Rockin’ with Ringo’s All-Stars in Clearwater
The “funny” Beatle Ringo Starr brought his All-Star band to the outdoor Baycare Sound in downtown Clearwater on Saturday night, weather breezy and humid. Ringo brought the sad news that unfortunately, Men At Work’s Colin Hay had become ill and was unable to play, a disappointment to MAW fans no doubt, but Ringo kept the show going with a couple of interesting changes to the setlist. Ringo holding up his hands in peace signs, opened the show with “Honey Don’t”, a Carl Perkins cover that the Beatles recorded, and that Ringo sang with Perkins in the 80’s. The band includes Steve Lukather (Toto) on guitar, Gregg Bissonette (Don Henley) on drums, Warren Ham on percussion & Sax, Hamish Stuart, guitar (Average White Band & McCartney) and on keyboards, Buck Johnson (Aerosmith).
Steve Lukather brings the hits of Toto and he started with “Rosanna.” Lukather is a GREAT guitarist, underrated in my opinion! One of the highlights of the night was Steve performing one of his guitar heroes tunes with an incredible cover of Jimi Hendrix’ “Little Wing” He received a rousing ovation. Hamish Stuart and the band jams on AWB “Pick Up the Pieces” on which Warren Ham shines on saxophone with both Ringo & Gregg bangin’ the drums. Another unscripted treat of the night came from the newest member of the All-Stars, Buck Johnson. Buck has toured with Aerosmith for years and is going on tour with the Joe Perry Project in August. He performed a kick ass version of Freddie King’s “Going Down”, his vocals were amazing. If you want to learn more about Buck, check out his website at www.buckjohnson.com Ringo only has the very best musicians in this and all his bands throughout the years!
Ringo honors his late Beatles bandmate John Lennon with the fun Lennon penned “I’m The Greatest” Ringo takes a short break while the band takes on the AWB, “Cut the Cake. Gregg Bissonette gives us a fun drum solo teasing a medley of snippets of iconic rock songs including Chicago’s “25 to 6 to 4”, the Beatles “Come Together”, and The Stones “Honky Tonk Woman.” Of course, Ringo had the audience on their feet to sing-along with “Yellow Submarine” and “Octopus’s Garden.” Ringo’s newest release is a country album titled “Look Up” and he sang the title track. A pleasant tune that some of the audience danced to. The fun Beatles cover of “I Wanna Be Your Man,” which puts Ringo on drums and vocals and the audience on their feet.
A surprising reaction from the audience for Toto’s 1978 first hit “Hold The Line”. Everyone was on their feet to a standing ovation for Lukather and the band! This is clearly an audience favorite along with Toto’s “Africa” which was another big sing-along. One of my personal Ringo favorites is “Photograph” and it sounded great! It was a number one song in the world and co-written in 1973 with Beatle bandmate George Harrison. The encore of the Lennon/McCartney written “With A Little Help From My Friends/Plastic Ono Band’s “Give Peace A Chance” brought a surprise for the Clearwater crowd. Local Tampa Bay resident Cheap Trick lead singer Robin Zander along with his musical kids Robin Taylor and Robin-Sailor joined Ocala resident & actor, John Travolta for the sing-along. Zander is a huge Beatles fan as Cheap Trick has performed the entire Sgt. Pepper album at special shows in Vegas, and his enthusiasm was obvious.
Ringo at 84, doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, during the encore he was jumping up and down like a kid! There are so many great songs in this show, even if you are not a big Beatles fan (say what??) there is something for everyone! One thing Ringo, I would love to see a female join the gang! Don’t miss Ringo and the All-Stars out on tour, a great evening! Tour schedule and info at www.ringostarr.com
Vicky Sullivan Photos for The Suncoast Post