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.
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| Ringo being Ringo. |
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.
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| Edgar "Keyboard Jesus" Winter in his natural state. |
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.
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| Steve Lukather, guitarist for Ringo and Toto. |
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.
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| 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.
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| Colin Hay, the second-most Scottish man on stage. |
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.
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| 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.
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| There's the current lineup. Past members include Levon Helm and Billy Preston, both of whom I would have loved to see. |
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