![]() ![]() The setlist for the first show was: ‘Power To The People’, ‘New York City’, ‘It’s So Hard’, ‘Move On Fast’, ‘Woman Is The N-r Of The World’, ‘Sisters, O Sisters’, ‘Well Well Well’, ‘Born In A Prison’, ‘Instant Karma’, ‘Mother’, ‘We’re All Water’, ‘Come Together’, ‘Imagine’, ‘Open Your Box’, ‘Cold Turkey’, ‘Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)’, and ‘Hound Dog’. ![]() ![]() Initially just one concert had been planned, but an afternoon performance was added after sales for the evening show exceeded expectations. Proceeds from the tickets, which cost $5, $7.50 and $10, were intended to establish smaller residential facilities in the community for mentally-disabled people. Both shows were sell-outs, however, and the day raised more than $1.5 million for Willowbrook. Prior to the concerts, Lennon bought $59,000 worth of tickets and gave them away to fundraising volunteers, as he worried that not enough money was being generated. Paul McCartney had been invited to appear at the event, and although he considered accepting, the spectre of Allen Klein in the background was enough to put him off. Other guests on the bill included Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, and Sha Na Na, and the Plastic Ono Elephant’s Memory Band were the headline act. Two concerts took place, one in the afternoon and another in the evening. The event was part of the One To One Festival, which sponsored the individual mentoring of pupils at the school. The success of George Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh the previous year may well have influenced his decision to get involved. He likely also saw it as a chance to rehabilitate his public image, in the light of poor sales of Some Time In New York City and the Nixon administration’s ongoing attempts to deport him. Lennon was, like many Americans, scandalised by the conditions at Willowbrook. Lennon enlisted the band Elephant’s Memory, with whom he had recently recorded the Some Time In New York City album, and rehearsals took place on 18, 20 and 22 August. He contacted Rivera and suggested they organise a benefit concert. Lennon had seen Geraldo Rivera’s report for ABC TV on the physical and sexual abuse of the children and the poor facilities at the Staten Island school. ![]()
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