Yoko Ono at Theatre du Chatelet Paris
Yoko emerged from the shadows onto the minimalistic stage with oversized chair, full length mirror frame, and massive screen at the back of the stage. Wearing dark shades, over coat and fedora hat she proceeded to fling a tiny chess board across the stage while disrobing her coat in a trance like dance. Black jeans and t-shirt clad for the next 75minutes we were treated to a very heavy and passionate display of art and music.
Each piece of music its own mini performance. Dark stories of war and suffering, the struggle of surviving a life threatening disease, to more happy and positive messages of being free, living together peacefully as one world and “making it”. All of this done through stunning visuals, incredible musicianship and of course Yoko's famous voice. Sometimes gentle and soft, speaking beautiful words of inspiration in both French and English, to her even more famous impressions of a howler monkey. Growling, grunting, dirty phone call breathing and trance like modern dance steps all added to this “performance art”. Even amongst the giggles of many in the crowd, Yoko Ono pulls you in to her world. What she creates is an atmosphere which is very powerful and passionate. Add to that a very airy yet sometimes harsh soundtrack created by the amazing talent of her son Sean who at times had many seeing the ghost of John on stage. Multi tasking between piano, drums and some killer yet subtle guitar playing, Sean certainly added his special touches to the night. Actor Vincent Gallo switched between bass and guitar during the show and created beautiful sounds while keeping very much to himself.
The show came to a close with “Onochord” which found Yoko holding a flashlight and signaling the crowd to signal back with their own mini flashlights which had been handed out prior to the show. The SOS like message simple “I LOVE YOU”, with one flash being "I", two "LOVE" and three "YOU". The theatre resembled 2000 fireflies lighting up the room and sent shivers down everyones spine. It certainly was a weird yet very touching and special night for all of the very fortunate people in attendance.
You can see a brief documentary of Onochord at http://www.a-i-u.net/onochord_doc.html
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