It’s been a long time since I’ve published a written review here. (COVID pandemic-driven hiatus plus hacked website. Many thanks to Southern Oregon philanthropist James Collier for his support and facilitation of the recovery of and security for this website.)

But there could not be a more appropriate event to initiate new reviews here than the concert I attended on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at the Britt Festivals in Jacksonville, Oregon of Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band. I have over the course of a long (71 years) life attended lots of concerts, notable concerts, even Woodstock 1969. But this was one of the most enjoyable concerts I have ever experienced.

I must confess at the outset that I came to the concert with a set of misconceptions. I chose to attend the concert because it was, after all, Ringo Starr, famously, drummer of the Beatles, the most famous band ever. As already noted, I am OLD, and I have been a fan of the Beatles forever, as in I was glued to the family television watching them perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960’s – the mop top British invasion. Yet, I had NEVER had the privilege of seeing ANY of the Beatles perform live in concert. Ringo is even older than I am – he was 82 at the time of the concert and soon to be 83 on July 7. Personally, I haven’t aged well. By the time I’m 82, I expect I’ll be a frail, white haired old geezer using a walker to get around. So my expectation was that Ringo would not be doing this much longer and it likely would be my last chance to see a Beatle live. I expected we would be getting a tired, worn out old shell of a Ringo doing his best to try to perform some weak semblance of his hits with the Beatles and a few subsequent solo numbers. I thought the concert tickets were pricey and probably overpriced to see an old man on stage, but since this would likely be my last chance to see a Beatle in live performance, okay.

What a terrible misconception that was. Ringo at 82 looks like a man-boy in his 20’s, with an inexhaustible supply of energy, moving around gracefully and effortlessly, and attacking the drums with gusto. I also had overlooked the fact that the Beatles had a lifetime of about 10 years as a group, and Ringo has been out on his own and fronting his All Starr Bands for more than 40 years since. Yes, he’s famous for being a Beatle, but his place in and contributions to the music universe are so much more than just that early decade. There is more than Beatles music with Ringo and in his concerts.

A third error in my thinking was that this concert would consist almost exclusively of Ringo’s music. That error is tied to my failure to grasp that Ringo’s All Starr Band in fact consists of true, honest to goodness, all star musicians, each having had notable careers in the industry with top line groups and major hits of their own. Going into the concert, I had no idea. But let me tick down the four primary bandmates, their former affiliations and their respective hits that were played in this concert:

First, performing on keyboards and the strapped synthesizer that he pioneered (as well as on the saxophone and drums), Edgar Winter of the Edgar Winter Group, who gave us hits like the 1973’s Billboard chart topping Frankenstein and top 15 U.S. hit, Free Ride, which both were performed energetically to an enthusiastic reception in this concert.

Next, playing guitar, Steve Lukather, lead guitarist for Toto, whose songs included 1978’s huge hit, Hold the Line, the 1982 chart topping and 1983 Grammy wInning best song, Rosanna and 1982’s Billboard top hit, Africa, all three of which also were enthusiastically performed in this concert to rousing audience response.

A third member of the All Starr Band, also on guitar, was Hamus Stuart, former guitarist with The Average White Band, who provided hits like the 1975 U.S. Pop Chart topping instrumental Pick Up the Pieces and in the same year, the song Cut the Cake, landing among the top 15 on each of the U.S. R&B, Pop and Dance charts. Again, both songs were played in this concert with audience recognition and acclaim.

A fourth major artist of Ringo’s All Starr Band was guitarist, Colin Hay, lead vocalist and guitarist of the band, Men at Work with 1982 chart topping hit, Who Can It Be Now, and the January 1983 No. 1 charting Down Under, also both played in this concert.

Have you been counting? That’s NINE chart recognized hit songs from 1973 to 1982 performed in this concert that had no direct connection to Ringo Starr, other than his gift of collecting some of the best musical artists of the era to perform with and around him.

Of course, Ringo and his All Starr Band did play a full compliment of Beatle and Ringo solo songs as well, including, but not limited to: the Beatles’ It Don’t Come Easy, Yellow Submarine, A Little Help From My Friends, Act Naturally, I Want To Be Your Man, John Lennon’s composition for Ringo: I’m the Greatest, and Ringo’s songs Photographs, Boys. The band also performed some Ringo favorites by other artists, like the 1972 funk song by the Isley Brothers, Work To Do.

I wish I could have recorded so much of this concert, to share it here so you could enjoy it too. Unfortunately, that would run into all kinds of copyright grief, even though this is a review. I’m posting here a very brief excerpt from the performance of It Don’t Come Easy, so you can at least get a sense of what Ringo was like in this concert, and hoping that it doesn’t get taken down for copyright problems.

 

 

There were two additional All Starr musicians performing in the concert, both of whom have all star talent and long distinguished resumes. On the saxophone, flute and percussion, was Warren Ham, who handled similar duties at times in the past for the bands Kansas and Toto. And even though Ringo is a drummer, he pulled in and took full advantage of the tad younger accomplished jazz and rock drummer Greg Bissonette, who carried at least an equal share of the drumming duties through the concert. Bissonette has performed in the past with Toto, Santana, Electric Light Orchestra, David Lee Roth, Joe Satrianu, Enrique Iglesias and many others, played on the musical interludes for every episode of the TV show, Friends and has doubled Ringo on drums in the All Starr Band since 2003.

For an old guy like me, this concert was a joyful trip down memory lane. Quite a few of the songs I had doted on in my past, tied to many happy memories, were performed and done well by really great talents. Ringo is incredible. I only hope and pray that I could be half as alive at 82 as he is. And he has an absolute gift of finding and collecting around him other musicians of the highest caliber. This concert was worth the hefty price of admission – the audience definitely got their money’s worth.

I suppose I should note that the audience appeared for the most part to be much older than the typical Britt crowd. You could say they were contemporaries of the Band, which obviously was longer in the tooth than the typical Britt performers. Old guy that I am, looking through the Britt line-up for this summer, I had no idea who most of the scheduled performers are. But seeing how wrong I was in my preconceptions of this concert, you shouldn’t let that deter you from coming out and experiencing your own joyful surprise at the Britt Festivals this summer. Tickets and concert information are available through the Britt Festivals website: http://www.brittfest.org/