Ringo Starr
& His All-Starr Band
CMAC PAC
Canandaigua, NY
It was an extraordinary night of hits performed by Ringo and
his magnificent All Starr Band Saturday evening at the The Constellation
Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center (CMAC for short.) His band
was literally a who’s who in popular music and featured mostly the same
band he has toured with the past few times.
This time around the only change was the insertion of keyboardist,
saxophonist Warren Ham. 
The core of the band featured the drumming of
Greg Bissonette, guitarists Steve Lukather (Toto) and Todd Rundgren.
Rounding out the field were bassist Richard Page (Mr. Mister) and
keyboardist Gregg Rolie (Journey & Santana.) The band sounded very
tight with this being only the second date into a twenty-nine date run.
The show started off with Starr front and center with a microphone as
he opened with the Carl Perkins tune “Matchbox” a song later recorded
by the Beatles. A pair of Starr solo tunes were up next in the form of
“It Don’t Come Easy” and “Wings”.
Perhaps the coolest aspect is that all the other members of the band
get a chance to perform a few of the songs they are known for during the
show. Rundgren was handed the ball first as he ripped into his classic
“I Saw The Light”. “Evil Ways” was followed by Lukather’s “Rosanna” and
Page’s “Kyrie”.
Some of the highlights occurred during the mid portion of the set.
With a big drum front and center, Rundgren came up to play his anti-work
anthem “Bang The Drum All Day which drew a huge response from the
crowd. “Don’t Pass Me By” featured the lightest moment of the evening as
Starr had to start it over two times as he stated “I’m playing the
wrong song” which brought some laughter from the forgiving crowd. The
number one smash from Toto “Africa” went over like gangbusters as the
band sounded tight in an extended jam.
Ringo took turns on the drums alongside main drummer Bissonette as
well as coming out front and center when it was time to sing. A fresh
sounding version of “Yellow Submarine” brought out a large audience
participation and had the majority of the crowd clapping and singing
along.
Conceivably the best moment of the night vocally came from Page whose
rendition of his monster song “Broken Wings” was quite vibrant. It was
an unbelievable performance by the 61 year old Page who demonstrated he
had not lost a thing in the vocal department. “Hold The Line” was no
slouch and was a close second for song of the night.
Ringo chose to close out the affair with “With A Little Help From My
Friends” before ending it all with “Give Peace A Chance” to no one’s
surprise. As Starr flashed a final peace sign he bid the audience a fond
farewell.
Starr is no fool as he has surrounded himself with an amazing set of
musicians. The set list was full of songs that a common fan would know
and at the same time also gave Beatles fans a few bones with some of the
lessor known songs from their enormous catalog. It was a win-win
situation for everyone.
SETLIST (No change in the Setlist on the second night)
It Don’t Come Easy
Wings
I Saw the Light (Rundgren)
Evil Ways (Rolie)
Rosanna (Lukather)
Kyrie (Page)
Bang the Drum All Day (Rundgren)
Boys
Don’t Pass Me by
Yellow Submarine
Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen (Rolie)
Honey Don’t
Anthem
You Are Mine (Page)
Africa (Lukather)
Oye como va (Rolie)
Love Is the Answer (Rundgren)
I Wanna Be Your Man
Broken Wings (Page)
Hold the Line (Lukather)
Photograph
Act Naturally
With a Little Help from My Friends
Give Peace a Chance
from backstage - Canandaigua, NY (thank you DonnyWightman)
- Gregg Bissonette checks his gear during soundcheck in New York:
I was at this show and enjoyed the heck out of it. I was amazed by the voices of Gregg Rolie and Richard Page. I was stunned by just how good a guitar player Steve Lukather is; he sounded like Carlos Santana one minute and George Harrison circa 1964 the next. And it was great fun to sing “With a Little Help From My Friends” with Ringo. Probably the best part was just how well Ringo and his All Starrs perform as a cohesive band, and not just a group of rock stars thrown together. That, and seeing my too-cool-for-just-about-anything 12 year old singing to “Africa.”
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