Review - Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band @ City National Civic (9/28/18)
Written by:
Kevin Keating
September 29, 2018
Ringo Starr @ City National Civic (Photo: Kevin Keating)
It was such a fun night of music that spanned the 60's, 70's, and 80's last night at the City National Civic in San Jose! Ringo Starr brought along the 13th incarnation of his All-Starr Band that featured Warren Ham on saxophone, Toto's Steve Lukather on guitar, Santana & Journey's Gregg Rolie on the Hammond keyboard, Gregg Bissonette on drums, and new comers: 10cc's Graham Gouldman on bass (taking over those duties from Mr. Mister's Richard Page), and none other than Men At Work's Colin Hay on guitar (who replaced Todd Rundgren).
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band @ City National Civic (Photo: Kevin Keating)
The last time I saw Ringo was when he was touring with the Roundheads and taped a show at Sony Music Studios (where I was an intern at the time) for VH1's Hard Rock Live program back in 1997; and it's amazing how little he's aged.
Hitting the stage promptly at eight, the 7-piece band kicked off what would be a solid 2+ hour night of hits across not only the Beatles and Ringo's catalog of music, but also a number of hits from each of the All-Starr's. Some of my personal highlights throughout the night included just about all of Warren Ham's saxophone solos, but he stood out on "Anthem", "Overkill", "Who Can It Be", and Ringo's signature "Photograph."
Steve Lukather, Warren Ham, and Ringo Starr (Photo: Kevin Keating)
To be honest, I initially thought the night would be filled with a mix of Beatles and Ringo's solo material... I've missed the previous 12 All-Starr band configurations, so I hadn't expected the night to go down as it did. For those of you who, like me, haven't seen Ringo's troupe, the night's not meant as a Beatles review, but instead hits a few of the well-known Beatles songs intermingled with the top hits from each of the contributing All-Starr performers. So in the case of this tour, we heard a great mix of the top singles from 10cc, Toto, Santana, and Men at Work. As you'll see from the setlist below, only about a quarter of the 24 songs performed last night were actual Beatles tracks -- but included fan favorites, "Yellow Submarine" which got the crowd into a frenzy, and closing number "With a Little Help From My Friends."
Ringo Starr @ City National Civic (Photo: Kevin Keating)
Besides a quick break for Ringo when he left the stage for "I'm Not In Love" and "Black Magic Woman", he was either fronting the band and singing his hits, or back behind his drum kit doubling up on drums with Gregg Bissonette on all of the All-Starr's contributing songs.
Graham Gouldman, Gregg Bissonette, and Colin Hay @ City National Civic (Photo: Kevin Keating)
One humorous, if not a little creepy, moment was when Ringo returned to the stage after "Black Magic Woman" and asked 'are there any there any young girls in the audience tonight? Don't worry, you've got time, I'll be doing this for the next hundred years" before launching into "You're Sixteen" Keep in mind that the audience skewed a bit older last night, so yes, there were a few younger people in the audience -- possibly with their parents -- but for the most part, it was largely an audience I'd guess that was made up of Beatles fans in their 50's and 60's.
Of the non-Beatles/Ringo material, highlights included Toto's "Africa" (see below) and "Hold the Line", Men At Work's "Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now?", and Santana's "Black Magic Woman"
Personally, I was surprised to find out that Colin Hay was part of the band last night. For the longest time, I've been meaning to catch Colin on his various stops here in the Bay Area over the years, but my schedule has never worked out. So last night, seeing Colin hit even a few tracks with Ringo backing him on drums, I was just floored -- and I wasn't alone, as he either had everyone on their feet or got standing ovations on all of the Men at Work pieces.
Colin Hay @ City National Civic (Photo: Kevin Keating)
Amazing talent all across the board last night and I'll be sure to catch them again at some point over the next 100 years and you should too!
