Yuka Honda Curates ‘YOKO ONLY’ Tribute Show Featuring Nels Cline, Yo La Tengo, Sylvan Esso + More

This Saturday, May 23rd, The Broad Museum will open the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind. Organized in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, this interactive retrospective showcases the artist’s work from her beginning in the 1950s to the present day. It marks Ono‘s first-ever solo show in Southern California. Broad Director of Audience Engagement, Ed Patuto, who organized the programming for the exhibition, states that it will “offer Angelinos opportunities to experience the breadth of Ono’s artistic production from music to performance to Fluxus activations that actively engage visitors.“

The show will remain on display until October 11th, with a special one-night-only concert taking place on August 8th. Titled YOKO ONLY, the tribute show is curated by longtime Yoko collaborator and Plastic Ono Band member, Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto, eucademix). Honda will perform as part of a supergroup she has assembled, featuring her equally talented and prolific husband, the genre-defying guitar virtuoso Nels Cline (Wilco, Concentrik Quartet, etc) and groundbreaking indie rock mainstays Yo La Tengo. This core unit will interpret selections from the Yoko Ono and Plastic Ono Band catalogs, accompanied by guest vocalists and musicians Theo Bleckmann, Finom, Emi Helfrich, Satomi Matsuzaki (Deerhoof), Maggie Parkins, Patrick Shiroishi, Sleater-Kinney, Sylvan Esso, Tune-Yards, and Rufus Wainwright. Each artist will be “matched to songs that reflect Ono’s themes.” The selected contributors have been influenced and/or inspired by Ono for various reasons, from her music and visual art to her activism. Some of them have even worked with Yoko in some capacity before, with Cline and Tune-Yards even appearing on the Plastic Ono Band album, Take Me to the Land of Hell [2013].

Yuka Honda began working with Yoko in the 90s, first through a remix project and later by producing Ono‘s music and performing in her band. Patuto explains that “Yuka Honda was invited to curate Yoko Only because of her intimate knowledge of Yoko’s creative intentions that informed her music.”

Honda speaks on how integral music has been to Ono‘s creative process from the beginning and, in turn, how influential it has become to those interpreting it:

“Music was the first thing on Yoko’s artistic mind; it began during her childhood and grew through many stages of her life. Like dandelion seeds, her ideas flew and landed in our hearts, opening our mind’s eye to new skies. On August 8th, we will unite to celebrate the flower garden she gave us.”

Tickets to YOKO ONLY are on sale now and include access to the art exhibition. Visit thebroad.org to purchase and for additional info.