Last Tuesday Janis and I went tot he Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band concert in Calgary at the Jubilee Auditorium. When I first saw this show announced I was of course interested in going, and really wanted to take Janis to it as she is a huge Beatles fan. I had seen Ringo once before back in 1989 and that show was amazing, especially with the back-up band he had at the time. Checkout the poster below to see who was all playing in Ringo's All Starr Band at that time.
So when this show was announced I had to see who was in the band this time around. As the format for these Ringo shows is that each member of the band do a few songs from their previous bands. Well the back-up band this time consisted of Steve Lukather on guitar whom played in Toto, Richard Page on bass from the 80's band Mr.Mister, Gregg Rolie on keyboards a founding member of the Santana band, Todd Rundgren on guitar who has produced many an album and is a songwriter, Warren Ham on saxophone (no idea who he is), Gregg Bissonette on drums who once played in David Lee Roth's band and then of course Ringo Starr of Beatles fame.
This line-up certainly didn't match up with what I saw in 1989 at all. After seeing who was in the band I really had no interest in going, but I really wanted Janis to see another Beatle in concert, having already seen Paul McCartney a few years ago. Then I saw how much tickets were for this show. Holy fuck, two hundred dollars for these washed up has-beens, ummm nope not gonna go!
But then I got lucky and won a pair of tickets for the Calgary show from CKUA radio. So yes, we were going to make a weekend of it and travel to Cowtown for the show.
The show started with the band coming out on stage and then Ringo making his appearance last, bouncing out to a standing ovation and going into a Carl Perkins song called Matchbox, I was amazed at how agile and full of energy Ringo Starr is, the man don't look a day over fifty years old, yet he is seventy-five. Good on you Ringo! After that it was a Ringo original It Don't Come Easy. This version of the band has been playing together for over three years now and recorded a new song called Island In The Sun from his new album Postcards From Paradise, the first time that Ringo has recorded a new song with any version of his All-Star bands. It was alright, nothing special.
My favorite musician of this band was Todd Rundgren, he is a freak and at times kind of reminded me of Joe Walsh. His songs were pretty good, and he looked to be enjoying himself on stage, actually the whole band seemed to be having fun. Of course when Ringo did any Beatles songs the crowd rose up and sang along to such songs as Don't Pass Me By, Yellow Submarine, With A Little Help From My friends and Give Peace A Chance.
It was the rest of the shitty songs that you had to put up with through out the show. Songs by Toto such as Africa, Hold The Line and Rosanna, I have never liked Toto and it felt like those songs were never going to fucking end, ughhh! And Richard Page of Mr. Mister playing Kyrie and You Are Mine, again another band that I never liked. I will say though, Richard Page has a damn good voice, he hasn't lost it at all, if you like Mr. Mister that is. Then of course we got a few Santana songs, I don't mind Santana but have heard Black Magic Woman way too many times. This whole show felt like you were listening to a golden oldies AM radio program.
I couldn't help but think, man Ringo you sure have sunk to a low when your playing drums to such bands as Toto and Mr.Mister. But the 2500 people in attendance for this sold out two hour show sure did seem to enjoy it. I know Janis really liked the Beatles stuff, and it's always good to see your lady having fun dancing up a storm, singing along and giving the peace sign back to Ringo, as that is something Ringo did a lot of, he loves his peace love and happiness mantra. All and all we enjoyed the show, especially with not having to pay for it. Thanks CKUA! Good times!!!
Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band setlist.
Matchbox(Carl Perkins cover)
It Don't Come Easy (Ringo Starr song)
Island in the Sun (Ringo Starr song)
I Saw the Light(Todd Rundgren cover)
Evil Ways (Willie Bobo cover)
Rosanna (Toto cover)
Kyrie (Mr. Mister cover)
Bang the Drum All Day (Todd Rundgren cover)
Boys (The Shirelles cover)
Don't Pass Me By (The Beatles cover)
Yellow Submarine (The Beatles cover)
Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen (Santana cover)
You're Sixteen (Johnny Burnette cover)
I'm the Greatest (Ringo Starr song)
You Are Mine (Richard Page cover)
Africa (Toto cover)
Oye como va (Tito Puente cover)
I Wanna Be Your Man (The Beatles cover)
Love Is the Answer (Utopia cover)
Broken Wings (Mr. Mister cover)
Hold the Line (Toto cover)
Photograph (Ringo Starr song)
Act Naturally (Buck Owens cover)
With a Little Help From My Friends (The Beatles cover)
Give Peace a Chance (Plastic Ono Band cover)
Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary.
T-shirt front.
T-shirt back.
On a side not, anyone who reads music magazines or watches TV may have seen that Ringo Starr has been endorsing Skechers shoes these days. Well, Janis had bought herself a pair of new Skechers a week before our getaway and hadn't broke them quite in yet. Well we did a whole lot of walking around in Calgary, checking out record shops and such. After a few days of lots of walking, Janis got blisters on her toes which made for some uncomfortable walking. Which got her and I to thinking, damn we should have made a sign to take to the concert that read...
Santanaofabitch, Mr.Mister my Toto's hurt!!!
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