Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band invade Charleston, West Virginia in true Beatle fashion with excited screaming fans waiting on the icons.
Monday night was a night for the Starrs, well, a night for Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in fact. When the All-Starr Band hit the stage, the crowd erupted in jubilation and when Ringo Starr walked out onto the stage, the loud noise became a roar. Fans were elated to see the former Beatle in person. The band, consisting of Gregg Bissonette on drums (David Lee Roth and Toto), Steve Lukather on guitar (Toto), Warren Ham on sax, flute, harmonica (Toto), Colin Hay on guitar (Men At Work), Hamish Stuart on bass (Average White Band), Edgar Winter on synth, keys, percussion and saxophone (The Edgar Winter Group), and Ringo Starr on vocals and drums, sounded like decades and decades worth of working towards musical perfection.
The group worked their way through the first several songs including The Beatles and a Ringo Starr song before Ringo got behind the drum kit for the first time in the show on “Free Ride” and joined Bissonette for several songs. “Rosanna” hit on a different vocal level. “Pick Up the Pieces” rhythmic funk groove with the crazy good dual saxophones had everyone on their feet and dancing. Ham broke out the flute on “Down Under” in true 80s fashion. Ringo left the drums for “I’m the Greatest,” which is a song written by John Lennon for Ringo, and the happy version of “Yellow Submarine.” Starr then introduced the band and pre-empted the two features that were to follow.
“Cut The Cake” from Average White Band was the first song to feature Hamish Stuart. The funkatastic psychedelic syncopation was groovelicious while the horns were spot on. The next delicacy the crowd feasted on was “Frankenstein,” featuring Edgar Winter. This rendition was worth the price of admission alone. Winter played saxophone, timbales, and a strapped-on synthesizer (for which he is credited as being the first one to use a strap to mobilize the keys). What was to follow was pure musical bliss. Coming out of the drum solo, there were snippets from songs like “Come Together,” “25 of 6 to 4,” “Black Dog,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” and “Immigrant Song.”
When Starr returned to the stage after the dual-feature, the group played through twelve more songs which included “Africa,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Who Can It Be Now?,” and “Hold the Line.” They kicked off their final song with a little teaser of “Whole Lotta Love” before a sing-a-long of “With a Little Help From My Friends” with an outro of “Give Peace Chance.” All in attendance got their nostalgic fix to last them a while. This was a show not to be missed and all seemed very pleased.
RINGO STARR & HIS ALL-STARR BANDWebsite Facebook Twitter
CHARLESTON COLISEUM & CONVENTION CENTER
Website Facebook Twitter
