YOKO ONO 80TH BIRTHDAY PERFORMS WITH PLASTIC ONO BAND AT OLKSBÜHNE, BERLIN

Yoko Ono 80th Birthday – performs with Plastic Ono Band at Volksbühne, Berlin

photo credit: Roland Owsnitzki, (c) Yoko Ono, 2013

Sunday February, 17

One of the most daring and influential artists of our time, Yoko Ono, celebrated her eightieth birthday with a sold-out performance to an energetic and hugely responsive crowd at the legendary Volksbühne in Berlin. YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND was led by her son, Sean Ono Lennon, who collaborated with Yoko on her critically-acclaimed 2009 record, Between My Head And The Sky.

Guests joining Yoko on stage included Peaches, Michael Stipe, Robyn Hitchcock and Rufus Wainwright & Martha Wainwright, who sang “Happy Birthday” in English and German.
Jiga, Eva and Masumi, a local Berlin synth-pop trio, opened the show with their song “Hey, Yoko Ono.”

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Musicians

Sean Lennon – guitar, piano, bass
Yuka C. Honda- keyboard / laptop (Cibo Matto)
Yuko Araki – drums (Cornelius)
Nels Cline – guitar (Wilco)
Michael Leonhart – trumpet (Steely Dan / Donald Fagen)
Charlotte Kemp Muhl – bass, guitar (Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger)
Jared Samuel -keyboard (Invisible Familiars)

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Set List

It Happened
Waiting For The D Train
BETWEEN MY HEAD AND THE SKY
Moving Mountains
CALLING
There’s No Goodbye
Walking On Thin Ice
Rising
Yes, I’m A Witch
Cheshire Cat
Mind Train
Higa Noboru
Give Peace A Chance

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Earlier in the week, on February 15, Yoko Ono’s retrospective, HALF-A-WIND SHOW opened at the Schirn Kuntshalle in Frankfurt and will tour to major museums across Denmark, Austria and Spain in 2013 and 2014.

Numerous projects are slated for 2013 including the reissue of Ono’s albums from 1968-1985, a career-spanning art book, Infinite Universe At Dawn highlighting six decades of her work, and the curation of the 2013 Meltdown Festival at Southbank Centre in London in June.

Over the past few years, Ono has achieved a record string of nine consecutive #1 hits on the Billboard dance charts. Her latest dance single, “Hold Me” was released last week.

In September, Ono released the improvisational YOKOKIMTHURSTON album with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.

Other recent collaborations have included recordings and performances with Eric Clapton, Lady Gaga, RZA, Antony, Ornette Coleman, the Flaming Lips, the Pet Shop Boys, Mark Ronson and tUnE-yArDs.

Between My Head And The Sky received 4 & 5-star rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Mojo, Q, Uncut, NME, Spin & many more, and was picked among Mojo Magazine’s top albums of the year.

Additionally, Mojo honored Yoko with a Lifetime Achievement Award and she received the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at The Venice Biennale.