Eric Clapton joins Yoko Ono, Klaus Voorman, and others for BAM

Yoko Ono’s 77th birthday celebration has gotten her performed a very special concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Tuesday, 16th February 2010. On stage was the “new” Plastic Ono Band – Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Sean Lennon, Haruomi Hosono, Yuka Honda and Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada, Naoki Shimizu and Yuko Araki) who performed an opening set that included “It Happened,” “Rising” and “Walking On Thin Ice”. The second half of the show featured guest artists performing Ono’s compositions. The evening culminated with a reunion by original Plastic Ono Band members Eric Clapton and Klaus Voorman joining Ono, Lennon and Jim Keltner on “Yer Blues” (vocals by Sean Lennon), “Death of Samantha” on which Eric soloed throughout and a very heavy version of “Don’t Worry Kyoko.”

Bette Midler, Paul Simon, Gene Ween, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, and Jake Shears and Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters have also been featured in the concert as guest appearances.

The Plastic Ono Band was initially put together by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. The band had a flexible lineup and the name was used by both Lennon and Ono on solo projects through 1975 to descibe whoever was performing with them. One of the earliest lineups – and the one that recorded Live Peace In Toronto – featured Lennon, Ono, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, and Alan White. Clapton was also featured on “Don’t Worry Kyoko” from Ono’s 1971 album, Fly. In 2009, Yoko Ono revived the name and spirit of the Plastic Ono Band for the critically acclaimed recording “Between My Head And The Sky.”

The event was filmed and recorded for official release.

A “dress rehearsal”–with reasonably priced tickets available to the general public – took place at the venue on Monday evening, 15 February. Although Eric did not appear, Klaus Voorman, Jim Keltner, Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon did turn up.