John Lennon’s Instant Karma (We All Shine On) has premiered in a newly released live performance video ahead of the arrival of his Power To The People deluxe box set, due 10 October. The track, recorded at Lennon’s One to One concerts at Madison Square Garden in 1972, is one of the standout moments from what would ultimately become the only full concerts Lennon ever performed in his post-Beatles life.
The new video captures Lennon at his raw, unfiltered best, leading the Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory, with Yoko Ono by his side. The performance highlights the song’s urgent message—one that Lennon himself described as a flash of inspiration.
“‘Instant Karma!’ was a case of the idea of instant karma coming to me,” Lennon told David Sheff in 1980. “Everybody was talking about karma all of a sudden, always going on about it, especially in the 60’s, but it’s still around now. It occurred to me that karma is instant as well as one life, this life… the actual instant karma, the action reaction, is what that is, what it’s about.”
He compared the immediacy of karmic reaction to advertising. “I’m fascinated by commercials and promotion as an art form! … So instant karma was like instant coffee. Presenting it in a new form.”
For Ono, the message reached beyond personal reflection into political accountability. “What the so-called leaders don’t understand is when they are saying something about, ‘We should do this, or do that,’ actually they are working out their own karma. There might be some need in them to be violent or something like that… But you can’t really, sort of push that on other people. So, it’s a very sticky area.”
The release of the Instant Karma live clip is a preview of Lennon’s expansive new box set Power To The People, a 9CD/3 Blu-Ray collection curated by Sean Ono Lennon. The set reframes Lennon and Ono’s New York years—a time defined by activism, artistic risk-taking and uncompromising political statements.
The centrepiece is New York City, a fully remixed and re-imagined version of 1972’s Sometime In New York City. Stripping back the dense production of the original, the new mix features longer versions of John Sinclair and Sunday Bloody Sunday, alongside Evolution and Elements mixes that unpack the sessions in unprecedented detail.
Also included are both full One to One concerts from 30 August 1972 at Madison Square Garden. Lennon had moved to New York in late 1971, and these shows—organised as benefits for children with disabilities—were his only complete solo concerts after The Beatles split. Backed by Elephant’s Memory and joined by special guests, Lennon powered through a setlist that spanned Instant Karma, Mother, Come Together, Cold Turkey, Imagine and Give Peace A Chance.
Released in June 1972, Sometime In New York City was Lennon and Ono’s most overtly political statement, blending topical news items with rock and protest songs. It was, as Lennon put it, their attempt to make music “a newspaper.” Songs tackled women’s rights (Woman Is the Ngger of the World*), the Irish conflict (Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Luck of the Irish), and the imprisonment of activist John Sinclair.
At the time, critics dismissed it as heavy-handed, but the Power To The People set reframes the work with greater context. In addition to the core album, the box includes:
– Studio Jam: unreleased rock ’n’ roll covers recorded during the sessions.
– Live Jam: expanded live cuts with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Keith Moon, Nicky Hopkins, and Frank Zappa.
– Home Jam: 33 intimate acoustic demos, including four with Phil Ochs.
– Deluxe memorabilia: replica tickets, posters, postcards, and a lenticular cover merging Lennon and Ono’s faces.
The collection runs to 123 tracks, 90 of them previously unheard, making it one of the most comprehensive Lennon post-Beatles retrospectives to date.
For fans, the real revelation may be the One to One concerts themselves. The shows captured Lennon’s live presence in a way rarely seen outside of Beatles performances. Backed by the raw, street-level energy of Elephant’s Memory, Lennon delivered a balance of hits, deep cuts, and politically charged material.
The tracklisting from the “Best Of” hybrid concert disc includes:
New York City
It’s So Hard
Well Well Well
Instant Karma (We All Shine On)
Mother
Come Together
Imagine
Cold Turkey
Give Peace A Chance
Each moment underscores Lennon’s determination to connect his art directly with his activism.
Sean Ono Lennon oversaw the project with engineers Paul Hicks, Simon Hilton and Sam Gannon. Their approach was to maintain the raw power of the live performances while updating audio quality for a modern audience. “Restoring and presenting this body of work is about preserving both the energy and the message,” Sean said in announcing the project.
For collectors and newcomers alike, the combination of unreleased material, re-imagined studio albums, and the long-awaited full One to One concerts offers the deepest look yet at a volatile but fascinating period in Lennon’s post-Beatles career.
With the premiere of Instant Karma (We All Shine On), fans can witness Lennon in the rarest of settings—on stage, pouring energy into a song that still resonates decades later. The laws of instant karma, Lennon insisted, weren’t just cosmic—they governed everyday life. Half a century on, the song’s immediacy proves him right.
Get the full tracklisting details in the previous Noise11 story.
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