Ringo news - concert reviews
Does Brevard love Ringo, pals? Yeah, yeah, yeah!
2,000 bask in Beatlemania one more time
BY PAM HARBAUGH
FLORIDA TODAY
Brevard is Starr-struck. Former Beatle Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band opened Sunday night's show at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne with a chorus to the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends," then launched into Starr's hit "It Don't Come Easy." Kathleen Hinkel, FLORIDA TODAY
MELBOURNE - -- They should have known better. After all, the majority of the 2,000 audience members at the Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band concert were old enough to be grandparents.
But that didn't stop the audience from whooping it up when Ringo, the drummer with the iconic rock group The Beatles, hit the King Center stage singing a chorus to "With a Little Help From My Friends," then broke into "It Don't Come Easy" -- complete with a saxophone riff by rock-and-roll great Edgar Winter.
"Awesome," said 27-year-old Carl Nettere of Orlando.
Merritt Island resident Ron Bolding, known for his impish commercials for Mattress Barn, said he was surprised that someone like Ringo Starr played in Melbourne. "But I'm happy," he said, beaming. He had brought his entire family to the concert for a 44th birthday present for his wife, Brenda.
The concert came about thanks to some fast wrangling by King Center Executive Director Steve Janicki.
"I received a call that there was an opportunity to bring Ringo into the venue and they needed to know my available dates," Janicki wrote in an e-mail to FLORIDA TODAY. "It was one of those situations where we had the right date, the right audience, the timing was perfect and all the pieces fell into place beautifully. Our theater is fortunate to enjoy the respect of the industry which allows us to host one of Ringo's limited Florida appearances."
Indeed, this was only one of three venues Ringo and His All-Starr Band visited while in Florida.
As the drummer for the "Fab Four," Ringo was never known for his singing ability. One of his trademark recordings is "With a Little Help From My Friends," in which he sings "What would you say if I sang out of tune?"
Ringo is still performing with friends. They may not be as famous as Paul McCartney, who shares the limelight with Ringo as one of the two remaining Beatles, but they're musicians who are well known and highly acclaimed: Billy Squier, Edgar Winter, Richard Marx, Hamish Stuart, Rod Argent and Sheila E.
Together, they sent the audience to its feet after numbers such as "Yellow Submarine," "Free Ride," "Don't Mean Nothing," "She's Not There" and the instrumental "Frankenstein."
Ringo's personal playlist included "I Want to Be Your Man," "Choose Love," "Boys," "Honey Don't," "Act Naturally" and "Photograph."
Charlie Trantham, 46, of Titusville came to the concert in a black and white Beatles T-shirt. He has about 15 shirts which he calls "not that many, man." "I'm an avid Beatles fan," he said. He saw Paul McCartney in concert in Tampa more than a year ago.
This is the first time he's seen Ringo in concert.
"I want to see Ringo before the rest of them die," Trantham said.
A quartet of women in their early 50s were each wearing Beatles T-shirts. They were friends when they were all 7 years old and living in Homestead.
The foursome are living in different cities in Florida, but make sure to come together to reminisce about their all-time-favorite band -- The Beatles. Last year, they flew to Liverpool, England, for Beatles Week.
Margo Linder, 52, of Port St. John got in line the day tickets went on sale so she could buy some for her and her friends. Together, they fashioned a sign reading "Happy Birthday, Ringo." Ringo turned 66 Friday.
Asked whether they were going to scream and yell when he hit the stage, Linder said "You know we will."
The high-intensity show, which lasted more than two hours, ended with a long version of "With a Little Help From My Friends." The audience joined in, waving peace signs, as it clapped hands and swayed in unison.
Contact Harbaugh at 242-3717 or pharbaugh@flatoday.net
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/NEWS01/607100326
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Ringo puts on a 'nice' concert
All-Starr band returns to State Theatre three years after last visit.
Wednesday, July 12, 206
By JOHN A. ZUKOWSKI
The Express-Times
EASTON | It was nearly three years to the day that Ringo Starr played at Easton's State Theatre, and let's hope it isn't that long before he returns again.
The ex-Beatle clearly enjoys playing the theater and seemed to be having the time of his life Tuesday night.
He told jokes in his famous Liverpool accent, jested with band members, waved at audience members -- including Mario Andretti who sat in the second row -- and even toyed with his Beatle reputation. ("I'm the nice one," he quipped at one point.)
But the concert wasn't just a lovefest with a wildly enthusiastic audience.
He's been touring with All-Starr bands since 1992. This year's edition featured Edgar Winter, Rod Argent, Richard Marx, Billy Squier, Sheila E. and Hamish Stuart.
With Starr and drummer Sheila E. driving the band, Ringo's all stars made even dinosaur songs such as Argent's "Hold Your Head Up" and Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You" have soul.
With his head bobbing slightly from side to side in classic Beatle style, Starr proved he could provide the groove to about any type of pop music. And seemingly every genre of music was played, ranging from Sheila E.'s R& B hit "The Glamorous Life" to Edgar Winter's progressive rock jam song "Frankenstein."
But in addition to the concert being somewhat like hearing the greatest bar band in the world, the Beatles songs he played reminded the crowd of how diverse and special the Beatles were.
Starr played the rockabilly of "Honey Don't," the folk-rock of "What Goes On" and two of the show's highlights were the early Beatles rock-pop masterpieces "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Boys."
The concert's two huge singalongs, "Yellow Submarine" and "With A Little Help From My Friends," also showed how Ringo's persona as "the nice one" could still make one smile nearly 40 years after those songs were written.
All along he interacted with the audience as if he were playing in his favorite club with best friends in front of him.
And he still possessed some of that 1960s spirit.
"Peace and love is the only way," he said to the cheering crowd as he left the stage after "With A Little Help From My Friends."
Assistant features editor John A. Zukowski can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at jzukowski@express-times.com.
http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/nj/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1152678766239200.xml&coll=2