Ron Chapman’s "Revival 69: The Concert That Rocked the World" memorializes one of rock ‘n’ roll’s strangest, albeit highly consequential festivals. Two years after Monterey and smackdab in the middle of the Woodstock triumph and Altamont debacle, respectively, Toronto’s Rock ’n’ Roll Revival featured a hodgepodge of old and new acts, ranging from Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis to the Doors, Chicago and Alice Cooper. Even more significantly, the festival featured John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band debut scant days before he would privately announce the Beatles’ disbandment.
Originally filmed by famed documentarian D.A. Pennebaker, the footage at the heart of "Revival 69" offers a spectacular window into the look and feel of the festival, which was held in Toronto’s Varsity Stadium that September before a capacity crowd of more than 20,000 patrons. To his great credit, Chapman brings the event vividly to life, tracing the story of John Brower, a fledgling concert promoter, who pulled off the Toronto festival against incredible odds.
