It’s been a week since Yoko Ono made her festival debut at Glastonbury. A week, however, is a long time on the internet. While music critics have been fairly kind – if not particularly enthusiastic – about the 81-year-old’s performance, netizens have let rip on the singer-songwriter’s erratic wailing, with one criticising Ono’s voice as sounding “like a goat with a sore throat”.
Join us after the jump for screaming, giant political banners, and an octogenarian dancing like there’s no one watching.
One video of the performance, in which Ono is backed by American cult indie rockers Yo La Tengo under the name Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, has already been viewed over a million times on YouTube. The eccentric performance of “Don’t Worry Kyoko”, the 1969 B-side to John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey“, has seen the singer dubbed “Yoko Oh No!”, and has been widely panned by online commenters and YouTubers:
“OMG, never laughed so much on YouTube. This is probably the shittiest live performance you’ve ever heard. :)”
“I would rather have my testicles tied to a moving vehicle than listen to this talentless crap ever again.”
▼”She sounds like a hyena dying on stage”, said one YouTube commenter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAZTzaQ-sSc
The hatred continues:
“You’ve got to be kidding me. PLEASE tell me this is a joke.. This has got to be the WORST thing I’ve ever heard in my life. This is worse than Rebecca Black’s song Friday.”
“Imagine all the people… who are now deaf after listening to this.”
Others questioned Yo La Tengo’s commitment to the Ono cause:
“How could those musicians play with straight faces? I hope they’re getting paid a lot.”
While some commenters kept things personal:
“So destroying the Beatles was not enough ey? Now she wants to destroy music altogether.”
“British people [are] very respectful, if this were somewhere else the people would have been throwing shit at her from the very first note.”
Although this was Ono’s first Glastonbury festival, we’re sure she will have felt at home in the hippie vibe of the world’s largest greenfield festival, and she took the opportunity to tweet an anti-fracking message to her followers while at the English festival.
▼ Ono gets into the swing.
▼ Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band was performing at the festival’s Park Stage.
▼ One onlooker (top centre) didn’t seem to be appreciating the set.
However, the commenters weren’t all detractors:
“I seem to be the only one that likes this :S”
“She like that drunk aunt who picks up the mic at a wedding and sings and keeps going even though she’s forgotten the lyrics…never change Yoko, ya mad thing!
Although it was hard to tell if certain people were being serious or not:
“This is going to be the song for my first dance… beautiful.”
It’s also worth pointing out that Ono sounds pretty much the same as she did back in 1969:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swG6Rry9Tss&feature=kp
Well, at least she’s consistent! I hope I’m as lively as her at the age of 81, anyway.
Source: labaQ
Top image: YouTube