Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band
July 15, 2010
Hard Rock Live, Hollywood, FL
Written by Kate Dingle
For the second time this year, South Florida played host to a Beatle. On Thursday night, Ringo Starr brought his eleventh All Starr Band to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. Accompanying Starr onstage was a group of musicians who had made their own marks on music history; Richard Page (Mr. Mister), Edgar Winter (White Trash), Rick Derringer (The McCoys), Wally Palmer (The Romantics), and Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth).
When the house lights went down and the music started, the reaction from the crowd was a bit underwhelming. That is, until the man of the hour joined the All Starrs onstage to kick things off with “It Don’t Come Easy” and the Carl Perkins tune “Honey Don’t”. The more he danced awkwardly around the stage the more the die hard fans in the crowd loved it. But it wasn’t until halfway through “Choose Love” that he retreated to what he knows best, his drum kit. Seated above the rest of the band, Ringo Starr took a back seat while his band mates took center stage. Up first was Rick Derringer to play the song (that for one week charted higher than the Beatles hit “Yesterday”) “Hang On Sloopy”. Following Derringer was Edgar Winter who blasted through the 1973 hit “Free Ride”. I know you know it “come on and take a free ride (free ride)”. No?
Up next was Wally Palmer who got folks on their feet with “an updated version of “Talking In Your Sleep”, Gary Wright who performed a song that he wrote while he was in India with George Harrison, “Dream Weaver”, and Richard Page with his hit “Kyrie”. As the music continued, each musician took their turn playing front man in a well orchestrated rotation. Every now and again, Starr would perform songs from his recent release Y Not (which he thanked “the nine of you who bought it.”) and classics that people wanted to hear. Other set highlights included “What I Like About You” (Palmer), “Frankenstein” (Winter), “Broken Wings” (Page), “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” (Derringer), “Peace Dream” (Starr), and “Back Off Boogaloo” (Starr). But it was when concert goers heard the famous first line of “Yellow Submarine” that the mostly contained crowd showed a bit of life. “In the town where I was born/lived a man who sailed the sea”.
Even though Ringo Starr is not the best vocalist (by a long shot), he was fun. Throughout the show, he continuously danced around, played air guitar next to Rick Derringer, and cracked jokes (often about himself). It was night of peace and love and music (well that’s what Ringo said anyways), and fans were taken on a mini tour of musical history spanning decades. And it just so happened that the professor of this lesson was a man who is best known for being an insect.
Photos by Christina Mendenhall
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