Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is very busy right now. When he pops up late to our scheduled Friday afternoon Zoom call, the first thing he does is apologise.
“Sorry this was all a bit last minute. I had to squeeze you in because I have an album coming out with my band The Delirium – and I’ve been doing a lot of stuff to finish it off.” Add to that a feature documentary premiering at Tribeca Film Festival, tour dates scheduled throughout May and June, as well as his dad’s special Record Store Day ‘Love Meditation Mixes’ vinyl (which he’s produced) and we’re surprised the prolific, curtain-fringed musician turned up today at all.
He’s eager to chat about yet another of his projects though. It’s the upcoming concert film Power To The People: John & Yoko Live In NYC, in which footage of his parents’ famous 1972 charity gigs at Madison Square Garden has been exquisitely restored to crystal clear quality. Seriously, you can make out every single follicle of those iconic sideburns.
Sadly, the two shows (one evening, one matinee) ended up being John’s only full-length performances before he was murdered by Mark David Chapman in 1980. Sean, whose ongoing job as custodian of his dad’s legacy he takes extremely seriously, says this makes Power To The People even more special.
Hey Sean, tell us about the new concert film
“Well, it’s been a very long time in the making. The concert was originally filmed in 1972 and for decades the footage was being restored to high quality digital. But I didn’t oversee that process because I know nothing about it. I wasn’t really involved until more recently.”
What was your role in it all?
“My main job was the sound quality. I worked on the ‘Imagine’ album [re-release] mixes [in 2018] and there wasn’t really much to do. But here… there was so much work to do.”
Did it sound really terrible?
“I grew up listening to the live album [of the same concert] – ‘John Lennon Live In New York City’. I used to hear that on my mum’s stereo all the time because she was putting it out when I was a kid. [Ono produced the posthumous record in 1986]. And I always thought it sounded a bit, you know, mushy.”
John Lennon performs at Madison Square Garden in 1972. CREDIT: Michael Negrin/Yoko Ono Lennon
But your dad sounds incredible in the film…
“I think everyone who listens to it gets chills from how good his voice is – and it’s good in a way that is totally un-Beatles. It’s like he’s finding a new way of singing.”
Where did that come from?
“He and my mum had famously done a lot of work with these ‘primal scream’ people. I actually have a book that [The Who‘s] Pete Townsend sent my dad – it’s called The Primal Scream [by Arthur Janov]. Anyway, my dad got into it but the whole thing turned out to be kind of bullshit. I mean, it’s not good to just scream and cry to solve your childhood trauma. It actually reinforces those feelings.”
What did your mum say when she saw the footage of them performing together?
“Well, she’s had to deal with people not understanding her particular musicality for so long. She did a show at Glastonbury [in 2014] that was kind of misunderstood. I was really impressed that when she got that negative feedback, she was just like: ‘Well, they don’t understand me.’ She is invulnerable to people not understanding that part of her because she just thinks that they aren’t hip enough.”
Yoko Ono on stage at Madison Square Garden in 1972. CREDIT: Michael Negrin/Yoko Ono Lennon
In this film, she gives some of her most traditional vocal performances…
“You could say that… I think my mother got an unfair amount of negativity because of all The Beatles stuff. They thought she broke up The Beatles – and then she starts wailing like a crazy person (in their minds) and it upset them a lot. But what she was doing was very avant-garde and cool and punk and weird. She essentially invented punk. [Sex Pistols manager] Malcolm McLaren said that my mum’s Plastic Ono band, not my dad’s Plastic Ono Band, made the first punk album.”
The song ‘Open Your Box’, which is in the new film, was banned in America…
“Because the euphemism is too sexual. But I honestly don’t think she meant ‘your box’ in that sense. She’s actually a real lady. I think she meant ‘don’t live in a box’.”
There’s a great bit where your dad sings ‘Come Together’ and apologises for the “silly” lyrics – do you think he was reluctant to perform The Beatles tracks then?
“Oh, for sure he was. He was the kind of person who didn’t want to look back. It wasn’t that he didn’t like The Beatles. He loved The Beatles. He was The Beatles. But they were people who really lived in the moment. He had to move on to the next thing quickly or he panicked.”
Are you like that too?
“I think it actually gave me the opposite personality. I don’t want to burn bridges and cut off the past. I’m very much still friends with people from my childhood and my early school years.”
Power To The People comes out on your mum and dad’s 57th wedding anniversary – is that something you still observe?
“I might mention it. I try to be a good son. There’s a lot of stuff to remember, man. The thing that my mum has always cared about most is New Year’s Eve and Christmas.”
Do you always spend those dates together?
“I’m not bragging but I’ve been with my mum for 49 Christmases. I’m 50 years old. And there was one year that I missed it because I went with my friend to Australia instead. I think I was 15 or 16 and I had the best time. But then every year after that, my mum would say at Christmas dinner, ‘Do you remember that time that you went to Australia?’ And I would say, ‘Yeah, I remember.’ And she goes: ‘That was very bad.’ [Laughs]”
Why did she care so much?
“I’m the youngest child, so I have to take care of the elders. That’s sort of how it is in Japanese culture.”
Sean Ono Lennon at a screening in New York in 2024. CREDIT: Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Netflix
Did you ever introduce her to Fat White Family when you were working together?
“Yeah, they hung out. In fact, my mum sang a vocal on a Moonlandingz track which is one of our adjacent projects.”
What were those sessions like?
“When you’re recording someone like Yoko Ono, you make sure it’s just a very quiet time in the studio when no one’s around. You bring her in and you say ‘will you sing on this track?’ She says, ‘yes’. She does it once and that’s it. So it wasn’t like they were sitting there jamming with the band.”
You got into a fight on Twitter last week defending your parents from trolls – why bother?
“I think what people don’t understand is that when they say that stuff [on the internet], they’re basically insulting my mum. And if you’re going to insult my mother, I’m not going to be nice about it.”
It feels like the kind of thing your dad would be doing if he had social media in 2026…
“I think you’re right actually. He wrote some very, let’s say, energetic letters to critics who reviewed his albums badly – and they were always really funny. He would tear them apart and be like, ‘you pseudo-intellectual arsehole!’ but then at the end: ‘peace and love, John Lennon.’ I thought that was really sweet, and that is my model for how I defend them to people. I’ll do it – but I’m also kind of kidding.”
There is zero irony in letting a maid do her job. Thinking otherwise is a very goofy take. They were not protesting maid service.
— Seán Ono Lennon (@seanonolennon) April 22, 2026
I’ve got to ask you about the Sam Mendes Beatles films – has anyone reached out to you?
“Yeah, I met everyone on the film set. I think Harris [Dickinson, playing John Lennon] is amazing. I think he’s really smart and I did hear him do my dad’s voice a little bit – and it was so good. It was kind of spooky actually. But there’s also something really funny about meeting someone half your age who is supposed to be your dad.”
Did you get to meet Anna Sawai, who’s playing your mum?
“Yeah, I know Anna. We kind of hung out a little bit. She’s a very studious person. She would ask me questions about my family and she was really serious, you know, taking notes and thinking about it. They both understand the craft. I have a lot of faith in them to play those roles.”
Did Anna speak to your mum as well?
“No, not really. She’s retired now. She’s 93. She’s not going to micro-manage this project.”
Are there any more John and Yoko jobs on the horizon?
“I can say that we’re going to do [Lennon’s 1974 album] ‘Walls And Bridges’ probably next year. I don’t like promising things though.”
And what about the extended Beatles family, do you see much of them?
“I had dinner with Paul, Stella and Mary [McCartney] about a month ago. I don’t think it’s a secret but I’m one of the four directors at [The Beatles’ company] Apple, which includes Ringo and Paul, so we often have to interact… We’re like a weird family.”
Let’s finish by talking about your new album with The Claypool Lennon Delirium, ‘The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy’
“So it’s my band with Les Claypool from Primus, one of my favourite bands from back in the day – and it’s our third album. We decided to do an epic rock opera concept album which is about a robot that goes out of control and turns everything in the world into paper clips.”
That’s interesting! What does it sound like?
“It’s a fun record. The sound is, sort of, secondary. Basically, it’s quirky and weird.”
‘Power To The People: John & Yoko Live In NYC’ is in cinemas for a limited time from today (April 29). The Claypool Lennon Delirium release ‘The Great Parrot-Ox And The Golden Egg Of Empathy’ on May 15
The post How Sean Ono Lennon helped bring his parents’ greatest gig back to life appeared first on NME.
