Ringo and his friends offer All-Starr performance
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — If given a choice to see one of the two surviving Beatles, Ringo Starr might come in second.
But don’t dare tell that to the sold-out audience at Thursday night’s concert, kicking off Starr’s 2008 All- Star Band tour in North America.
Review
WHO: Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band
WHEN: Thursday night
WHERE: Avalon Theatre of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort. Another performance at 9 tonight.
The Fab Four’s beat keeper put on a wildly entertaining show, thanks in large part to the musicians he recruited for his latest version of the summer band: Edgar Winter, Hamish Stuart, Gary Wright, Billy Squier, Colin Hay and accomplished drummer Gregg Bisonnette.
At times, they stole the show, and Starr was all the happier for it. His jovial bantering with the audience also made it seem like everyone in the Avalon Ballroom at Fallsview Casino was the collective Fifth Beatle.
Dressed casually in black while donning his trademark dark shades, the soon-to-be 68-year-old drummer jumped right into a familiar repertoire that included an early solo hit, “It Don’t Come Easy,” and a Beatles song, “What Goes On.”
Squier then wailed “Lonely Is the Night” on his lead guitar, with Starr on the drums pounding his way up to a volatile conclusion that put some in the audience in mind of the rock ’n’ roll halls of yesterday, though no one reported bleeding eardrums.
Wild man Winter then proclaimed himself “no smarter than a fifth-grader” and proceeded to demonstrate his great store of talent by jumping into “Free Ride.”
Next it was Hay’s turn to add a mesmerizing rendition of “Down Under” from his old band Men at Work. At one point, perhaps inspired by a member of the audience who started dancing like his pants were on fire in front of the stage, Hay, refusing to be outdone, danced a fierce jig to the delight of the audience.
Wright, who calls gentle George Harrison his “spiritual mentor,” came front and center just in time to calm everyone down with a crooning of his hit, “Dream Weaver.”
And, at last, Starr returned to ratchet the mood back up with his Beatles song, “Boys,” which was followed by Stuart’s “Pick Up the Pieces.”
The show also featured the title song of the same name from his new album, “Liverpool 8.” There was, of course, at the finale, one of Starr’s best-known Beatles songs, “With a Little Help From My Friends” (truer words could not be sung, considering the make-up of his All-Star Band) and a parting tribute to John Lennon, “Give Peace a Chance.”
On the topic of peace, Starr, who will celebrate his birthday July 7, made a special request of his fans during a media promotional event for the tour Wednesday.
“No matter where you are, at noon that day [July 7], whether you’re in a room, shop or bus, just stop and say, ‘Peace and love,’ ” he said, waving his hands in peace signs.
And perhaps that best characterized the happy-go-lucky stage persona of ringleader Ringo Starr, whose glow Thursday night lit up the Avalon Ballroom.
