A Beatle! Performing live and I get to watch! No I'm not dreaming but this is the stuff dreams are made of. Tonight we got to see Ringo Starr perform with his All Starr Band at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney. The All Starr Band for this tour is made up of Ringo Starr - drums, keyboards, percussion, vocals, Steve Lukather from Toto - guitar, vocals, Gregg Rolie from Santana and Journey - organ, keyboards, vocals, Todd Rundgren from Nazz, Utopia and The New Cars - guitar, harmonica, bass, percussion, keyboards, vocals, Richard Page from Mr. Mister - bass, acoustic guitar, vocals, Mark Rivera - saxophone, percussion, keyboards, guitar, vocals and Gregg Bissonette - drums, percussion vocals, who are all very talented musician in their own right so I knew we were in for a treat.

In preparation for this concert we spent the week rediscovering some of Ringo's hits with the Fab Four, some of his older solo records and his latest album entitled 2012. I have to say his first three solo records from the early 1970's are fantastic and It was great to have a reason to rediscover these as I probably haven't given them a good listen since my Beatle crazed teenage years. Sentimental Journey released in early 1970 was a record of Standards from the 1940's and 1950's covered by Ringo and arranged by a range of musicians including Maurice Gibb, Quincy Jones and George Martin, It is a fantastic album and was in a lot of cases the first place I had heard a lot of these fantastic songs. Ringo went on to release another album in 1970, Beaucoups of Blues a purely country album which has a guest appearance from the Jordanaires, Elvis'  vocal backing group and holds up as one of the finest solo Beatle offerings. Following a brief break from music he went on to release Ringo in 1973, this album would have to be my favourite solo Beatle record, because with guest appearances by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison it kinda isn't a solo Beatle record at all!


Back to the concert, excitement among the crowd was high and Ringo didn't disappoint. He bounded onto the stage reflecting the energy of the crowd and he didn't stop, whether he was singing, drumming, singing while drumming or delivering excellent crowd interaction and banter. The setlist was amazing, Ringo belted out many of his Beatle era songs, including: Matchbox, Don't Pass Me By, Honey Don't, Boys, Yellow Submarine, I Wanna Be Your Man, Act Naturally and of course With a Little Help From My Friends. Ringo hilariously spoke of penning the lyrics for Act Naturally (the first song he ever wrote) and told how after coming up with the line, "I'm sorry that I doubted you, I was so unfair, You were in a car crash, And you lost your hair" he thought wow Lennon and McCartney had better watch out. He also prefaced Yellow Submarine by saying "If you don't like the next song I think you're at the wrong concert"  He also performed some of his solo era songs, including: Wings, Anthem and Photograph.

Of course the night was billed as an All Starr event and not to disappoint Ringo's set was interlaced with a few songs performed by the other talented musicians on stage. This ever changing stage really added to the big party atmosphere of the evening as it was almost like Ringo was programming a Classic Hits Radio station Live on Stage. Steve Lukather got to perform a few Toto Classics Including Rosana, Africa and Hold the Line, Gregg Rolie sung a great organ based version of Santana's Black Magic Woman while, Todd Rundgren sung I Saw The Light and Bang the Drum All Day, while the stand out for me was Richard Page who sung the Mr. Mister hits Kyrie and Broken Wings so beautifully and as if they were written yesterday.

Sadly the night did have to come to close with Ringo singing a lovely version of Give Peace a Chance a song by an old friend of his, John Lennon. I think this was the perfect way to end proceedings which could be summed up in six little words: Peace and Love, Peace and Love!