What was John Lennon’s final concert?

When The Beatles stopped performing in 1966, losing the buzz of the stage hit John Lennon harder than any of his peers. After a childhood marred by loss, live music was always an escape for the deeply introspective star. When that was taken away from him after the rigours of the road became unsustainable for the Fab Four, he soon found himself disillusioned with the group.

In fact, you find both evidence of how much he craved the spotlight and prognostication of the future ahead of the bespectacled Beatle in 1968 when he performed alongside Yoko Ono as The Rolling Stones’ legendary Rock ’n’ Roll Circus as The Dirty Macs. Aside from the duo, the band consisted of Eric Clapton on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, and Jimi Hendrix’s sticksmith Mitch Mitchell on drums. “The buzz was incredible,” Lennon would comment.

But once again, fate and circumstance would preclude too many further shows. He played a couple of concerts in New York in 1971, lent a live performance to the Free John Sinclair benefit that same year, and strummed out a couple of numbers for the Rally for Attica State Prison, but by and large, these hints at heading out on the road didn’t result in a tour of any description.

He played two concerts in one evening at Maddison Square Gardens in August 1972, after a performance at Duffy Square in aid of The National Peace Coalition Rally earlier that year in April. And in 1973, he disappeared on the drink in what would later become known as his ‘Lost Weekend’. In truth, this wayward period hamstrung the goal he had long held to get a worthwhile show together. Yet, this was never easy when you’re the biggest star in the world.

So, when was John Lennon’s last time on stage?
It seems indicative that his last stand on a stage was a fleeting affair. In 1974, Lennon would take to the main stage of a huge stadium for the very last time and leave the entire world wanting more. The singer would join Elton John on the glittering stage of Madison Square Garden to perform three wonderful tunes, including The Beatles’ trippy classic from Sgt. Pepper ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. It seems even more indicative of the times that this was all because of a bet.

Lennon had avoided the stage for a long while before joining Elton under the spotlight. You could even argue that he had lost a degree of confidence. Enter the Rocketman. While each Beatles member had topped the charts long before 1974, Lennon was the only member of the Fab Four yet to do so as a solo artist. If anyone in his phone book could help on that front, he picked the right number in Elton John.

The story goes that after Lennon had asked Elton John to help him on his new track ‘Whatever Gets You Through The Night’, the duo came to an agreement. Elton had been in the studio providing harmonies and piano on the tune during the summer of 1974. It was during these sessions that Elton made a wager with Lennon about how the track would do in the charts. He was certain he could guarantee Lennon’s first solo chart-topper. This certainty provided some joyful consequences, especially for one lucky audience.

Lennon opened up about the glorious moment in a BBC interview just a few short days before his untimely death. “Elton was in town and I was doing it and needed the harmony,” he said. “He did the harmony on that and a couple more, and played beautiful piano on it. And jokingly, he was telling me he was going to do this Madison Square Garden concert — he said, ‘Will you do it with me if the record’s Number One?’”

The former Beatle continued: “And I did not expect it to get to number one at all. I didn’t think it had a chance in hell. I said, ‘Sure, sure, sure I will.’” Sometimes fate has other plans for you, and it was clear that those fates wanted to see the bespectacled Beatle up on the stage giving it his all.

‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’ would be Lennon’s first solo number over the pond which meant Lennon would have to pay up, “‘OK, it’s time to pay your dues!’” Lennon jokingly recalls the Rocketman quipping. “It was the first Number One I had, actually. ‘Imagine’ wasn’t number one, ‘Instant Karma’ wasn’t number ne — which I all think are better records than ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night.’ (The) words are pretty good. But anyway, so what could we sing, that was the point.”

Were Elton John and John Lennon friends?
The pair had not been friends for a very long, having only met in 1973, despite sharing the same publisher, the duo got on famously. Elton reflected on their friendship, “We got on like a house on fire and we hung out for a couple of years; I found him very kind, very funny. I don’t know why we clicked, but we did and he clicked with my band and he clicked with the people around me. And we had so much fun.”

Being a huge fan of The Beatles, naturally, Elton was a little scared: “I was quite intimidated by him, because I knew he was razor sharp and could be very abrasive. But that side never came out with me — only the kind side and the funny side.”

Lennon, ever a man of his word, dutifully agreed to the show and made his way to Madison Square Gardens to perform three songs with Elton. Taking on their co-created ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’, then playing ‘Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds’ a song that Elton and Lennon had re-recorded earlier that year, and Elton’s then-current single and The Beatles’ own song ‘I Saw Her Standing There’.

In a recent interview, Elton shared his further thoughts on Lennon when discussing the icon with his son, Sean: “When I met your dad, I was a little bit, obviously, I was in awe, I was in awe of any of The Beatles and they all treated me so brilliantly,” remembers the singer. “But your dad had that edge that none of the other Beatles had, kind of because he wasn’t afraid to say what he saw. And I met him on a video shoot for Mind Games with my friend Tony King playing the queen.”

Elton remembered the meeting and his attire at the time, “I was wearing a bright green Saint Laurent satin suit and I thought ‘In for a penny, in for a pound’ and your dad was as kind and as generous and sweet and we just hit it off immediately. He was so funny. That’s what I loved about him. And we talked about music, we talked about records we loved.”

Sadly, there isn’t much credible footage of the moment; only Elton’s own channel provides the most concrete video (others use audio and clips from John & Yoko’s A Love History); the best footage available can be seen below. Alas, in many ways, it’s better that this moment remains a special and yet unreachable dream where two icons of music came together because two mates made a friendly wager.

However, the lack of crisp footage shouldn’t dilute the significance of the moment. While the latter half of his career might not have provided too much stage time for the star, it is a fallacy to think that he wasn’t a ‘live musician’. By the time he was 26, it was estimated that he’d played over 1400 shows with The Beatles. The band cut their teeth in the gaudy melee of Hamburg, honing their craft in The Cavern Club, then launching their attack to take over the world in peace and love.

In fact, the main reason that they stopped touring was because they had outstripped the technology that would allow them to do so. Quite literally, the PA systems of the times weren’t capable of overpowering the screech of the crowd. In every sense, they were unfortunately too ahead of their time to tour, and Lennon would bemoan that fact. But thankfully, he got one last stand alongside an old pal to recall the buzz that had always inspired him until his life was cut tragically short.