{"id":3671,"date":"2017-11-03T17:45:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T17:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debbihester.com\/?p=3671"},"modified":"2017-11-03T17:45:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T17:45:15","slug":"ringo-star-group-make-el-paso-tour-stop-memorable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/ringo-star-group-make-el-paso-tour-stop-memorable\/","title":{"rendered":"Ringo, all-star group make El Paso tour stop memorable"},"content":{"rendered":"<section id=\"module-position-QYsyNOhL9ro\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket story-headline-module story-story-headline-module\">\n<h1 class=\"asset-headline speakable-headline\">Ringo, all-star group make El Paso tour stop memorable<\/h1>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"module-position-QYsyNOgudcQ\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket priority-asset-module story-priority-asset-module\"><\/section>\n<section id=\"module-position-QYsyNOgz3nw\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module story-story-byline-module\">\n<div class=\"asset-metabar\"><span class=\"asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item\">Doug Pullen, Special to the El Paso Times<\/span><span class=\"asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item nobyline\">Published 9:58 a.m. MT Oct. 31, 2017 |\u00a0<span class=\"asset-metabar-time-updated\">Updated 10:35 a.m. MT Oct. 31, 2017<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">It\u2019s hard to believe that Ringo Starr had never performed in El Paso before the Beatles legend and his All-Starr Band sold out the Abraham Chavez Theatre on Monday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The very rare chance to see one of two living Beatles (the other is some guy named McCartney, who has played around here before) went a long way to explain why the ACT was packed with 2,400 aging rockers, their kids and maybe even a few grandkids. It didn\u2019t hurt that Ringo, who never mentioned his old band by name, brought along some hit-making star power, including Toto guitarist and ace \u201870s-\u201880s session player Steve Lukather, Santana organist and Journey cofounder Gregg Rolie, the always colorful Todd Rundgren, and Mr. Mister\u2019s low-key singer-bassist Richard Page.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">They\u2019ve got dozens of hits between them, two dozen of which made it into Monday\u2019s two-hour show, an occasionally uneven performance that ranged from outright fun to Vegas cheesy (fitting since this tour started with an eight-show residency there) to inspirationally communal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The spry, thin, fit 77-year-old, with the trademark short-cropped hair, scruffy beard and sunglasses, alternated comfortably between being the singer and frontman and playing a supporting role behind the drums, in tandem with the more forceful playing of Gregg Bissonette. Starr also plunked out the ambling keyboard intro of his \u201cWhite Album\u201d contribution, \u201cDon\u2019t Pass Me By,\u201d and, in what must have been some kind of first, played cajon on Page\u2019s understated ballad \u201cYou Are Mine,\u201d a relatively new song and unexpected highlight in a show full of familiar hits from the late \u201870s and early \u201880s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Page\u2019s song was one of two played Monday that was released this decade. The other,\u00a0 \u201cGive More Love,\u201d the title track from Starr\u2019s new album, wasn\u2019t very giving. It sounded disjointed, and Starr looked lost, cutting it short before things got any worse. \u201cI didn\u2019t like the way that was going,\u201d he said, before launching into \u201cBack Off Boogaloo,\u201d one of his first post-Beatles hits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Ringo always has been limited as a singer, but he doesn\u2019t push it too far, he\u2019s got charisma to spare and a large body of work as a Beatle and solo artist from which to draw. On Monday, he sprinkled a few solo hits, like \u201cPhotograph\u201d and his version of Johnny Burnette\u2019s Sherman Brothers-penned \u201cYou\u2019re Sixteen,\u201d among a generous serving of obvious and obscure Beatles songs. They included a playful \u201cYellow Submarine,\u201d a bluesy version of Carl Perkins\u2019 \u201cMatchbox\u201d and a take of \u201cI Wanna Be Your Man\u201d that never took off. The finale of the now 50-year-old \u201cSgt. Pepper\u2019s\u201d classic \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends,\u201d which ended with a snippet of \u201cGive Peace a Chance,\u201d was especially energetic. \u201cOctopus\u2019s Garden\u201d didn\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">There were more highs than lows in a mostly easygoing, occasionally high-energy, sometimes sloppy show, which spread the spotlight evenly among the star and his main \u201call-starrs.\u201d At times, particularly on Rolie\u2019s Latin-flavored Santana-era songs, the band was in the pocket, prompting Starr to crack that \u201cRolie\u2019s got me playing Latin American.\u201d Lukather\u2019s Toto songs \u2014 \u201cRosanna,\u201d \u201cAfrica\u201d and \u201cHold the Line\u201d \u2014 got some of the best crowd response, but the vocals were often wobbly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The eclectic Rundgren turned in one of the most soulful vocals of the night on his Utopia hit \u201cLove Is the Answer,\u201d but \u201cBang on the Drum All Day,\u201d his ska-flavored ode to shiftlessness, felt out of place. Page\u2019s reedy vocals got buried in the mix on Mr. Mister\u2019s airy \u201cKyrie,\u201d but they stood out on the band\u2019s biggest hit, \u201cBroken Wings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">This 12th incarnation of Ringo Starr\u2019s All-Starr Band, which includes versatile former Bloodrock singer and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham, is his longest tenured at five years and counting. He\u2019s been touring with some version of the band \u2014 which has included Peter Frampton, Dr. John, The Who\u2019s John Entwistle, Nils Lofgren and Billy Preston \u2014 since 1989, a year after he detoxed and recommitted to playing music. \u201cI love playing live,\u201d he said early in the show. After Rolie\u2019s soulful \u201cBlack Magic Women,\u201d Ringo turned to the crowd and asked, \u201cWas that magical? Was that musical? That\u2019s all that counts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">What counted Monday night is that a lot of people, many of whom probably never have seen the Beatles or a Beatle in concert, got to see one who had never performed here before. Will he return? Tomorrow never knows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ringo, all-star group make El Paso tour stop memorable Doug Pullen, Special&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3672,"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671\/revisions\/3672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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