History has shown it was this concert that finally convinced John there was indeed life beyondThe Beatles.

"We got this phone call on a Friday night that there was a rock'n'roll revival show in Toronto with a 100,000 audience, or whatever it was, and that Chuck was going to be there and Jerry Lee and all the great rockers that were still living, and Bo Diddley, and supposedly The Doors were top of the bill. They were inviting us as king and queen to preside over it, not play – but I didn't hear that bit. I said, 'Just give me time to get a band together,' and we went the next morning."
John Lennon, 1969
Anthology

Ritchie Yorke Remembers:

It was a pleasantly warm September afternoon in London circa 1969 when I dropped in at the Apple Corps offices on Saville Row — not knowing that music history was about to unfold.

I'd come in to confirm an interview with George Harrison that had been scheduled after the weekendto discuss the about-to-be-released Abbey Road album. But hearing me chatting in the corridor outside the Bag One offices — I had interviewed him earlier that year in Canada — John Lennon called me in for "some advice." Can you imagine? The honor of being asked by a sage such as John for any kind of advice . . .

Turned out that a Toronto promoter named John Brower was on the phone trying to convince John and Yoko they should attend a September 13 musical event in Canada featuring a host of '50s rock 'n' roll legends. Maybe, suggested the ever-keen and eager Brower, John might even consider a performance piece? I knew Brower and his partner, and I instinctively felt they would try to do right by an inquisitive and frustrated John . . .

On the morning of 13th Sept Klaus Voormann (guitarist), Alan White (drummer), Allen Klein (grub), Mal Evans (godsend) and Lennon's assistant Anthony Fawcett all convened at London Airport, but Lennon, Ono and Eric Clapton (guitarist stealer of Pattie from George) were nowhere to be seen. It transpired Lennon and Ono had elected to stay in bed, and that Clapton was unaware of the plans. (George Harrison turned the gig down)

The guitarist was called by John Brower, who told him: "Eric, you may not remember me, but I'm the promoter who lost $20,000 on your Blind Faith show last month. Please call John Lennon, and tell him he must do this or I will get on a plane, come to his house, and live with him, because I will be ruined."

Brower's plea worked, and Lennon reluctantly agreed to join Clapton. The party left for Toronto on Air Canada flight 124, with Lennon, Ono and Clapton in first class while the rest flew in economy. Only three first-class tickets were available, so the newly formed Plastic Ono Band gathered in therear of the 707 jet, vamping their acoustic way through a cluster of classic rock 'n' roll favorites.

During the flight the Plastic Ono Band eventually convened and assembled a set, although the musicians had trouble hearing their guitars above the noise of the engines.

"Now we didn't know what to play, because we'd never played together before, the band. And on the aeroplane we're running through these oldies, so the rehearsal for the record, which turned into not a bad record, was on the plane, with electric guitars – not even acoustic, you couldn't hear." John Lennon

Songs that the principal players worshipped.

https://youtu.be/FuEMdfwmQTM

'Blue Suede Shoes'

https://youtu.be/HEnRVaDxQE0

A Heavy Duty Bass laden  'Money'

Perhaps this in-flight camaraderie inspired the bout of intense honesty that unfolded en route to theToronto Rock 'N' Roll Revival concert. Later it came out that John had informed both Eric Claptonand Klaus Voormann that he was thinking about starting a new group. It seems he went as far as to enquire about their interest in joining him in this new enterprise . . .

"We were in Apple and I knew before I went to Toronto, I told Allen [Klein] I was leaving. I told Eric Clapton and Klaus that I was leaving and I'd like to probably use them as a group. I hadn't decided how to do it, to have a permanent new group or what. And then later on I thought, 'Fuck it, I'm not going to get stuck with another set of people, whoever they are.' So I announced it to myself and to the people around me on the way to Toronto the few days before. On the plane Allen came with me, and I told him, 'It's over.'"John Lennon, 1970
Lennon Remembers, Jann S Wenner

At Varsity Stadium the jet-lagged John was extremely nervous. He hadn't been onstage in three years, and he admitted to throwing up from nervousness before the show — with abundant reason.

"Imagine if you were in The Beatles from the beginning, and you were never in any other band?" he postulated. "Then all of a sudden you're going onstage with this group who've never played live together, anywhere. We formed on the plane coming over here, and now we're gonna play in front of 20,000 people."  -John

A quick backstage rehearsal, and guest emcee Kim Fowley urged the audience to fire up their lighters and matches — and in the process light their communal fire, the early uprising of a collective consciousness — to welcome onstage the Plastic Ono Band, in their debut performance.

"It was just getting dark, and the lights were just going down. This was the first time I'd ever seen anaudience light candles or lights all together . . . it was incredible!" John would comment.

What a night it was! All faithfully and creatively recorded on camera by award-winning filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, to follow his Monterey Pop and Don't Look Back triumphs. The audio would be released in December of that year as the Plastic Ono Band's Live Peace In Toronto LP.

John bounced out onstage, bedecked in a white tropical suit overpinning a black shirt, and was bedeviling with his new band. The Toronto audience was equally uplifted. After whipping through a number of rock 'n' roll chestnuts, John plunged into "Yer Blues" from the White Album.

https://youtu.be/hPA8TGNjqjs

'Yer Blues'

And then, to take proceedings to another level, he unleashed the debut of a new single that would be released five weeks hence, the hard-edged classic "Cold Turkey."

https://youtu.be/Mu3_2w4ff6Q

'Cold Turkey'

Temperature's rising                 Fever is high
Can't see no future                         Can't see no sky

This was followed by a centerpiece selection that John graphically set up as: "This is what we really came here for . . . Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout Bagism . . . " They plunged into the tune that he and Yoko — and assorted luminaries — had recorded at the historic Bed-In for Peace in a Montreal hotel room some four months earlier, the paean to nonviolence: "Give Peace A Chance." And Yoko added to the street-theatre vibe by performing two tunes in a bag!

Back in London after the momentous weekend in Canada, John was exuberant about the experience of being onstage again.

"I can't remember when I had such a good time," he enthused. "We did all the old things from the Cavern days in Liverpool. Yoko, who you could say was playing 'bag,' was holding a piece of paperwith the words to the songs in front of me. But then she suddenly disappeared into her bag in the middle of the performance, and I had to make [the words] up because it's so long since I sang them that I've forgotten most of them. But it didn't seem to matter.''  -John

History has shown it was this concert that finally convinced John there was indeed life beyond The Beatles.

(Ritchie Yorke, 2009Consultant, author, journalist, broadcaster, speaker)

He later revealed that he was addicted to heroin at the time.

"We were full of junk too. I just threw up for hours till I went on. I nearly threw up in Cold Turkey – I had a review in Rolling Stone about the film of it – which I haven't seen yet, and they're saying, 'I was this and that.' And I was throwing up nearly in the number. I could hardly sing any of them, I was full of shit."John Lennon, 1970
Lennon Remembers, Jann S Wenner