Yoko Relights Lennon Fire

Yoko Ono returned to Iceland Oct. 9 to perform with the Plastic Ono Band and to re-light the Imagine Peace Tower, a monument created in memory of her late husband John Lennon.

The tower, a beam of light radiating from a wishing well on Videy Island, near Reykjavík, was first lit in 2007 to commemorate what would have been Lennon’s 67th birthday.

Each year the beam is lit between his birthday and the anniversary of his death on Dec. 8. This year he would have turned 70 years old.

After this year’s ceremony, a Plastic Ono band including Lennon’s widow and their son Sean played a special show at Reykjavík’s Háskólabíó Theatre.

At one stage they were joined by Ringo Starr, George Harrison’s widow Olivia and Reykjavík’s mayor Jon Gnarr for a singalong version of Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance.”

Speaking ahead of the gig, Ono told reporters she never got over the death of her husband, who was gunned down outside his New York apartment building nearly 30 years ago.

In New York, hundreds of fans also laid flowers and tributes Oct. 9 at a plot of land named Strawberry Fields in Central Park, close to where Lennon was shot.

In Liverpool, Lennon’s first wife Cynthia and their son Julian unveiled a sculpture in Chavasse Park of a colourful globe with doves flying around it to celebrate his life.