John Lennon’s 85th birthday celebrated with tributes & more

Music News Group4 hours ago

50 1 minute read

John Lennon being interviewed by journalist Steve Turner of Beat Instrumental magazine, Apple Records, London, 19th July 1971. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)

Paul McCartney has paid tribute to his late Beatles bandmate John Lennon on what would have been the musician’s 85th birthday.

McCartney shared a black-and-white photo on Instagram of him and John, taken by Paul’s late wife, Linda McCartney. He wrote, “Sweet memories on this day of a very special friend. Happy birthday John.”

The Beatles’ social media account also marked Lennon’s birthday, captioning a video montage, “Remembering John on his birthday today.” Abbey Roads Studios, where The Beatles recorded many of their albums, also marked the day, writing, “Today, we’re remembering @johnlennon on what would have been his 85th birthday. … It remains an honour to have played a part in his story.”

Lennon’s birthday is also being celebrated in a variety of other ways.

The Yoko Ono-conceived Imagine Peace Tower, in Reykjavík, Iceland, is set to be relit in honor of The Beatles’ legend at 3 p.m. ET, with the moment livestreamed at imaginepeacetower.com. It will remain lit until Dec. 9, the day of his passing.

A video for Lennon and Ono’s One-to-One concert performance of “Imagine” has also been posted on YouTube. The 1972 concert is part of the new Power to the People box set, which will be released Friday.

Plus, the Lennon estate is hosting a free global Power to the People listening party at 3 p.m. ET on the Citizen of Nutopia website, which is an interactive art project celebrating the world of John & Yoko. Escape to Nutopia, the interactive game that puts players into the mind of Lennon, will be launching the second installment in the game immediately following the listening party.

360iframe width=”640″ height=”657″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/htg72vkhsmY” title=”IMAGINE, live at the One To One Concert – John & Yoko, Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen>