Concert Review: Ringo Starr And His All Starr Band
I grew up a rabid Beatles Fan; they were the reason I wanted to play music and be in a band. I stayed home from school back in December of 1980, the day after that terrible Monday when John Lennon was shot and killed, and I met in a support-group format with other Beatlemaniacs back in November of 2001 following George Harrison’s death from cancer. I’ve had opportunities to see Sir Paul McCartney perform, but I never have…I finally took note two weeks ago that Ringo was bringing his “All Starr Band” to Thunder Valley Casino, about 5 miles from our house, and I said “enough is enough…I need to see a Beatle perform live…honey, let’s get tickets!” So glad we did…this configuration of the All Starr’s (Ringo pointed out from the stage that he formed the first group 30 years ago) featured Greg Rollie from Santana and Journey, Colin Hay from Men at work, and Steve Lukather from Toto, just to name a few. Put aside the weird fact that Ringo is 79 years old – he dances, sings, and plays drums like a 40 years old – watching this cool collection of mis-matched rock stars play each other’s hits was mesmerizing. Ringo playing along with the band on “Rosanna”?? Colin Hay playing the guitar solo on Ringo’s Beatles-era classic “I Wanna Be Your Man”?? Phenomenal was the word I kept blurting out to my wife throughout the concert; I’m sure she thought I’d had one too many $27 adult refreshments. But I was only “getting high with a little help from my friends.”
John Young
