Yoko Ono and a new version of the Plastic Ono Band will play a Japan benefit March 29 at (le) poisson rouge with Patti Smith and Cibo Matto
(le) poisson rouge
158 Bleecker St.
Tuesday, March 29, $100, 10:30
212-228-4854
www.imaginepeace.com
www.myspace.com/officialyokoono
In December 1970, Yoko Ono released Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, which teamed the Japanese-born avant-garde performer with such friends as John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voormann, and Ornette Coleman, among others. In the fall of 2009, Ono celebrated the record’s upcoming fortieth anniversary with a new Plastic Ono Band album, Between My Head and the Sky, which included such songs as “I’m Alive,” “I’m Going Away Smiling,” “Moving Mountains,” “Healing,” and “Memory of Footsteps.” Those titles now seem prophetic as she and the band, consisting of Sean Ono Lennon, Antony, Yuka Honda, Michael Leonhart, Shimmy Hirotaka Shimizu, and Yuko Araki, will play a Japan benefit Tuesday night at (le) poisson rouge. (Ono has also donated her husband’s “Imagine” to the iTunes album Songs for Japan, benefiting the Japan Red Cross.) The bill also features Patti Smith playing with bassist Tony Shanahan and a set by Cibo Matto. Tickets are $100 for a rare chance to see these three great bands together while helping raise much-needed funds,