Ringo's All-Starrs, 1999

Atlantic City, 13 + 14 February 1999

Here are two Ringo / Gary reports from Beatle and Rundgren newslists: there's also promise of a collected All-Starr triple CD with performances from Gary Brooker on it.

Review of Ringo's Atlantic Shows
From: jnroot@aol.com (JNRoot)
Date: 1999/02/16
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles

I saw Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band in Atlantic City on both Saturday and Sunday, February 13 and 14. The set list was the same both nights with the exception that Gary Brooker replaced A Salty Dog on Saturday with Conquistador on Sunday. The set list was:

It Don't Come Easy
Act Naturally
Whisky Train - Gary Brooker
I Saw the Light - Todd Rundgren
Sunshine of Your Love - Jack Bruce (Cream)
Shooting Star - Simon Kirke (Bad Company)
Boys
Love Me Do
Yellow Submarine
A Salty Dog (Saturday) / Conquistador (Sunday)- Gary Brooker (Procol Harum)
Hammer in My Heart - Todd Rundgren
I'm the Greatest
The No-No Song
Back Off Boogaloo
I Feel Free - Jack Bruce (Cream)
All Right Now - Simon Kirke (Free)
I Wanna be Your Man
Bang on the Drum - Todd Rundgren
White Room - Jack Bruce (Cream)
Whiter Shade of Pale - Gary Brooker (Procol Harum)
Photograph

Encore: With a Little Help from My Friends

On Saturday, Max Weinberg (band leader from Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Bruce Springsteen's former drummer) sat in on drums for the encore of With a Little Help From My Friends. Ringo mentioned that "Bruce is getting the band back together this summer and Max will be part of it."

I enjoyed both nights, but have to admit that the shows were very similar to the 1997 All-Starr Band shows. Other than Todd Rundgren replacing Peter Frampton at lead guitar and Timmy Cappello replacing Mark Rivera as all-purpose back-up musician, the line-ups were the same and the set lists were just about the same. Ringo deleted You're Sixteen from the 4th tour and added Love Me Do and Back Off Boogaloo. Except for Brooker's Whiskey Train (and of course Todd Rundgren's songs), the All-Starrs played the same songs as the last time around. I was a little disappointed that Ringo didn't play anything off of Vertical Man (other than Love Me Do). As much as I love the "oldies," I would have enjoyed some new material, or at least some songs that Ringo hasn't performed in the past (e.g., Don't Pass Me By, Goodnight, It's A Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond), Goodnight, Vienna).

Ringo was his usual jovial and relaxed self. Both nights, after returning from his costume change, he joked that he "looks just like Timmy when he [Ringo] takes off his shirt" (Timmy Cappello is the saxophone, harmonica, keyboards, and percussion player on this tour and is very muscular). On Sunday, after telling a kid "Shut up, you little brat," Ringo reminded himself that "I was supposed to be the nice one (Beatle)".

I spoke to David Fishof, the producer of the tour, near the souvenir stand after the Saturday show. I mentioned that I didn't have the 1st All-Starr Band CD, but was going to wait because Ringo said in his "Ringo on AOL Live" interview that he would release an All-Starr Band 10th Anniversary box set in May or June. David confirmed that this was correct, and advised me to save my money until the box set comes out. He also complimented me on my 3rd All-Starr Band t-shirt with the British flag on the front and American flag on the back, and said Ringo had picked out that t-shirt himself.

Jeff Root, Fairfax, VA

Joan May writes: here's something I pulled from the Todd Rundgren NG about a recent Ringo / Gary gig. 'OH' is 'Our Hero', in this case a nickname for Todd.

Frankly, I'm not overjoyed that Gary is playing sideman to these guys when he should be fronting his own band of superior musicians and playing *all* Procol material, not just 3 songs.

Subject: 'Faithful' In-Concert, AC, NJ, 2/13/99
From: 'David P Mullins CPA' <dmullins@voicenet.com>
Date: 1999/02/14
Newsgroups: alt.music.todd-rundgren

A blissful evening of music from Todd and his contemporaries...truly an all-star band. If you like to hear Todd play guitar, this is the show to see. He tore it up for most of the night. Not shackled by the role of front man, Todd seemed to rise to the challenge of playing with so many legendary musicians.

Definitely not the yuk fest it was with Joe Walsh ... more serious. The evening consisted of rotating among Ringo and the All-Starrs with Ringo performing two or three songs to each all-star's one.

Gary Brooker, Procul [sic] Harum
Whiskey Train (?) (Smokin' blues guitar from OH)
A PH song about the sea [sic]
Whiter Shade of Pale (Ringo was visibly beaming during song)

Jack Bruce, Cream
Sunshine of Your Love (featuring OH on 5 string guitar after breaking the top string of the replica fools guitar, Todd did a splendid job on EC's vocal spots)
I'm Free (?)
White Room (Todd channelling Clapton on wah-wah)

Simon Kirke, Bad Company
Shooting Star (Vocals not too dissimilar from Paul Rogers ... but less bluesy)
All Right Now (Was he in Free with Paul Rogers?)

Todd Rundgren
I Saw the Light (You could tell he was the new guy in the band. It sounded like the band was performing a faithful version and Todd was doing a Bossa Nova vocal)
Hammer in my Heart (OH overcame another broken E string on the replica fools guitar but had to retune the E string on the replacement guitar due to the funky tuning. I guess having a guitar tech has its ups and downs)
Bang the Drum All Day (A highlight of the show. Todd asked if there were any Green Bay Packers fans in the house and said he doesn't mind when they score now because they play this song.)

Ringo Starr, Beatles
It Don't Come Easy
Photograph
Boys
Love Me Do
Yellow Submarine
No-No Song
I'm the Greatest
A Little Help from my Friends (including Mighty Max Weinberg on skins)

Tim Capello
Percussion, Saxophone and Keyboards (Tim really got into hitting the cowbell on Hammer in my Heart) His musical versatility and manic playing are incredible.

Well, I finally saw a Beatle live and saw Todd play some guitar. It's a night of great music. This is a show not to be missed.

Ringo Starr's all new (February 2000) 3CD box Anthology And 10 Year Anniversary includes four All Starr recordings featuring Gary Brooker. See details and order from Amazon here.

You can also order the video from the 1997 All Star tour from Amazon by following this link

More Ringo / Gary dates