Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band at Glastonbury 2014 review – between ludicrous and lovable

Shortly after Dolly Parton finishes, another cult female legend takes to the Park stage, albeit one trickier to sing along with unless you’ve been having your vocal chords hand-stretched on a weekly basis

. “I’ve been tap-dancing in the mud!” yells Yoko, launching into an opening speech that attacks fracking, tries to get everyone to sexually accost the person next to them and ends with a characteristic sentiment: “AAAAAGGGHH-oo-wowowow-we have to save the beautiful country that our ancestors saved for us-AAAAGGHHH!” What follows is 40 minutes of experimental drum drone, bluesy riff rock, spoken word “affirmations” and singing that resembles, in turn, mini orgasms, primal scream therapy and simian territorial fighting. Unlike the artful interpretations of her songs this reviewer witnessed at Café Oto in Dalston earlier this year, Yoko’s Plastic Ono Band tap-dance muddily along the line between ludicrousness and lovability, toppling often on the side of the ludicrous. The 2009 track Waiting For The D Train is a propulsive punk rumble and Rising is an ominous diatribe against the growing power of corporations, but her societal philosophies and lifelong personal anguishes are often lost among her atonal wails and bouts of speaking in tongues, until you’re certain you heard a tip for the best way to mature your own cheese in there somewhere.

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Source: The Guardian, UK

Photo Credit:  Joel Ryan/Invision/AP