one of the few
acid trips I ever did in my life

where I actually
had a good time.

We tripped the whole day.

Walked around,
and around, and around

listening to all these
amazing bands,

getting more and more high.

The music was incredible.

[Brower] We had a great show,

we had great bands.

Chicago had a hit record,
"25 or 6 to 4."

[Kim Fowley]
Ladies and gentlemen,

this group said
they wouldn't play

until they hear some applause,

so start applauding now.

Now! Now!

Chicago!

# Searching for
something to say #

[###]

# Dancing lights
against the sky... #

[Danny Seraphine]
That original band

was an amazing force.

We could do things
that nobody could do.

[crowd cheering]

[###]

We released
a couple of singles,

"Questions 67 and 68."

[Chicago performing]

[###]

It was just a great song.
I love it.

Yeah, I love the drum part.
I mean, it was high energy.

I still love playing it.

# Can this feeling
that we have together #

# Ooh, suddenly
exist between... #

[Seraphine]
"Questions 67 and 68"

to me, was an important song
for the band.

It's got an amazing
Peter Cetera vocal,

at the very top of his range.

# Appears in my mind #

# As a beautifully
mysterious thing #

# Oh, yeah #

[###]

[Lee]
Chicago Transit Authority,

they were a different sound
for an outdoor rock show,

'cause of all the horns.

[###]

[Seraphine] I was
one of the architects

putting that band together.

We were really not
a revival band.

We were futuristic,
we were modern.

[###]

[song winding down]

[song ends]

[Fowley] Well, let's hear it
for Chicago!

[crowd cheering]

Hey!

[crowd screaming and cheering]

[taps microphone]

[Bo Diddley] Right now,

we're gonna take you back
to the year of 1955!

Have mercy.

[starts playing guitar]

[###]

[tambourine tapping rhythm]

[strumming same rhythm]

[tapping tambourine rhythm]

[backup singer] Let's get
those hands together out there.

[Diddley] Come on,
get it together now, come on.

[strumming in rhythm,
crowd clapping along]

[backup singer] Do anything
you feel like doing.

This is your day!

[Diddley] Getting good
as I go on, come on!

Tasting all right. Ha!

Come on!

[###]

[Alice Cooper]
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! #

[###]

# Hey, Bo Diddley! #

[###]

[Davis] 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.

The heroes, you know?

Yeah!

[strumming]

[###]

# 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! #

[Lee] 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 get together #

# Oh, yeah! #

# Oh, let's be together! #

[crowd cheering]
# Yeah! #

[###]

[song ends]
Peace!

[crowd cheering and roaring]

Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah!

[crowd cheering]

Yeah! Yeah!

Have mercy.

All right.

[crowd cheering and screaming]

And the day just went on...

and on.

All these great bands
kept coming out.

[crowd screaming and cheering]

[microphone feeds back]

[crowd cheering]

[Jerry Lee Lewis] Whoo!

Thank you very much,
neighbours.

I'll guarantee you one thing.

It's a great pleasure to be here

at the revival
of rock 'n' roll,

and I'll guarantee you,

if it ain't revived today,
we'll never have it revived.

[crowd cheering]

Whoo!

Look out, child!

[rolling tongue]

Here's one
we done pretty good with.

[playing piano]

# Hmm... #

# I got a woman
mean as she can be #

[crowd cheering]

# Whoo! I got a woman
mean as she can be #

[playing piano]

# 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... #

[Christgau] Jerry Lewis
did some wonderful stuff.

Absolutely superb showman.

[###]

# I drink coffee
I drink tea #

# Jerry, Jerry
You're the thing for me #

# I got a woman
mean as she can be #

# Now, my gal, I'm-a braggin #
She's almost mean as me... #

Jerry Lee Lewis made
his best record

performing his hits.

[starts to play
"Great Balls Of Fire"]

# You shake my nerves
and you rattle my brain #

# Too much love
drives ol' Jerry insane #

# You broke my will #

# What a thrill #

# Goodness gracious
great balls of fire... #

[Barry]
I wanted to see Jerry Lee Lewis.

I heard his music.

I really liked Jerry Lee Lewis,

because he was different.

[###]

[crowd cheering]

[Christgau] He was a hit man.

Magnificent.

Vital rock 'n' roll.

[Barry]
He was so commanding.

He was so in control.

[crowd cheering]

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]

[Fowley] Ladies and gentleman,
are you ready?

[crowd cheering]

[Christgau] Chuck Berry,

who was renowned
for going to the airport,

getting his Cadillac,

and playing
with a pickup band

that he'd never see again...

a great performer,
a great guitarist.

[crowd cheering]

[Lee] 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 Leggat] 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 Taylor] I didn't go
to the Rock & Roll Revival

with the notion that
I was gonna play with anyone.

Danny Taylor interview,
take one.

Common mark.

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's like, "I'll cue you."

I go, "Okay, great."

[crowd cheering]

Are you ready

for the Guitar King
of Rock and Roll...

Chuck Berry!

[crowd cheering]

[Taylor] 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, "Ol�!"

Ol�!

[crowd cheering] Ol�!

Ol�!

[cheering] Ol�!

-Ol�!
-[crowd cheering] Ol�!

Let me hear you say, "Peace."

Peace!

-[Chuck Berry] Peace!
-[crowd cheers] Peace!

-Peace!
-Peace!

Oh, that was beautiful,
that was beautiful.

Let's--
With no further ado,

let's go on
with a little of this stuff.

[strumming guitar]

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

[chuckles]
One of my band members said,

"What key is it, baby?
What are we playing?"

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

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... #

[Taylor] 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 #

Man, it was like
the rollercoaster ride

was about ready to begin,

and we didn't know
what was coming next.

[laughing]

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 the mambo... #

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, child #

He looks at me and he goes--

And at that point in time,

he realized that, "Hey, man,
these little kids--"

'cause we were 18--

"They can play."

# If you want to dance
with me #

[ends song]

[crowd cheering]

Thank you.

[crowd cheering]

Thank you.

I kinda think
we're tuned up now.

We'll open the show...

[crowd cheering]

we'll open the show
with a cool one.

Yeah, now, this is a cool one.

Dig it.

Modern rock 'n' roll
is based on Chuck Berry.

They were the architects.

Even then, we bowed to them.

That's royalty.

[crowd cheering]

Ah, have we shook a groove?

[crowd cheering]

Now, do we dig this groove?

[crowd cheering]

Shall we lay in this groove?

[crowd cheering]

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 #

[###]

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... #

[Leggat]
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.

Standing watching us.

[###]

# You started back doing
the things you used to do #

[###]

# Maybellene
why can't you be true? #

# Oh, Maybellene... #

Chuck Berry,
and he was just on fire, man.

That was, like, amazing.

[Christgau] 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 #

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? #

[Krieger] 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.

[audience cheering]

[cheering]

[cheering]

[Lee] 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."

[Davis]
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.

We were waiting and waiting
and waiting out there,

so more and more drugs
were being done.

[man] I'm getting a buzz.

Edjo?

[Davis] 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.

I sorta fell in love
with the camera girl.

[chuckling]

She says,
"I wanna go with him,"

so she jumped on my bike.

It was a pretty bike,

nice pink metal flake
and white.

Probably
the prettiest bike there.

She shot a lot of footage,
let's put it that way.

[Davis] It's kind of cool

to be riding in
with a motorcycle gang.

[Brower] Edjo and I meet,

and we have a little drawing
of the airport.

We're gonna meet
on the service road.

He's gonna have the bikes
laid out there.

My whole agenda

was getting Edjo's bikes
to the airport,

but I was mostly focussed

on getting John Lennon
at the airport,

getting him to the stadium.

[Fawcett]
And then, of course, we land.

We get off the plane,

and immediately,
there's a huge crowd.

[Richter]
When we got to Toronto,

we got out at the airport,

and the driver said,

"We've arranged for you
to go into a special entrance.

Nobody knows about it.
We'll get you in."

[Brower] We get John and Yoko
in the limo.

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

[Brower] 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 centre,

where Edjo has left
a big space for the limo.

[Leslie]
Then John Lennon pulls up.

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

[Brower] The window goes down,
and Edjo looks in,

and sees the real John Lennon
and Yoko.

[Leslie] John Lennon would
roll down a window and wave.

It sorta confirmed it
in my own head

that it was for real.

[Brower] He gave me a look 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.

We come in high spirits,
airport, motorcade, fans.

[Leslie] Away we went
with the procession.

[Brower] So when the bikes
came into the city,

it was two by two by two,

so they could proceed safely...

'Cause now, you've got
John Lennon in this limo.

[Voormann] And they had
all those motorbikes coming up,

and you're sitting
in a big limousine,

and you're looking out of
the window, "Hello." You know?

[Davis] I do have
a camera in my hand,

shooting the guys
riding next to me,

my friend
on the back of a bike,

because she had striped pants,

so that looked good
against the silver.

[Leslie] I couldn't see
what she was doing,

'cause she was
on the back of the bike.

I just seen the lens
of the camera the odd time.

[Brower] 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]

[Leslie] John arranged

a whole section
in Varsity for us,

a big long line
of bikes pulling up.

We escorted John Lennon in.

People went nuts.

They were all cheering and
everything when we rode in.

[Fawcett] 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."

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.

People were going crazy.

I got to witness all that.

[Brower] 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 screaming]

[Voormann] 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?

So we had
to write down the lyrics

to put in front
of everyone, you know?

[Lennon] 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."

John and Yoko
are sitting on the bench.

John was nervous,
and, you know, edgy,

just got off a flight
from England,

so I said, "John,
what can we get you guys?

What do you need?

Something to drink? Food?
What do you want?"

So John said to me,
"Can you get us some coke?"

and I turned to Dennis
and I said,

"Dennis, let's get some Cokes
in here for these guys,"

and John looks at me

with this unbelievably hopeless
look on his face,

and looks at Yoko,

and she looks at me,

and she goes,
"No, coke for the nose,"

and she puts her hand
up to her nose.

I just looked at them
and I said,

"I'll be back in a minute."

[Gordon] And came back
with this terrible dope,

which we all took...

[Brower] ...and they looked
at me like I was Jesus,

and John reached over and got it

and he goes, "Thanks, man.
Would you ask Eric to come in?"

[cheering]

[###]

[Gordon] The band
had never met Gene Vincent,

but they were really big fans.

They were overwhelmed that they
were gonna back him up.

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.

Our stage clothes
was our street clothes.

Our stage clothes
were like Barbarella.

It was all this
space kind of thing,

and at that time, that just
seemed very normal to us.

And we didn't really have
to get ready for the show.

We were dressed like that.

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?

And 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.

[cheering]

[Fowley] You wanna hear more?

-[cheering]
-Okay!

[cheering]

Hey!

[Gene Vincent] Here we go.

[###]

Thank you.

Thank you so very much.

Love...

Here we go.

[cheering]

Thank you.

Thank you so very much.

I was just talking
to ol' John Lennon backstage,

and I was kinda thinking

on these old songs
we used to do, you know.

First, I'd like to thank

some of the members
of the band here.

There's old Neal
back here on the drums.

Lead guitarist's name?

I'm reading it, love, you know.

And the bass guitar
is old Dennis.

And the last one,
but not the least,

he's been so very kind to me

since I've been here
rehearsing with you,

Mr. Alice Cooper.

-Thank you.
-Whoo, whoo, whoo!

[Cooper] 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 #

[Cooper] 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 #

[###]

[Davis] And then,
for some reason,

we were all
up on the stage dancing.

I'm not sure
when that happened.

That was probably
later at night.

It was a long day.

[Leslie] I think a lot of people
partied a little bit too much,

myself included.

[chuckles]

Time flies as long
as you're having fun.

Thank you, good night.

[Fowley] Gene Vincent
and Alice Cooper,

ladies and gentlemen.

And the Vagabonds!

And the Vagabonds from Toronto.

And the Vagabonds, Gene Vincent,
and Alice Cooper.

Thank you.

[cheering]

[Leslie]
And I started being backstage

when all my friends
were out in the crowd.

I got to meet Little Richard.

Chuck Berry and The Doors
were all sociable.

I sorta ran around backstage
and kept my eye on things.

[Cooper] When you're surrounded
by that many stars,

and you're just
the fly on the wall,

we just sat
and watched the big stars.

We'd never actually
been in a thing that big

where we were backstage.

We just were like little kids
sitting there waiting,

and the day just went on and on,

and we just went,
"This is great,

just sitting here watching
how people work the backstage."

[Brower] Alice Cooper
was next to us.

He looked
very diminutive and shy

with these raccoon eyes
and stringy hair hanging down.

[clucking]

[cheering]

[Fowley] The ninth wonder
of the world, Alice Cooper!

[###]

[Cooper] 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.

[###]

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.

We did this thing

where it revved up
into basically white noise.

It was mayhem up on stage.

I just remember he had a...

a half a watermelon,

and I just
didn't know why.

It was so chaotic.

It was energetic,
but so chaotic.

I thought,
"Somebody's gonna die."

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 murderer's coming,

so you had your eyes covered
most of the time.

[Gordon]
That show is 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.

[Cooper] 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.

The music was
[imitates playing guitar]

and the feathers are flying,
the CO2.

When I saw the chicken, I said,

"Let me just surprise Alice,
and we'll see what happens."

I just picked up
the pillowcase,

went up to the side of the stage
and let it loose.

[Cooper] And the next thing
you know,

there's a chicken on stage.

[makes sounds]

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.'"

Chickens don't fly
as much as they plummet.

Everybody knows
chickens don't fly,

but Alice is from Detroit.

He claims to not know anything
about chickens.

Somebody bit a chicken's
head off or something.

Of course, the next day
in the paper,

it said, "Alice Cooper
Kills Chicken."

[Brower] 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.

[###]

[Cooper]
Toronto Rock & Roll Revival,

that show, in particular,
was what launched us.

They gave us the Willy Wonka
Golden Ticket.

Now we had to back it up
with music,

and that's really
what started Alice

becoming this personified
villain.

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."

[Fowley] Alice Cooper,
ladies and gentlemen.

Alice Cooper!

The group of the future!

Alice Cooper!

[cheering]

Thank you.

[Gordon]
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.

[Cooper] 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."
[laughing]

[Davis] John and Yoko.

[Bingenheimer] Backstage,
everybody was hanging out.

I was hanging
with John and Yoko,

and John Lennon pulls out
a briefcase,

and he had some postcards,

and he autographed a postcard,

one for Gene Vincent
and one for me.

Gene Vincent
did the same thing.

He autographed
pictures of himself

to give to John Lennon,

'cause it was a classic show.

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...

Are you enjoying
Little Richard tonight?

[cheering]

When I'm finished,
I wanna hear you!

Let me know
by round of applause!

My, my, my, my. Are you ready...

[Davis] 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."

Little Richard.

Live filming.

No beginning signal.

[Little Richard] See, my outfit
is not effective

without, 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 'em off

isn't even listening.
He's probably asleep.

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.

[cheering]

[Davis] And so then they finally
did get that organized.

Way up in the top
of the stadium,

a giant spot
came down and hit him.

[cheering]

[cheering continues]

Thank you.

Are you having a good time?

Let it all hang out!

My...

Let all the womenfolk
say, "Whoo!"

Whoo!

And all the men say, "Uh!"

Uh!

Oh, my soul.

# Good Golly, Miss Molly #

# Sure like to ball
Whoo #

# 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 #

[Barry]
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!

[Barry] His presence
was so commanding.

"Ow!"

# Well, I'm going
to the corner #

# Gonna buy a diamond ring #

# Hug me, kiss 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 #

[horn solo]

[Barry] 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.

[###]

When I saw Little Richard,

I said, "Ah..."

You know, I sort of exhaled,

because I said,
"Yeah, I feel now.

I see where
I'm supposed to be."

[###]

[Krieger] Little Richard
just tore it up.

I remember he did
the last couple of songs

standing on the piano.

[###]

I was standing with Jim,

and he goes,
"Man, we gotta follow that?"

[chuckles]

[###]

[song ends]

[cheering]

[Fawcett] I noticed very quickly

John has a very
nervous disposition.

[Voormann]
Here 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 the 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.

[Davis] End of John and Yoko.

[Brower] 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."

[cheering]

Ladies and gentlemen,
the Plastic Ono Band.

Get your matches ready.

Toronto welcomes
the Plastic Ono Band.

Toronto,

Brower and Walker presents
the Plastic Ono Band.

Give peace a chance.

Give peace
a chance.

[cheering]

They all lit candles
or lights up,

and it was really beautiful,

you know, and the vibes
were fantastic.

Little tiny lights
going on, and on, and on.

He changed the history
of rock 'n' roll

that everybody's doing now.

And I ended up on stage
on the side,

and you can just hear the crowd.

John and Yoko were
getting ready to walk on stage.

If you notice Yoko,

that's the set list
she's holding.

[Voormann] 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.

Good evening!

[crowd cheering]

Okay, we're just gonna do
a number that we know, you know,

'cause we never
played together before.

[cheering]

[Christgau] 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.

# 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... #

[Lee] The perspective
of a stoned 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.

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.'"

[Ono] This is the newest song
that John wrote.

It's called "Cold Turkey."

[Lennon] We've never done
this song before,

so best of luck.

It's called "Cold Turkey."

[###]

# The temperature's rising #

# Fever is high #

# Temperature's rising #

# Fever is high #

I said, "Whoa,
what a great song."

Ah...

-Ah...
-Aah!

And "Aah!"

This scream came.

"Shit, you must have stepped
on a nail or something."

-Ah... Ah...
-Aah!

And Eric looked at me,
"What's this?"

[laughs]

Aah!

And the audience
didn't applaud,

and then he said, "Wake up."

Come on, wake up.

And then Yoko came along.

[Krieger]
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.

You know,
it sounded like shit, but...

[laughs]

First of all,
she got in a bag,

and I thought,
"Now, that's interesting.

She's in a bag."

[Fawcett] 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, anyway,
it's part of the whole event.

[White] 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 #

# That's what I want #

[song ends]

John and Yoko did
"Give Peace a Chance,"

and it was the first time
that he did it live on stage.

This is what
we came for, really.

And you too!

It's "Give Peace a Chance,"

so sing along with it.

[Ono] Yeah, let's sing together.

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

I know the chorus, so...

Eins, zwei,

eins, zwei, drei, vier!

[###]

# Everybody's talking 'bout #

# Bagism, bagism,
bagism, bagism #

# This-ism, that-ism
Ism, ism, ism #

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 #

Peace was
the most important thing

they wanted to promote.

The peace campaign
had already been in 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 #

[Cooper] 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.

[cheering]

Now Yoko's gonna do her thing
all over you.

[Fawcett] Yoko used to sing
in this very primal voice.

She trained classically.

Yoko's voice
is like an instrument.

[vocalizing]

[Voormann] 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.

[vocalizing]

What she was doing was really,

really felt like a dying bird.

[weak caws]

[vocalizing]

She couldn't have stood there

and talked about it,

and said, "Yeah, peace.

Just think of Vietnam." No.

[vocalizing]

This was
far ahead of its time.

The audience didn't understand
a fucking thing.

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.

[cheering]

[Gordon] 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.

[Voormann] The two twins
being together, John and Yoko,

so when she was doing her song,

John went up to her,
and he hugged her.

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.

[vocalizing]

When John said, "What we do

is we tune my guitar
on an open chord,

and we just put them
in front of our amplifiers

and let it feed it back."

[vocalizing]

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.

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.

[vocalizing]

The Toronto
rock 'n' roll festival

gave John Lennon
a completely new lease on 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.

[guitar feedback]

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."

[guitars feeding back]

[guitars feeding back]

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
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.

I can remember

when rock 'n' roll
first came on the scene,

and for me, it was
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.

That was the whole reason
for the concert

was to give them their due.

They were the true beginners.

And that's why, for me,

this evening has been...
really a great honour

to perform on the same stage

with so many illustrious
musical geniuses.

[Fowley] Are you ready

for the guitar king
of rock 'n' roll,

Chuck Berry?!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah!

[Lewis] It's a great pleasure
to be here

at the revival of rock 'n' roll,

and I'll guarantee you,

if it ain't revived today,
we'll never have it revived.

Here we go!

Ladies and gentlemen,

the legend to the rock 'n' roll.

The 1956 rock 'n' roll
with Little Richard.

[Brower] At the Toronto
Rock & Roll Revival,

The Beatles broke up,

and they broke up
in front of our eyes onstage,

and it was only by a set
of unforeseen circumstances

that it happened at all.

[Lennon] Sounds about good,
this Canadian thing.

[Ono] 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.

I wasn't gonna fold up
on that film

because I knew that film

was going to be
a hard film to sell.

I never made
any money on it at all.

I lost a lot of money on it.

I love that film,
so I don't care.

This was a moment that
transformed rock 'n' roll.

This was history.

[###]

[###]

The fact that I was
part of this band...

to this day,

I can't believe that
this happened to me, you know?

I've been listening
to The Beatles

since I was, like,
11, 12 years old.

It was all going by so quickly,

and I was only 20 years old,

so I was kinda, like, in awe.

I was just
so lucky to be there.

It's one of the most
memorable nights of our life.

That's the only time

I ever saw John Lennon
perform live.

This was a moment of history,

and that part was understood.

This was a last-minute thing,

and an opportunity
for John and Yoko

to show off
the Plastic Ono Band.

One day, Yoko came over

and said,
"John wants to meet you,"

and there's John and Yoko
with sort of, "Well,

I'm gonna introduce
my boyfriend," kind of thing,

and we're going, like,
"Oh, my god,

it's a fucking Beatle."

For me, Toronto was
a very significant moment.

I was thrilled to be
in the middle of it,

but not quite aware
of what I was in the middle of.

It brought Toronto into focus.

A lot of historic things
happened that night.

There's a few reasons

this concert stands out
in my mind.

One was, of course,

it was the last time
we were gonna see The Doors.

We didn't know that.

That really was
a memorable night.

Getting to play
with all those guys.

Having Lennon there
and Clapton, and...

and to be met
by a gang of motorcycles.

If I had not seen the madness
of Alice Cooper,

if I hadn't seen
Little Richard that day,

I might be, today, a...
a schoolteacher.

It was the golden years
of that era

in music and culture.

When you played, they listened,

and when you did something
that was really unique and cool,

they reacted.

It was just the fact

that I was lucky enough
to be there,

and I was honoured enough

to be able to play
with a legend,

even though he scared
the living daylights out of me.

[Leggat]
We were with Chuck Berry,

and Chuck said, "Come on,
I'm gonna take ya

and get ya a burger
and a Coke."

Chuck Berry took us,

and we went to Harvey's
directly across the street.

I remember after the show,
the stadium emptied out.

It was a great day.

We were all exhausted.

I'd never worked so hard
in my life.

[Davis] At the end of the set,

Yoko and John walked off
past where we were sitting,

and Chuck Berry said,
"Wow, that's John Lennon."

My immediate response was,

"But you're Chuck Berry."

[Leslie] The camera girl,
she was wonderful.

[chuckles]

Say hi to her for me.

I think of her often.

[laughing]

I don't remember
how I got home that night.

I don't even remember
if we ate food.