On Thanksgiving night, November 28, 1974, John Lennon walked onto the stage at Madison Square Garden as a surprise guest at an Elton John concert. It would turn out to be his last appearance in front of a paying audience. He was only there because he had lost a bet.
Pinned to his black suit was a flower. Minutes earlier, backstage, he had guessed who sent it. “I bet they’re from Yoko,” he said, and then added that he couldn’t go through with it if he knew she was there. She was. And that night set off a chain of events that changed the rest of his life.
The Song Lennon Didn’t Believe In
In 1974, John Lennon was in New York making his album Walls and Bridges. He was living apart from Yoko Ono at the time. Elton John, then one of the biggest stars in the world, came by the studio and ended up playing piano and singing harmony on a song called “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.”
Elton was convinced the record was a smash. Lennon was not. By then, he was the only former Beatle who had never had a No. 1 solo single. Lennon later described what happened next in his own words: he “sort of halfheartedly promised” that if the song reached No. 1, which he had no reason to expect, he would play Madison Square Garden with Elton.
The single came out in September 1974. On November 16, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Elton called to remind him of his promise.
Stage Fright in Boston
Lennon had not done a full concert of his own since 1972. So before New York, he went to see Elton play at the Boston Garden on November 20, just to get used to the idea of facing a crowd again. Elton later said Lennon was more nervous than he was. Lennon admitted he got nervous just watching.
“I went through my stage fright at Boston so by the time I got to Madison Square I had a good time.” — John Lennon
Thanksgiving Night
The nerves came back anyway. Elton has said Lennon was so nervous that he threw up before the show. Then backstage, a pair of gardenias arrived, one for each of them. Lennon guessed right away who had sent them. He wore his in his lapel.
Late in the show, Elton brought him out. The ovation was overwhelming. Elton remembered that many people around him were crying. Lennon, dressed in black and playing a black Telecaster, kicked off with “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” then sang “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which he and Elton had recently recorded together.
Elton had wanted him to sing “Imagine.” Lennon said no. He later explained that he did not want to come on like Dean Martin running through his old classics. He wanted to have fun and play rock and roll. So for the last song, he told the crowd they had tried to think of a number to finish with, so he could get off stage and be sick, and they had picked one by “an old estranged fiancé of mine called Paul.” Then they played “I Saw Her Standing There,” a Beatles song Paul McCartney had sung lead on.
“I Wouldn’t Like to Do It for a Living”
When Lennon came off stage, reporters were waiting. He told them it had been good fun, but that he would not like to do it for a living. He later explained that he was not against live shows, he simply did not have a band or a stage act of his own.
The live recording of “I Saw Her Standing There” from that night later became the B-side of Elton’s single “Philadelphia Freedom.” It is the sound of John Lennon’s last real concert.
Yoko in the Crowd
The stories about how Yoko Ono ended up at the Garden differ. Some accounts say Lennon arranged tickets for her himself. Elton’s guitarist Davey Johnstone believed Elton and Lennon’s assistant Tony King quietly made sure she was there, and that Lennon did not know she was in the audience. Either way, she came, and she sent those flowers to wish him luck.
After the show, the two met backstage. Their full reconciliation did not happen overnight. Lennon left that night with May Pang, and he and Yoko formally resumed their relationship in February 1975. But Elton has always believed that night made it possible.
“If I hadn’t played on ‘Whatever Gets You Through the Night,’ if I hadn’t told him that he had to do the show, maybe he never would have met Yoko again.” — Elton John
On October 9, 1975, John Lennon’s 35th birthday, Yoko gave birth to their son, Sean. Elton John became his godfather.
Did you know John Lennon’s last big concert came down to a bet? Tell us what you remember about that era of music.