Ear Peace
“Yoko Only,” a night of inspired performances and collaborations, honored Ono’s boundary-pushing songs, feminist vision, and enduring influence
“I’d like to dedicate this to the Beatles,” Yo La Tengo guitarist and singer Ira Kaplan said from the stage, introducing Yoko Ono’s 1973 song “What Did I Do!” He added, by way of explanation, “It’s been long enough that we no longer bear a grudge for them trying to break up the Plastic Ono Band.” The quip resonated with most of the fans and other musicians — geezers and hipsters of all stripes — pressed up to the stage outside Los Angeles’ the Broad museum for “Yoko Only: A Night Celebrating the Music of Yoko Ono.”
Ono, 93, was not in attendance at the event, but it was a varied and star-studded tribute to her work. Performed mostly with the world’s coolest house band in Yo La Tengo, the 19-song set saw iconoclastic singers and musicians add their own flavor to Ono originals. The setlist ranged from the avant-garde (“AOS” — the original done by Ono in 1970 with Ornette Coleman Quartet) to bona fide hits like 1981’s disco tune “Walking on Thin Ice” to the painfully personal “No, No, No,” a guttural reaction to her husband’s murder the year prior.
