Ringo was there. And he earned his dues, smiling away, bobbing his head and enigmatically tapping the drums on hit after hit which have burnt themselves into the psyches of three generations.
So that’s enough reason for more than 3,000 Baby boomers, to cram into Challenge Stadium last night to see Ringo – one of only two still standing from that famous band -- with his new supergroup lineup including Toto’s Steve Lukather, Santana’s Gregg Rolie and Mr Mister’s Richard Page.
It was an emotion charged couple of hours.
Most of the crowd were old enough to remember Perth missing out on The Beatles Australian tour of 1964 when Ringo, missed part of it because of tonsillitis.
But the lithe 72-year-old made up for the snub giving the enthralled audience a night they will one day be telling their grandchildren about – if they’re not already. As soon as he bounced on stage wearing his familiar dark glasses, black jeans and a black t-shirt with a giant red star on it, the crowd forgave him for the no-show 49 years ago.
He was met with mad waving rather than hysterical screaming, the crowd calling out “We Love You Ringo” as many reached for their mobile phones to record the historical event of sharing a room with one quarter of The Beatles.
Launching straight into The Beatles’ cover, Matchbox, Ringo made eye contact. Lots of eye contact. As his tiny figure pranced around, he proved he was still the Mr Cool, the larrikin, the “I-don’t-take-myself-too-seriously” one of that fab four band – the name of which was not mentioned by him all evening.
He did a lot of pointing at delighted audience members and charmed them with his self-deprecating peace sign salute. He joked constantly in his soft Liverpudlian accent which now bear a soft trace of American.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said. “Are there any ladies in the audience?”
He surprised everyone when, second up, he went straight into his signature song, It Don’t Come Easy, making some wonder if he would have anything left in the tank for the rest of the show.
But he did. The crowd also rocked to Santana’s Evil Ways and Black Magic Woman, Toto’s Africa – which got some in the audience tearing up -- and Todd Rundgren’s Love Is The Answer. The heavy guitar solos and clever drumming by Greg Bissonette were a counterpoint to the softer Ringo, singalong tunes like Wings, Act Naturally and Photograph.
And that’s where Ringo’s clever, allowing the musos to shine while he retreats back to his drums where he is clearly most comfortable or wanders off stage to change into a new t-shirt.
One of the high points – interspersed with the with the bop, bop choo chew op back to the 60s moment of Boys – was Richard Page performing You Are Mine, and the respect shown as he thanked Ringo for letting him do it.
It’s obvious that, after nearly five decades, Ringo still just enjoys entertaining, having a laugh, singing a song in his limited baritone range, playing to the crowd. So, in going on tour, he gathers around him a group of like musos who are well aware of his audience pulling power and who are just so happy, as Toto’s Steve Lukather said, to be up there with a legend.
“Dreams do come true,” said Toto’s Steve Lukather before he belted out Rosanna which had everyone on their feet.
It was a musical feast, a romp through the decades. And while some would argue that Ringo’s songs were the blandest dishes in the smorgasboard they were the ones which got the crowd most excited.
Yep, we danced along to Yellow Submarine. Yes, we pointed back at him as he sang Honey Don’t. Yes we sang along with him in Act Naturally and Photograph. And, yes, we shed a little tear with A Little Help From My Friends and Give Peace A Chance.
And when the stage was bare, exactly two hours after he had walked on, we all stared at the giant star backdrop. And knew that we had witnessed something important.
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