Here's my review of Ringo Starr and His All Star Band at Pala Casino.
On a 1-100 scale, I'd give tonight's performance a solid 80......
On a 1-100 scale, I'd give the sound crew a GLOCK 21 - 2 taps behind the ear...
.. After all, any musician who's about to play his solo wants the people to hear it.... You don't fall asleep at the switch and finally turn the poor bastard up after he's 3/4 of the way finished.... Crimoney...!
OK, so I'm a guy who knows this business like the back of my hand..... and in some ways that kinda ruins it for me....
But, I love Ringo Starr, he handles a crowd like he was born in the same house with them.......a born frontman.... He shmoozes between songs just enough to catch his breath (hell, he's 64) and he plays every song you ever wanted to hear him play.
His All Stars consisted (on this tour) of Edgar ( Frankenstein- Free Ride ) Winter on alto sax and assorted keyboards, Rod ("Hold your Head High") Argent, Billy Squire on lead guitar and vocals, Richard Marx, guitars and vocals, Hamish Stewart (Average White Band) on bass and the amazing Sheila (or as Ringo says "Sheeler") E on drums and vocals...She's a great drummer.
Each guest star in the band was featured soloist at one or more points in the show except for Hamish Stewart of AWB. They all performed very well on their instruments, but some suffered vocally with some of the high notes.... Hey butthole, you try singing the high notes in "Free Ride" when your 59 yrs old...
The guest appearances gave Ringo a chance to play drums with Sheila E and go to the dressing room for some form of "musician type" refreshments.
The crowd was very appreciative as Ringo sang all their favorite 'Ringo' Beatle's songs.......songs like "Act Naturally" (written by Buck Owens) "It Don't Come Easy", "Photograph", "Yellow Submarine" and a host of others which brought the crowd to their feet singing and clapping their hands.
The finale was the ever popular "With a Little Help form my Friends" which once again got a great crowd response and served as a fitting song for their encore and the close of the show.....
It was a great show and even Lynette seemed to get into the spirit of things singing right along with everyone else..... Yes.... I did too........but I sang the missing Beatles harmony parts just to help out a bit.
All in all, Ringo puts on a great show and has fine quality people around him.....
If he's in your town and you can get tickets..... It's worth 25 bucks just for the good vibes and memorable Beatles music. But if yer too young to remember or you don't like the Beatles, I feel sorry for ya....
You missed a great time...........
I'm going upstairs...........Cya round noon..........
God Bless you all........and GOODNIGHT......................!!!!!!!!!
SD