In December 1968, The Beatles had just released their first double LP, which was officially self-titled but is generally known today as The White Album. But tempers were fraying, and frictions were growing in the band, particularly as its original leader, John Lennon, seemed increasingly concerned with his own projects.
Lennon’s new fiancée, Yoko Ono, had sat in on most of the band’s studio sessions during the recording of the White Album, which irked the rest of the band. Meanwhile, Lennon himself already seemed to be planning for life outside of The Beatles, having released his first solo album, the experimental Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, in November.
Then, Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger invited him to perform on the band’s promotional TV special The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, which was recorded in front of a live audience on December 11th and 12th. At the time, Jagger was merely returning a favour after Lennon had invited him to participate in the live recording of Beatles song ‘All You Need Is Love’, as part of the Our World TV broadcast in June 1967.
For Lennon, though, this marked the first time he’d ever performed live without his bandmates from Liverpool. It liberated him, in a sense, from the burden of being a Beatle. But unlike Paul McCartney, who was a more natural performer behind the mic, Lennon wasn’t one to go it alone. So, he had some new friends help him out with his performance.
So, who else was in the band?
Firstly, Eric Clapton was the natural choice to accompany Lennon on lead guitar. The virtuoso blues guitarist was already a close friend of The Beatles and had recently played on the recording of their song ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. It wouldn’t be the last time he’d form part of a Lennon-fronted band, either. Clapton joined Lennon again for his performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969.
Then came Mitch Mitchell, the drummer for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Beatles had gotten to know Hendrix and his band after attending one of their concerts in 1967. Mitchell was one of the best rock drummers of the era, and his style perfectly suited the hard-rocking performance Lennon planned to deliver.
And finally, since the supergroup was lacking a bass player, Stones guitarist Keith Richards stepped in to fill the void. Richards would have been especially attracted by the bluesy number Lennon had lined up for his set.
The song he opened with was literally called ‘Yer Blues’, a gritty R&B piece composed in the standard 12-bar blues form that he’d already recorded and released with The Beatles on the White Album. It has to be said, though, that the live version of Lennon at the Rock and Roll Circus rocks much harder, not least because of Clapton’s electrifying guitar solo and Mitchell’s pulsating drums driving the band forward. And Lennon himself seems to be having a lot more fun playing with them than he was with the other Beatles on the album version.
Following on from ‘Yer Blues’, Ono joined the band on stage for an experimental jam called ‘Whole Lotta Yoko’, along with renowned violinist Ivry Gitlis. Gitlis was one of the other special guests the Stones had invited to their TV special, having encountered him via the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lennon christened his new musical collective The Dirty Mac, a self-effacing reference to Fleetwood Mac, who was an up-and-coming blues rock band at that time. Their first performance would also be their last, and it wouldn’t even be released to a wider audience until 1996, as the broadcast of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.
If anything, the one-off nature of the performance makes it even more special. Messrs Lennon, Clapton, Richards and Mitchell were all at the very top of the rock and roll tree at the time, in their prime and otherwise musical rivals. Until, for a brief 15 minutes, they united in the cause of electric blues.
