Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band. Ex Beatle gets by with a little help from his friends. Sunday and Wednesday at Westbury Music Fair. Seen Sunday.
It would be difficult to conjure a powerful image of the aging of rock and roll: Ringo Starr, the drummer for the legendary Beatles, performing at Westbury Music Fair, host to Paul Anka, Tom Jones and other graying stars gently making their way to pasture.
But the adulation that greeted Ringo was nearly as intense as if it were the ‘60s again, as he spirited onto Westbury’s revolving stage Sunday night, flashing peace signs and singing "It Don’t Come Easy." There were no swooning teenage girls, but matronly screeches reverberated through the circular hall almost as loudly as the adolescent squeals of yore.
This was strictly a nostalgia event. Although Ringo unabashedly plugged his latest album, "Vertical Man," as "fabulous," the only tune he performed from it was the Beatles chestnut "Love Me Do."
Instead, the set list was filled with early Fab Four faves and his own jaunty hits from the ‘70s, from "Yellow Submarine" (one of the night’s biggest sing-alongs) to "Photograph" to "You’re Sixteen" to "Act Naturally" to, of course, "With a Little Help From My Friends."
There was no Bob Dylan guess-what-song-I’ve-rearranged-now game; Ringo and his five All-Starrs played the tunes as they were originally released, complete with Beatles hooks and harmonies.
Looking trim and fit, with Lennonesque shades and closely cropped gray hair and beard, the ever-affable Ringo alternated between singing in his appealing, if occasionally off-tune, Liverpudlian baritone and banging out his trademark slaphappy backbeat on his drum kit.
He frequently passed the spotlight to his All-Starrs, most of them classic rockers who heightened the nostalgia by playing hits from the bands from which they’d sprung.
The All-Starrs have gone through numerous configurations over the years, but the current mix was strong, even though guitarist Joe Walsh, Ringo’s longtime collaborator, dropped out at the last minute to prepare for an upcoming Eagles tour.
Ably filling his shoes was pop technocrat Todd Rundgren, who, with mirrored shades, dyed white streaks in his long hair, and a black T-shirt that declared "DIE YUPPIE SCUM," was the only one who still looked like a rocker.
Rundgren’s pop hit "I Saw The Light" was just as sappy as it was back in ’72. But he and Jack Bruce, the bassist and co-vocalist for Cream, cranked up the rock psychedelia with dazzling results on the old Cream hits "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love." The latter turned into a jam that, if not Cream strength, was nevertheless classic ‘60s.
Former Procol Harum frontman and keyboardist Gary Brooker delivered irresistibly foot-stomping barrelhouse blues with "Whiskey Train," but it was his organ-fueled "Whiter Shade of Pale" that sent the boomer crowd into ecstasy. Drummer Simon Kirke, who often beat his skins in unison with Ringo, produced another sing-along with "Alright Now," his hit with Free.
Ringo, 58, cracked frequent jokes including several about Westbury’s revolving stage: "I’ve just made some friends over there," he quipped, gesturing in one direction, "and they’ll be strangers by the time I come back."
Not likely. Given Ring’s staying
power, they will still meet him; they will still greet him, when
he’s 64. Or even 74.
POP REVIEW - NY Times Feb 14
Magical Mystery Tour Back Down Penny Lane
By Peter Watrous
Celebrity is a strange zone to wander into; it causes all sorts of blindness and behavior that verges on cultishness. So it was at Ringo Starr’s performance on Wednesday night at the Beacon Theater, where the presence of someone who so changed international culture at first seemed overwhelming. His place in history and his charisma, at least for a while, obviated the moments of musical gracelessness and the forced sense of good times that rippled thorough the music. The audience readily gave Mr. Starr and the band standing ovations, which, in the exercise of nostalgia, seemed as much a homage to its own lost youth as to the performers.
Mr. Starr occasionally pulls together groups to tour that include minor rock celebrities, and the band that performed at the Beacon included the guitarist Todd Rundgren, a genuine American rock original; Jack Bruce, the bassist for Cream; the keyboardist Gary Brooker from the group Procol Harum, and Simon Kirke, the drummer of the band Free. That lineup guarantees a series of international hits, and combined with Mr. Starr’s own handful of tunes it fills up two hours or so of a concert.
So he and the band galloped though hits and no-so-hits, mostly with a sense of humor. Mr. Starr radiates quickness and self-deprecation. He played at being a rock star, and he poked fun at band members and people in the audience. When a woman came to the lip of the stage to throw her bra at Mr. Starr, he said: "I’m not Tom Jones, you know? I need something more substantial than that. That’s for Gary."
Occasionally the music broke through the need to throw a party, and on Cream’s "White Room," Mr. Bruce, who mostly looked as if he were facing a day of root canal work, soloed through the noise of Mr. Rundgren’s guitar improvisations. Mr. Bruce, his control of phrasing steady, let fly a series of notes that in the midst of so much effluvia sounded as if John Coltrane had jumped up on stage.
To be sure, some of this had its charm: Mr. Rundgren brought out a timbale and played "Bang the Drum." Its sentiments, that banging a drum is what the singer wants to do all day instead of work, pretty much summed up the night.
Mr. Starr sang "Photograph" and some Beatles
tunes, including "Love Me Do" and "Yellow Submarine." He sang "No
No" and "I’m The Greatest" and "I Wanna Be Your Man," and his shadow
version of the originals went straight back to a time and place that
exists only in memories, a place where being young seemed less
complicated and filled with so much promise.
Ringo Starr's All Starr Band at Park West
By Michael Parrish
What's an aging rocker to do when he has lost the name recognition and drawing power of his disbanded group but has several instantly recognizable hits under his belt?
For the last decade, one option has been to join Ringo Starr's All Starr Band, which played a pair of area dates over the weekend. The concept of seeing any of these performers, let alone an ex-Beatle, at the Park West, where they played Sunday night, would have seemed unthinkable 20 years ago.
But what could easily be dismissed as a traveling jukebox for Boomers with short attention spans instead proved to be an exciting, well-rehearsed band bringing together musicians who seemed to immensely enjoy each other's company, as well as playing their memorable, if familiar, material.
The focus, of course, was on Starr, who looked fit and healthy and cut quite a figure in his shades and sharkskin suit. Starr was always closer to a music hall entertainer than to a rock star during his tenure with the Beatles, and he offered a generous sampling of both familiar Beatles tunes such as "Yellow Submarine" and "Boys" and highlights of his prolific solo career, such as "Back Off Boogaloo" and "Photograph." Starr was in good voice and alternated between crooning and mugging at center stage and pumping out his trademark New Orleans backbeat back on the drum kit.
Driving bassist Jack Bruce is best known as the chief vocalist and songwriter in the legendary '60s trio Cream. Although none of Bruce's many subsequent group efforts has matched that band's success, he remains a formidable instrumentalist and is still ready and willing to crank out "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love" with gusto.
Todd Rundgren, casual in bare feet and a purple muumuu, served as court jester to Starr's clown prince, playing a stinging lead guitar throughout the show. He splintered a cymbal during an energetic, crowd-pleasing version of his rock anthem "Bang On the Drum."
Bandmate Simon Kirke was the drummer in Free and Bad Company, and he handily shared the percussion chores with Starr, doing a convincing imitation of Paul Rogers, the vocalist for his two earlier bands, on "All Right Now."
Joining them was Gary Brooker, who provided the rich, soulful voice, co-wrote the songs, and played the haunting organ that defined the sound of chamber rock band Procol Harum. At the keyboards Sunday night, Brooker showed that he was fully capable of rocking out on a medley of "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Whiskey Train" before dropping the tempo for "Whiter Shade of Pale."
The band was rounded out by multi-instrumentalist Timmy Cappello, who played everything in sight, from saxophone and percussion to keyboards and harmonica. All in all, the group's ensemble playing was tight and impressive. Bruce and Rundgren, in particular, seemed sympatico in their bass and guitar roles, creating a formidable psychedelic storm during the Cream numbers.
Ringo and his All Starr Band certainly didn't
break any musical ground during their two-hour show Sunday, but they
did play their familiar roster of tunes with conviction and
enthusiasm, leaving the capacity crowd happy with an inevitable
encore of "A Little Help From My Friends."
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