Today’s second pick in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is a big-ticket item, and also kicks off a week of our second entries of the day being music-based suggestions.

Perfect for the Beatles fan, or the John & Yoko fan on your holiday shopping list, we have the Power To The People: Live at the One To One Concert Super Deluxe Boxed set.

Starring John & Yoko and The Elephants Memory Band, with cameos by Frank Zappa, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon and more, today I am recommending the 9 CD/3 Blu ray version of this boxed set, which is available in other configurations, albeit with much less material included.

On August 30, 1972, John Lennon & Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant’s Memory and guests headlined 2 historic ONE TO ONE concerts at Madison Square Garden, NYC. These benefit shows played to a combined audience of 40K people and helped raise over $1.5 million to support children with disabilities. They were his only full-length concerts after leaving the Beatles and the last shows John & Yoko performed together.

In 1986, highlights of the two concerts were condensed into one LP and released as John Lennon: Live In NYC. The sound quality was iffy on that release, and fans have been wanting to hear the entire concerts ever since.

Now, produced by Sean Ono Lennon, both concerts have been completely remixed and re-engineered by Paul Hicks and Sam Gannon, using new HD multitrack transfers by Rob Stevens with mixes mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road. There has been some tinkering with autotune on the vocals, but if you know John Lennon, then you know he would absolutely approve of this.

The concerts are presented separately as `afternoon,’ `evening’ and `hybrid’ shows on 3 HD Audio Blu-ray discs in HD Stereo, 5.1 Surround & Dolby Atmos.

This Super Deluxe edition also includes a 204-page book, newsprint poster, 2 postcards, 2 sticker sheets, 2 replica tickets, VIP backstage pass & VIP after-show invitation.

And yet, that’s not the main attraction for the John Lennon completist.

For the last several years, under the direction of Sean Ono Lennon, the Lennon estate has been releasing super deluxe, remixed and remasterd boxed sets of all of Lennon’s solo albums. However, one set that had been announced and was scheduled for release was pulled at the last minute.

Some Time In New York City by John & Yoko, with Elephant’s Memory Band and a bonus disc of live recordings is not the favorite John Lennon release of many fans. It is his most overtly political album. He alternates tracks with Yoko for the first time. The original production and recording left a lot to be desired.

Worst of all, the lead single, and most famous track from the album, includes the “N word.”

While it was a bold, crass and effective political statement when it was originally released in 1972, today it was just too cringeworthy and offensive to be released by a major label. The possibility of it being embraced by the very racist and mysogynistic institutions that it criticized made it simply too radioactive in the current political climate.

That meant that all the work done on that album, with “Ultimate” mixes, elemental mixes demos and more, went on the shelf.

The reason this boxed set is a whopping nine CDs is because it includes everything that was produced for the Sometime In New York City boxed set, minus the one very offensive song.

It’s a decent compromise, and it will shine new light on an album that has some great music hidden under the iffy production and political posturing. And that’s why the Power To The People Super Deluxe Edition includes 9 CDs, 103 tracks, lots of extra goodies, and is a must-have for the Beatles and John Lennon completist

Available where ever deluxe boxed sets are sold, Power To The People: Live at the One To One Concert will set you back more than a $220 dollars.