Underplayed Gems

Sweet Toronto (1971)

Sweet Toronto poster
Directed by
D. A. Pennebaker
Genre
documentary film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 10m
Rating
7.1 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

This documentary captures the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in 1969. It follows the final hours of the show, focusing on John Lennon's first live performance with the Plastic Ono Band as well as sets from Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley. The film shows both the excitement and the audience's negative reaction to Yoko Ono.

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What happens

Sweet Toronto (sometimes referred as Sweet Toronto Peace Festival) is a documentary by D.A. Pennebaker of the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, a one-day festival held September 13, 1969, at Varsity Stadium on the St. George campus of the University of Toronto and attended by some 20,000 people. The event was produced by John Brower and Ken Walker. John Lennon, who seven days later would unofficially resign as a member of the Beatles, played as part of the Plastic Ono Band, whose members also included Yoko Ono, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, and Eric Clapton. Their set was released as the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969. The video also features a selection of other acts: Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley. The concert itself lasted 12 hours and included Alice Cooper and Chicago Transit Authority among other acts, but Pennebaker's documentary focuses mainly on the final hours of the concert. At the time of the performance, Yoko Ono's popularity was sufficiently low that the audience booed and left the Plastic Ono Band performance. There was a similar response from film reviewers at the time. The performances "and this film have grown in interest and watchability since that time, particularly given the rarity of such thorough documentation of these key performers' work in concert." The film is available on DVD from Shout! Factory, under the name John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band: Live in Toronto. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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