It’s hard to believe it was 30 years ago today that crazed fan Mark Chapman shot John Lennon dead outside his home at the Dakota building in New York. The 25 year-old had earlier asked Lennon for an autograph and remained outside the building, waiting for his return. After the crime, Chapman waited for police at the scene, pleaded guilty to murder and remains jailed, having had parole applications refused on six separate occasions.
To mark the anniversary there will be numerous events at both his hometown of Liverpool and his later home of New York City.
In Liverpool, tomorrow will mark the conclusion of a two month celebration of Lennon’s life which began on 9th October, when he would have turned 70 years old. Local musicians have planned a candlelit vigil at the European Peace Monument in Chavasse Park, a monument dedicated to Lennon on his birthday this year. The vigil will take place from 8-9.30pm with local singers and musicians leading the crowds in song.
Jerry Goldman, who was behind the monument said “People from all over the World are coming to the city to pay their respects and consider Lennon’s message of peace through his music”.
Elsewhere fans are likely to gather at the Cavern Club, where both The Beatles and his fist band The Quarrymen played, at his statue on Mathew Street and at the original Strawberry field.
Remaining member of The Quarrymen will perform as part of ‘Lennon Remembered: The Nine Faces of John Lennon’, a tribute concert at Liverpool’s Echo Arena on Thursday evening. Quarrymen banjo player Rod Davis, a childhood friend of Lennon from their days as toddlers at a local Sunday school is one of those performing.
“We’re playing not to mark his death, but to celebrate his life” said Davis. “To talk too much of his death casts a shadow.” All profits from the concert are being donated to the Alder Hey Imagine Appeal, Radio City’s Cash For Kids and the Mathew Street Festival. Tickets are between £19.50 - £37.50. Click Here to Compare & Buy Tickets
Across the pond it’s expected that, as they have done every other year on December 8th, fans will gather in front of the Dakota Building and opposite the building in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields which were dedicated to his memory on what would have been his 45th birthday in 1985.
It’s remarkable that, a generation after his death, John Lennon’s work still touches so many people’s lives. The messages in tracks like ‘Imagine’ and ‘Give Peace A Chance’ resonating as much now as they did when they were first created.
John Lennon. 9/10/1940 – 8/12/1980. Gone but never forgotten.
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