Ringo Confirms Summer Tour '06

RINGO CONFIRMS SUMMER TOUR:
“Get to know your All Starrs”

by Tom Frangione
The 9th edition of Ringo Starr & his All-Starr Band hits the road on June 14th in Toronto, for a 5-week tour wrapping up at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on July 20th.

As usual, the tour announcement has Beatles fans excited at the chance to see and hear Ringo, while at the same time leaving some surprised and others impressed with the choice of musicians to take on tour. In that the shows have always been about “playing the hits”, the 2006 lineup will be sure to please. While not many folks – even in their wildest dreams - would put Richard Marx and Edgar Winter on the same stage, the blending of musical pedigrees is nothing new to the All-Starr Band (“ASB”).

Rod Argent

June
14- Toronto - Casino Rama
15- Toronto - Casino Rama
16- Detroit - DTE Energy Music Theatre
17- Chicago - Rosemont Theatre
20- Denver - Coors Amphitheatre
21- Santa Rosa - Wells Fargo Center
23- Sacramento - Cache Creek Casino
24- Los Angeles - Gibson Amphitheatre
25- Palm Springs - Fantasy Springs Casino
27- Livermore, CA - Wente Winery
28- Temecula, CA - Pala Casino
29- San Diego - Humphrey’s By The Bay

July
1- Las Vegas - The Beach at Mandalay
2- Albuquerque - Sandia Casino
3 - Dallas, TX - Nokia Live
9- Tampa, FL - Ruth Eckard Hall
8- Boca Raton, FL - Mizner Amphitheatre
9- Melbourne, FL - King Center
11- Easton - State Theatre
12- Westbury, NY - Westbury Music Fair
14- Westbury, NY - Westbury Music Fair
15- Atlantic City -Trump Casino
16- Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
18- Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank
19- Boston - Bank of America Pavillion
20- NYC - Radio City

Read about the Ringo show at GIBSON AMPHITHEATRE at UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, CA. SAT, JUNE 24, '06

1. Ringo - It Don't Come Easy
2. Ringo - What Goes On
3. Ringo - Honey Don't
4. Billy Squier - Everybody Wants You
5. Edgar Winter - Free Ride
6. Sheila E - A Love Bizarre
7. Ringo - Boys
8. Richard Marx - Don't Mean Nothing
9. Rod Argent - She's Not There
10. Ringo - Never Without You
11. Ringo - Yellow Submarine
12. Edgar Winter - Dying To Live

13. Richard Marx - Right There Waiting
14. Edgar Winter - Frankenstein
15. Ringo - Photograph
16. Ringo - Choose Love
17. Richard Marx - Should Have Known
18. Sheila E - The Glamorous Life
19. Ringo - I Wanna Be Your Man
20. Billy Squier - Rock Me Tonite
21. Rod Argent - Hold Your Head Up
22. Ringo - Act Naturally
23. Ringo - Memphis In Your Mind
24. Ringo - With A Little Help From My Friends

Songs Performed By Ringo Starr
with his All Starr Band (1989–2003):
The Who. The Band. Cream. The Guess Who. The Rascals. The Eagles. The E-Street Band…
Some of rock’s most venerable acts have placed members in Ringo’s All Starr Band (“ASB”) over the past seventeen years. Indeed, the melting pot of musical styles – and oh yeah, the songs – are at the core of the ASB concept.

Not to be overlooked in this stew is the catalog Ringo himself. In addition to his most well known vocal turns with the Beatles, his solo career has yielded ten top-40 hits, the first seven of which went to the top-10, including two number ones. Not bad at all. So, with ten top-40 hits, it is peculiar that Ringo has only ever performed exactly half of them in his nine previous ASB outings.

The lack of variety extends to his Beatles catalog as well. Of the songs he penned for the band, “Don’t Pass Me By” was ignored until the most recent tour in 2003, and “Octopus’ Garden” has never been performed by the All-Starrs. When asked about the continued omission of “Octopus’ Garden” from the ASB repertoire, Ringo generally replies that he’s already doing “Yellow Submarine” and he doesn’t want it to come off as an all-underwater show. That bit is wearing a bit thin, especially after the blistering version he did on his recent outings with his recording band, The Roundheads, to promote his most recent album Choose Love. For the record, I was at last year’s Roundheads show in New York, at which Ringo did BOTH “Yellow Submarine” AND “Octopus’ Garden” and nary a soul left because of any overpowering aquatic theme.

From the Beatles’ days, his signature turns on not only “Yellow Submarine”, but also “With A Little Help From My Friends” are obligatory. But even mixing up some of the other Beatles songs would be most welcome. Instead of the customary reading of “Honey Don’t”, how about giving “Matchbox” a whirl? Both were (a) written by Carl Perkins (b) recorded by the Beatles, and (c) Ringo lead vocals. Not really a stretch there…

Ringo with Joe Johnson

Bass, guitar, vocals

Beatle fans will remember Hamish from his association with Paul McCartney's touring & recording band from the "Flowers In The Dirt" and "Off The Ground" era, including the historic "Unplugged" appearance. A serviceable guitarist, he'll likely handle bass duties for this edition of Ringo's band. Drawing on his hits from his years with the Average White Band, fans can expect to hear the #1 single "Pick Up The Pieces" and top-10 "Cut The Cake". As these are horn-driven (primarily) instrumentals, expect Edgar Winter to handle saxophone duties, as long time ASB utility man Mark Rivera will be touring with Billy Joel this summer.

Keyboards

Rod hails from the 60’s British invasion band, the Zombies (note: early rumors had his Zombies band mate, Colin Blunstone, targeted for this year’s ASB). He later formed the band Argent, which had a top-5 hit in 1972, “Hold Your Head Up”. The following year, their song “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” was a top-20 hit in the UK, and was later adapted by the group Kiss. In addition to these two songs, the Zombies’ three top-10 hits – “Tell Her No”, “She’s Not There” and “Time Of The Season” – are likely candidates for this year’s set list.

Saxophone / Keyboards

Best known for his #1 single “Frankenstein” and the FM staple “Free Ride”, both from the classic 1973 album They Only Come Out At Night. While these two songs are almost certainties for inclusion, a third selection might be “Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo”, which was a hit single for Rick Derringer. Derringer wrote this song, first released when he was in “Johnny Winter And” (with Edgar’s brother, guitar-god Johnny Winter). Derringer produced Edgar’s band White Trash, who released “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” on their 1972 live album Roadwork, which featured Edgar and Derringer, plus a guest spot by his brother Johnny. Following his work with Edgar, Derringer released the now definitive version of the song as a single. Its pedigree firmly established, “Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo” definitely warrants consideration for this year’s repertoire.

From the sixties and seventies, we move on up to the eighties & nineties (and beyond):

Guitar

Aside from the top-10 holiday single “Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You” (decidedly NOT a candidate for a summer tour, thank you very much), Billy’s biggest hit was 1981’s “The Stroke”. He also had two #1 “album rock” hits, “Rock Me Tonite” and “Everybody Wants You”. These three probably constitute his contribution to this year’s set.

Guitar

Not unlike the inclusion of John Waite in a previous ASB outing, Richard’s name on the tour announcement raised more than a few eyebrows among fans. Yet, his track record is unimpeachable. The problem here, frankly, is whittling down his hits down to an appropriate few. His mega-ballads “Hold On To The Night” and “Right Here Waiting” (both #1’s) might fit nicely in the “solo” set usually slotted while Ringo is on break. Band numbers might include the album rock #1 “Don’t Mean Nothin’”, or “Should’ve Known Better” (NOT to be confused with the Beatles’ “I Should Have Known Better”), or even the fitting “Endless Summer Nights”.

Drums / Percussion

In addition to anchoring the band and complementing Ringo on drums, she’s likely to perform her hits “Glamorous Life” and “A Love Bizarre” as on past outings. This is her third ASB enlistment (tying bassist Jack Bruce of Cream for 2nd place on the all time list).

The following is a “checklist” of the songs Ringo has included in the ASB set lists over the years, drawn from his Beatles and solo careers:

Song title

Year and source of original Beatles or Ringo release

Act Naturally

Back Off Boogaloo

Boys

Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go

Don't Pass Me By

Honey Don't

I Wanna Be Your Man

I'm The Greatest

It Don't Come Easy

La De Da

Love Me Do

Memphis In Your Mind

Never Without You

No No Song

Photograph

Weight Of The World

With a Little Help From My Friends

Yellow Submarine

You're Sixteen

Nowhere to be found are the top-5 “Oh My My”, #6 “Only You”, the top-30 “It’s All Down To Goodnight Vienna” and “A Dose of Rock and Roll”, or Ringo’s last solo trip to the top-40, “Wrack My Brain”.

Aside from the aforementioned “Matchbox” and “Octopus’ Garden”, another Beatle recording that Ringo sang which would merit consideration is “What Goes On” (from the album Rubber Soul), credited to “Lennon / McCartney and Starkey”. Talk about being in good company…(We just noticed that “What Goes On” is on the current tour list - Ed. RK)

Finally, a bit of variation in the live set would have residual benefit in that each tour generally yields a live album and/or video release. Certainly fans would rather add new titles to their collections, than, say, a fifth live rendition of “Yellow Submarine”.
- Tom Frangione

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While Ringo’s contributions to the ASB repertoire have had little variation over the years (with the previous eight ensembles he’s done just 19 different songs), the various All-Starrs have brought a variety of hits to the table.

As Ringo said in the very first ASB press conference in 1989, and countless times since, it’s all about “the songs you know and love”.

Stay tuned for more info as we get it...