But he said he grew to “actually enjoy” the spectacle by the time the duet was performed at Glastonbury
Julian Lennon has discussed how he was initially “shocked” by Paul McCartney‘s recent virtual duet with his late father, John Lennon.
At the start of his North American tour and again at Glastonbury, McCartney performed a virtual duet with his former Beatles bandmate courtesy of technology created by The Lord Of The Rings and Get Back director Peter Jackson.
At the shows, McCartney and Lennon traded verses on the song ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’, with Jackson having isolated Lennon’s vocal for the team-up. “I’ve got a special little thing here,” McCartney said when introducing that track. “One day, Peter Jackson rings me up and says he can take John’s vocals and isolate them so that you can play live with John on tour. He said, ‘Do you fancy that?’
“That’s so special for me man,” McCartney said following the collaboration. “I know it’s virtual, but come on – it’s John. We’re back together.”
In a new interview with Mojo, Julian Lennon has now admitted that he was “shocked” when he first saw the duet, but by the time of the Glastonbury performance he “actually enjoyed it”.
“I watched it on YouTube — and I kind of went: ‘Errrr… I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that,” he said, adding: “It shocked me.”
He went on to add that it was tough seeing his father “brought to life” through the performance, but grew to appreciate the spectacle at Glastonbury.
Earlier this summer, Julian released an official cover of his father’s huge hit ‘Imagine’, with proceeds being donated to Ukraine refugee relief through Lennon’s nonprofit, The White Feather Foundation to Global Citizen.
In April, he performed the track as part of the Stand Up For Ukraine campaign, a global fund-raising effort broadcast from Warsaw, Poland. At the time, he wrote “Today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, ‘Imagine’” adding: “The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for.”
Last year, Julian said that watching the new Beatles documentary Get Back was a “life-changing” experience that “made me love my father again”.
Peter Jackson’s three-part film, which came to Disney+ last November, focuses on the making of the band’s penultimate studio album ‘Let It Be’ and showcases their final concert as a band, on London’s Savile Row rooftop, in its entirety.