Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band: Concert Review!

Last Sunday night, I was overwhelmed by peace and love. That's because I saw Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band live at the Met in Philadelphia. I was originally going to see the group back in June, but the concert got postponed due to Covid. And so, last Sunday was quite the crazy day. I was trying desperately to keep up with the Giants game as I entered Philadelphia. I witnessed their insane comeback and last-second win, to the point where I saw the very end of the game right as I was entering the venue! It was really hard to hide my excitement! But, I knew there would be plenty more to be excited for. Here's what I thought of the concert.

Ringo still fairly energetic as an 82-year old

You wonder how much an aged rock star has still "got it". To me, Ringo still (mostly) has it. Now, he had his share of senior moments. He messed up the lyrics on "Boys", but perhaps that's because he had to hearken back to 1963 Ringo for that one. And he left the stage midway through the concert for about 15 minutes, calling it a "musical magical moment". But really, it was probably just that he needed a break. But the truth is, he was great behind the kit, great on vocals, and very engaged with the audience. He even did jumping jacks at the end of the show, making me question whether this was truly an 82-year old man I was witnessing! But the truth of the matter is, Ringo is kept young at heart by his healthy vegetarian diet, and his mantra of peace and love.

Ringo being Ringo.

Edgar Winter: Keyboard Wizard

Despite my love for Ringo, we all know he was the least talented member of The Beatles. Well, despite his legendary status, the "least talented" label may still be true when comparing him to his All-Star bandmates! With his long white hair and raspy voice, Edgar Winter certainly did a lot to steal the show. He was absolutely killing it on the keyboard, as his fingers moved rapidly up and down the instrument. He played his #1 hit "Frankenstein", which was taken from the top position of the charts by "My Love" in 1973. "Frankenstein" was quite the neat instrumental. Winter also played some saxophone and did some singing, though it was his keyboard playing that was truly excellent.

Edgar "Keyboard Jesus" Winter in his natural state.

Toto Was in the House

The most famous non-Beatles song that was played that night was undoubtedly "Africa" by Toto. The song was a #1 hit in the US in 1983. Steve Lukather, the band's lead guitarist, was rocking the house when he was playing this famous song. In fact, he introduced "Africa" by saying, "You probably know this song". And when the audience heard those opening notes, they confirmed his assumption! Other famous songs by the group that were on the setlist included "Rosanna" and "Hold The Line". Needless to say, it was refreshing to hear some classic songs that I recognized from 99.9 The Hawk.

Steve Lukather, guitarist for Ringo and Toto.

An Awesome Drum Solo... But not from Ringo!

There needed to be a man behind the kit when Ringo took center stage and sang. That honor belonged to Gregg Bissonette. But Bissonette had quite the interesting solo midway through the concert. This was the part of the show when Ringo left to create a "magical musical moment", and perhaps this was the most magical moment during Ringo's absence! That's because Gregg Bissonette put together an incredible medley of various famous drumming parts. That of course included many drum parts from Beatles songs, including "Ticket to Ride", "Tomorrow Never Knows", and "Come Together". Would it have been cooler if Ringo played it? Sure. But Bissonette is a spring chicken compared to Ringo at just 63 years old, and his juice behind the kit was noticeable.

Greg Bissonette, the second-most famous drummer in Ringo's band.

The Best Singer: Definitely Colin Hay

Representing the band Men at Work, Colin Hay stole the show as the best singer in this supergroup. Hay was born in Scotland, but his band formed in Australia. He was definitely not the most notably Scottish person on the stage, as that honor belonged to Hamish Stuart (you can tell by the name, can't you?). But anyway, Colin Hay put in some work singing "Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now". Interestingly, "Down Under" was a #1 hit in 1983 right before "Africa" was. Ringo has quite the all-star cast from 39 years ago! And with "Who Can It Be Now", Edgar Winter did a great job playing the iconic sax line.

Colin Hay, the second-most Scottish man on stage.

Okay, so what songs did Ringo do?

Well, I left the key question until the end. What songs did Ringo do from his time with The Beatles? Well, most of them! He opened with "Matchbox", an underrated Carl Perkins cover from his Beatles days that Robert and I really wanted to see. He introduced "What Goes On" as the only "Lennon-McCartney-Starr" song, and it's true... Ringo actually has a songwriting credit on that one! He did my favorite Ringo Beatles song, "Octopus's Garden". I was lucky to see it, as apparently Ringo didn't have it in his setlist until this year! And while I'm usually opposed to having phones out to record at a concert, I had to capture some of that moment to look back on. He of course did his most famous Beatles song, "Yellow Submarine". The audience was singing along quite excitedly to that simple but great tune. 

Ringo with his Yellow Submarine sidekick.

And the 82-year old man still had some of that playboy attitude about him, that's for sure! He was calling women in the audience "baby", which I suppose you get away with when you're Ringo.  I suppose you get away with it when you have random people shouting out "We love you Ringo!" after each song. Not only that, Ringo had quite the interesting dedication for one of his early and lesser known Beatles song. He said, "This is for all the young girls out in the audience... it's called I Wanna Be Your Man." And while "I Wanna Be Your Man" was decidedly missing Paul and John backing Ringo on vocals, it was still a spirited performance. Two of Ringo's famous solo songs got the audience going, "It Don't Come Easy", as well as "Photograph". Though, I was surprised Ringo didn't dedicated "Photograph" to the recently deceased Queen. Especially considering he did that for George Harrison after he died. The grand finale for the show was a medley of "With a Little Help From My Friends" and "Give Peace a Chance". He put up a double peace sign, and at the very end he had the audience chanting "Peace and love! Peace and love!". Quite a moving experience. And overall, quite a great concert.

There's the current lineup. Past members include Levon Helm and Billy Preston, both of whom I would have loved to see.

Send Me Some Lovin! Looking at 5 Different Versions of the Same Song

A few weeks back, I looked at The Chirpin' Crickets album, and gave it a very positive review. One song I noted on there was "Send Me Some Lovin", as I said that John Lennon tried to impersonate Holly when he made his cover version. But after further research, I think Lennon was probably more trying to impersonate Little Richard. Because as it turns out, Little Richard was the first one to record this song! And he was far from the only person, as this song has been recorded by Brenda Lee, Dean Martin, Stevie Wonder, Hank Williams Jr, Otis Redding, and Gene Vincent. And we're not even looking at any of their versions today! Instead, we'll look at the Little Richard original, as well as four from some of my other favorite artists. I was surprised by how many truly great artists recorded this song. 

Version #1: Little Richard, 1957

It's certainly a slower tempo song for Little Richard, and the same can be said for the song's A-side, "Lucille". It's still not exactly a slow-jam though, as the saxophone still keeps a steady, rockin' beat. And though Little Richard doesn't start out in his usual fortissimo vocals, he's still in mezzo forte mode. There's just no way that man could sing at any level of quiet! And rest assured, he goes straight into the screaming when the song goes to "Can't you send me your kisses, I still feel their touch!" It's this chorus that puts the distinctive Little Richard stamp on this song. So does the saxophone. I think I've found a competitor for "Keep a Knockin" when it comes to my favorite song from this flamboyant man.

Little Richard, in his natural state.

Version #2: Buddy Holly, 1957

A more mellowed out version of this song can be found from Buddy Holly, the man who I suppose has inspired 2 out of the last 3 articles on this blog. He is joined by call and response vocals from his backing group, The Picks. Now I know what you're thinking, his backing group was the Crickets. Well, as it turned out, he had a separate backing group for vocals! And I must say, The Picks add quite the sentimental value to this song. Much like Little Richard, Buddy puts extra emphasis on the feel during the chorus, though he does so with Texas twang and maybe not as much raw passion. Whereas Little Richard's version felt like a pure rock 'n roll song, Buddy's definitely had elements of rockabilly (of course) but also a bit of doo wop.

The Picks weren't credited for their work until 1987. I'm not even sure that's a legit picture of them in the top right corner.

Version 3: Sam Cooke, 1963

Here we have by far the most lush version of the song so far. It goes straight for the Ray Charles "I Can't Stop Loving You" route, with orchestration and a backing chorus. Sam doesn't start the song, his backing chorus actually does. Undoubtedly, this song is pretty, but it's lacking some of the guts that Little Richard and Buddy Holly's versions did. I'm just not sure if the posh arrangement is the best way for this song to be done. Still, Sam's vocals make the version worth listening to. He adds his new spin and style on the song compared to the ones we've reviewed so far. For example, he sings "send it, I-I-I-I pray", adding extra emphasis there! And that's a technique we're going to see copied by the next artist on the list.

This comes from Sam's Mr. Soul album, which I am not too familiar with.

Version #4: The Persuasions, 1973

There's some gold that's worth digging for, even if you can't find it on Spotify. My music-streaming service of choice has nearly all the Persuasions albums I want, but for some reason... it still ain't got no band! Yes, The Persuasions 1973 album "We Still Ain't Got No Band" is one I've only recently listened to in full. I am impressed by many of the songs, including "Love You Most Of All" (a Sam Cooke song), "Dance With Me", and one I already knew... "Good Old Acapella". But what drew me to this album? Well, it was "Send Me Some Lovin" of course! I showed my Dad the Buddy Holly version, and he said, "You know who sings this song... The Peruasions!". So, we found it on YouTube, and there you go. As I noted, Jerry's vocals are based somewhat on the Sam Cooke version. But instead of the over-produced orchestra, we get The Persuasions awesome backing vocals. Unfortunately, all the versions of this song on YouTube are on crackled records. Spotify, I expect a clean version of this song soon!

I was amazed there was prime Persuasions songs out there that I hadn't listened to yet!

Version #5: John Lennon, 1975

Our final version comes from a man I have hailed as my favorite vocalist of all time. By the way, all five of these artists made my "Musical Mount Rushmore" article, too. So they're all kinda a big deal! Anyway,  in this case "Send Me Some Lovin" was part of a medley with "Bring It On Home To Me". There we go brining up Sam Cooke again! As a matter of fact, Lennon's version suffers from the same problem that Sam Cooke's version does. It's overproduced... so yeah, it only makes sense that Phil Spector was behind this one. Like Little Richard, it has the saxophone blasting in the back, but the arrangement for Little Richard's original was much more bare-bones. And I like it that way. Still, like Sam Cooke, John Lennon redeems this song with a tremendous vocal performance. After all, even before Buddy Holly, this is where I first heard this song!

If it wasn't for Phil Spector's complex arrangements, this might be my favorite John Lennon album. 

So, this rock 'n roll classic, co-written by John S. Marascalso and and Leo Price, went on to be covered by so many of my favorite artists. And I didn't even know it until a few days ago. Do you have a favorite version of this song? Let me know in the comments. And before I go, let's quick do a power ranking, rating these versions from my least favorite to favorite. Though please do note, I like all 5 of them.

#5: Sam Cooke

#4: John Lennon

#3: Little Richard

#2: Buddy Holly

#1: The Persuasions