Since it was released on September 9, 1971, on the iconic eponymous album, “Imagine,” John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s paean for peace has become one of the most famous and beloved songs in the history of music – an indelible melody known the world over, a sentiment shared no matter the language spoken.
Yoko Ono Lennon says: “John and I were both artists and we were living together, so we inspired each other. The song ‘Imagine’ embodied what we believed together at the time. John and I met – he comes from the West and I come from the East – and still we are together. We have this oneness and ‘the whole world would eventually become one’ is the sense that we will all be very happy together. All these instructions are for people for how to spend eternity, because we have lots of time.”
Over the last five decades “Imagine” has endured as a timeless global anthem, a collective prayer uniting the world through song and imagination; providing comfort in troubling times and unity, hope and happiness in others. This was especially evident in the dazzling opening ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics where the song was re-imagined by renowned orchestral composer Hans Zimmer for a global audience in the hundreds of millions, initiating the celebrations for both the Olympics and Imagine’s 2021 Golden Anniversary.
On September 9, 2021, Yoko & Sean Ono Lennon, The Estate of John Lennon and Universal Music Group invite you to “join us” with a Global Party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Imagine” – the song, the album and the film.
“IMAGINE” FILM – WATCH PARTY
One of the first full-length conceptual music films, John & Yoko's “Imagine” (1971) contains all the songs from John’s Imagine album, four songs from Yoko's FLY album plus a few additional pieces. In 2018, under the supervision of Yoko Ono Lennon, the film was completely reassembled in HD from the original 16mm negative reels and cleaned and digitally restored frame-by-frame with the audio completely remixed in 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos by triple GRAMMY®-award winning engineer and mixer, Paul Hicks.
At 11:30 am PDT/2:30 pm EDT/7:30 pm BST, fans around the world are invited to watch the “Imagine” film together, either online or in person at participating venues as Yoko Ono Lennon, Mercury Studios and partners including The Coda Collection, Hard Rock and Music Venue Trust make the film available to view for free.
Meanwhile Tim Burgess’ wildly popular Tim’s Twitter Listening Party will be hosting a simultaneous online Listening Party event, where the experience of watching and listening to the music of the “Imagine” film will be enhanced by a second-screen Twitter experience - with quotes, photos and multimedia, led by Yoko Ono Lennon, the John Lennon Estate and many of the musicians, filmmakers and friends involved in the making of the album and film, as well as fans joining in using the hashtags #timstwitterlisteningparty and #IMAGINE50.
Confirmed participants for the Event are: Yoko Ono Lennon, The Estates of John Lennon, guitarist George Harrison and keyboard player Nicky Hopkins, plus Sean Ono Lennon, bassist Klaus Voormann, drummer Alan White, cameraman Nic Knowland, factotum Dan Richter and MC Tim Burgess, with more to be announced soon.
For more info, visit Tim’s Twitter Listening Party and look out for updates on the @johnlennon and @yokoono Twitter feeds.
The event is a fitting sequel to the Listening Party held for the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band - The Ultimate Collection box set launch earlier this year. Check out the replay here.
HOW TO WATCH THE FILM ONLINE
The Coda Collection, a unique streaming platform that delivers the most iconic music documentaries, concert films, and more, is proud to stream the “Imagine” film in the U.S. and the U.K. to empower even broader audiences to take part in this global special event. The Coda Collection is available exclusively via Amazon Prime Video Channels.
Audiences in the U.S. will be able to stream the “Imagine” film on The Coda Collection channel during and after the event with a free 7-day trial.
Audiences in the U.K. can stream the film on Amazon Prime at no additional charge during the event. Tweets from the Twitter Listening Party will also be available for anyone to follow live on a bespoke page at the Coda Collection website. To explore The Coda Collection, including other John Lennon & Yoko Ono films, visit codacollection.co
The film will also be available to view online in the USA for AXS subscribers (see below) and in the UK for Sky subscribers on NOWTV and the SkyGo App, and to rent or purchase globally from Apple TV, iTunes or Amazon Prime; or on Blu-Ray or DVD. To discover the best way to watch the film in your country, click here.
HOW TO WATCH THE FILM IN PERSON
In the UK, Sage Gateshead is excited to welcome people back to its phenomenal Sage One venue with a free Surround Sound screening of the film, timed to sync with the interactive Listening Party.
Additionally, Grassroots Music Venues all over the UK will be screening the film for free, in collaboration with Music Venue Trust. Check your local music venue for details and look for the hashtag #IMAGINE50 on Twitter.
Hard Rock is also getting in on the celebration and will show the “Imagine” film throughout the day in select Hard Rock Cafés in North America and Europe. Many of the Hard Rock Hotels in the U.S. and Mexico will be offering the film for guests to watch for free in their rooms. Check with your local Hard Rock Café or Hotel for participation and viewing times.
You can also host a screening at home and invite your friends and neighbors round.
REPLAYS
For those who want to join in with the Party, but need to watch the film later in the day, all the tweets from the Listening Party will be collated and made available to replay at this link on the Tim's Twitter Listening Party website soon after the event finish time, so you can watch the film and enjoy the party replay at your leisure.
