Happy birthday, Ringo!

 

Ringo Starr: “I’m gonna need a grinectomy”

It’s a quote from Adam Savage just as they were (I believe) about to blow a lot of stuff up on Mythbusters – but it worked for tonight too.  Shar and I headed off for Uncasville for the 3rd show of the tour of Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, eleventh incarnation.  It was grand.

He’s going to be 70 on July 7!  That is … unbelievable.  Logically, I knew he had to be in his sixties – I remember commentary about Paul McCartney turning 64 a few years ago – but … watching him onstage, his energy, his demeanour, his fitness – he has the body and the spirit of a teenager.

“WHAT’S MY NAME?”
“RINGO!!”

We saw him – them – in ’06, when the lineup was:

Ringo Starr – drums, vocals
Billy Squier – guitar, vocals
Richard Marx – guitar, keyboards, vocals
Edgar Winter – keyboards, saxophone, vocals
Rod Argent – keyboards, vocals
Hamish Stuart – bass, vocals
Sheila E. – drums, vocals

It was a blast – from the past, partly; Richard Marx was a huge heart-throb of the 80′s, and I won’t comment further than that on any throbbing that may have gone on.  But he was a joy to see live – still fantastic, and very funny; Billy Squier was great fun as well (“What’s my name?” And the answer still: “Ringo!” Hee), and the rest were marvelous too … But the real revelation for me that night was Edgar Winter.  Who strapped on his keyboard and played “Frankenstein”.  I thought I’d died and gone to rock ‘n’ roll heaven.  I must have heard it on the radio at some point in my career – but this!  This was … indescribable.  Amazing.

So when I got the chance to go tonight, I was giddy – and, Mr. Starkey forgive me, but the first thing I thought of was “Frankenstein!! YES!”

Let me just say first of all that the Mohegan Sun needs to put up more signs.  Or, you know, one would be nice.  Just sayin’.  Rhode Island’s lovely, but we didn’t need to go there tonight.

I never did remember to look up the lineup again this week, so it was a kind of box of surprise treasures:

Ringo Starr – drums, vocals
Wally Palmer of  The Romantics  - guitar, bass, harmonica, vocals
Rick Derringer of The McCoys – guitar, vocals
Edgar Winter – keyboards, saxophone, vocals
Gary Wright – keyboards, vocals
Richard Page of Mr. Mister - Bass, vocals
Gregg Bissonette – drums, vocals

I do believe this is an accurate set list: