Julian and Cynthia at the The Beatles' Cirque du Soleil LOVE show in Las Vegas on June 30, 2006
The last time Cynthia saw Paul and Ringo was on June 30, 2006 in Las Vegas during the event of The Beatles' Cirque du Soleil LOVE show. Let's start from the beginning to give LOVE a backstory:
Before he died in November of 2001, George became friends with Cirque du Soleil founder Guy LaLiberte through their love of car racing after meeting at the Formula 1 auto-racing circuit in 1995. In 1999, George had an idea and talked about it with Guy: a Beatles themed Cirque du Soleil show. In 2000, George invited Paul McCartney (with Heather Mills) and Ringo Starr (with Barbara Bach) to see some Cirque du Soleil shows, and with Yoko Ono’s approval (on behalf of John Lennon), the LOVE project went ahead. After George's death in 2001 and Olivia now on board, the LOVE project went on as planned. George Martin and his son Giles were enlisted to mix the songs up for the show.
"George was very keen to inspire the others and, in fact, brought Guy together with Yoko, Paul, Ringo and himself in June 2000, and Guy made sort of a proposal in his way that was so seductive, I think. He's bohemian.”
Olivia Harrison, 2006
“Actually, it was George's vision. George and Guy Laliberte had a friendship and they had this creative spark of a moment and, you know, George was around just long enough to transmit that to all of us. And through everyone's effort it came through.”
Olivia Harrison, 2007
Olivia Harrison
Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach
Yoko Ono
The LOVE show was held at the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's one of the rare Cirque du Soleil shows that does not tour. If you want to see LOVE, you'd have to come to Las Vegas. I got to see it in 2008; the sound was everywhere, the performers were everywhere, you would need to have eyes all around our head just to see everything. It's pretty chaotic. But, wow! Beautiful! I was amazed! It premiered on June 30, 2006. Olivia and her son Dhani, Yoko, Ringo and Barbara, Paul (who just separated from his wife Heather Mills), George Martin with his wife Judy and Giles attended. Yoko invited Julian and Cynthia. Now.... I have heard that Yoko invited only Julian and he turned around and bought along his mother (and her husband Noel Charles); since then, Paul, Ringo, Olivia, and Yoko had been weary to invite Julian. Why weary? Well, Cynthia's John autobiography had just come out several months before in late 2005 where it's quite clear that Yoko wasn't Cynthia's favorite person. Cynthia also confirmed George's affair with Maureen, so I'm sure Ringo and Olivia weren't so thrilled either... but that's pure speculation. From some reliable news sources, Yoko invited both- maybe perhaps to show peace in the family? Or extend an olive branch? Whatever the case may have been, I don't think Cynthia enjoyed herself as much as she could've, for two reasons:
1) obviously Yoko. As mentioned earlier, Cynthia's recent book came out and it did not paint Yoko in a positive light... so, Cynthia was still feeling the burns, especially when it came to Julian and his rightful inheritance and place in The Beatles family. To her credit, Yoko tried the best of it, sitting with Cynthia during the after-party, posing for photographs (oddly, none of Cynthia and Yoko were published). Yoko even attempted a conversation but Cynthia wasn't interested in a polite manner.
“Thank you for coming to my party.”
Yoko, to Cynthia, 2006
A journalist took noticed and later spoke to Cynthia about it. Cynthia was not amused and she didn't hide it.
"You saw her talking to me. It’s not like she gave me her phone number and said let’s get together. I think they call that a photo op.”
Cynthia, 2006
2) Another reason for Cynthia's dark mood was getting sad news earlier that day: Cynthia received news that a good friend back home in Spain passed away.
“Between that and the show, I was close to tears at the end. I mean, the show really moved me. I was just at that point where I was going to start crying.”
Cynthia, 2006
Julian and Cynthia during the after-party
Two years after the big event, I was there in 2008 for Beatles Fest and to see the show. During the Fest, a number of guests attended the premiere, so I took an opportunity to ask how Cynthia was treated. I basically got the same answers in different voices: Cynthia mostly kept to herself during the after-party but there was a family vibe going on. Cynthia had plenty of familiar faces to talk to, especially Judy Martin, Paul's brother Mike, Peter Asher, so I don't think Cynthia was treated as a total outsider by anybody there. Brian Ray, Paul's touring band member, has said he met Cynthia there.
“Have you already met Cynthia and Julian Lennon? I really admire them.” Twitter Question
"yes, LOVE them." Brian Ray, 2011
"But, the last time I saw them [Paul and Ringo], which is after quite a long time, was in Las Vegas when they did the show Love. That was a reunion that happened for the first time since before we were divorced, which was really lovely."
Cynthia, 2009
Paul McCartney and Julian
Julian with Dhani Harrison
Julian and Yoko
Meanwhile, her son Julian had a blast! He hugged Paul, he posed pictures with Dhani and Yoko, he really enjoyed himself. Julian even spent a few days helping to spread the word to see LOVE on his Facebook and other social media accounts (except Instagram, it didn't yet exist, nor I think Twitter either).
"It's really beautiful to have all the families here- it's like a reunion. I saw Paul and we gave each other a big hug."
Julian
As mentioned, it would be the last time Cynthia saw Paul and Ringo, as well as Olivia and Barbara, Mike too. Not quite sure on George and Judy Martin though- I think there was another get together afterwards but more on that another day. Of course, nobody knew that this would've been that last time for Cynthia, Paul, and Ringo... but, it was.
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