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#533: yoko ono & sean lennon - higa noboru (and others) (2009)

“i have to tell you,” yoko ono said to her audience at the brooklyn academy of music on tuesday night, a few days before her 77th birthday, “you have a long life ahead of you, and it’s going to be beautiful.” her brooklyn academy of music show—half concert, half tribute—was filled with all kinds of things: shimmying, screeching, thumping, family members, guitar gods, art films, drag, a tuba, a cello, and as ms. ono would say, a lot of cosmic splendor.

the first half was full of thick, loud, strange, twisting grooves, which probably wouldn’t sound like promising news to those who know her only as a screechy-voiced beatles destroyer. but this wasn’t music for a pilates class in westchester—it was interstellar and kaleidoscopic, with pelvic bass lines bouncing below gooey guitars and horns. she sashayed, shuffled, shook and swayed.

but the tribute half of the concert stole the show. in the spirit of ms. ono’s canyon-sized proclamations, the sound paul simon and his son, harper, made on the two songs they played and sang together was one of the most exceedingly warm things i’ve ever heard live on a stage. they played hold on from john lennon’s first solo album, and silver horse from season of glass, her first after his death. one is sung to a wife, and the other is sung by a widow.

eric clapton, the guest that came on afterward, turns 65 next month, but his guitar, especially on the white album’s yer blues, was hysterical, sludgy, and huge. “in sound check, he was teaching me to play how my dad did it,” said the younger mr. lennon. “a touch sophisticated.” after rising, one of the first set’s arty disco songs, full of ms. ono’s points and crouches and marches, mr. lennon son whispered something to into her ear. “he’s always saying, ‘oh it’s great, it’s great,’ to make me feel good,” she explained.

“i’m not lying, mom,” he said. the crowd sighed. a few days before the concert, ms. ono  discussed her maternal feelings: “you would never know, because you’re not old enough, i’m sorry to use those expressions, but when your son grows up, and he’s doing his own thing,” she explained, “it’s nice to get a chance to be with him for a while.” she said the show’s guests had been his idea. “they’re sort of added. added bombs! not bombs! bombs is a bad word! what is it? added sparkling stars.”

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