What if John Lennon played BC Place last night? An Ear of Newt fantasy setlist

Let's pretend for a minute or two that Mark David Chapman had never been born. That he'd never grown up to make his mark in life as the ultimate loser who put four hollow-point bullets in the body of arguably the greatest pop songwriter of all time.

And let's pretend that--like his former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney--John Lennon continued to make music, and that he was popular enough today to fill a venue the size of, say, BC Place.

In the wake of McCartney's unforgettable performance at the stadium last night, I can't think of anything more pleasing right now than to imagine what kind of setlist Lennon might come up with if he were to put on a three-hour, 38-song gig these days. He would have turned 72 last month, so who knows if he'd even have been physically up to the task.

Then there's the tidy fact that performing to 40,000 people would have most likely been the last thing on Lennon's mind in his twilight years. Yeah, yeah, yeah--I get it. But hey--did you miss the headline? It's an Ear of Newt fantasy setlist. Nobody said it had to make a lick of sense.

If I was John Lennon's Brian Epstein right now, I'd suggest just two things: that he open the set with "Come Together" and save "Imagine" for the very end. Everything in between would be gravy, of course. Gorgeous, gorgeous Lennon gravy.

1) "Come Together"

2) "It Won't Be Long"

3) "Stand By Me"

4) "Ticket to Ride"

5) "Twist and Shout"

6) "Across the Universe"

7) "Nowhere Man"

8) "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey"

9) "If I Fell"

10) "I'm a Loser"

11) "Tell Me Why"

12) "In My Life"

13) "You're Going to Lose That Girl"

14) "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"

15) "Please Mr. Postman"

16) "You Can't Do That"

17) "Norwegian Wood"

18) "A Day in the Life"

19) "Watching the Wheels"

20) "Any Time at All"

21) "I'm So Tired"

22) "Words of Love"

23) "Mind Games"

24) "Help!"

25) "Woman"

26) "Dear Prudence"

27) "Glass Onion"

28) "Sexy Sadie"

29) "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

Encore:

30) "Sun King"

31) "Mean Mr. Mustard"

32) "Polythene Pam"

Encore 2:

33) "Whatever Gets You Through the Night"

34) "Julia"

35) "Happiness is a Warm Gun"

36) "Revolution"

37) "All You Need is Love"

38) "Imagine"

Remember, the Lennon fantasy setlist isn't carved in stone (just yet), so I'm open to suggestions. Be nice, for Chrissakes. John would have wanted it that way.

You can follow Steve Newton on Twitter at twitter.com/earofnewt.