RINGO AT HEINZ HALL, PITTSBURGH - PHOTOS

Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 

Oct 27, 2015

With its red velvet seats and grand, gilded walls, Heinz Hall usually comes off as too formal for a rock show.

On Tuesday night, however, it was the perfect palace for a member of the rock 'n' roll royalty, Ringo Starr.

As he has since 1989, the Beatle is on the road with his All-Starr Band, stopping here for the first time since he did Station Square in 1997. This 7-piece incarnation, together since 2012, is the longest-running version, so it hit the stage hot.

Ringo took center stage, in fire-engine-red jacket and skull T-shirt, for the Carl Perkins classic "Matchbox," which the drummer did with the Beatles when they were establishing their American R&B roots. Ringo, with that flat, nasal delivery, is not much of a blues singer, but he doesn't need to be. He's Ringo, so we love him for what he is, especially when he's doing a fave like "It Don't Come Easy," the second song.

He touched on his new album with some reggae, "Island in the Sun," and then took his spot behind the drums, handing the stage to his bandmates for an odd but fun round robin of a K-Tel collection of hits.

There was a gruffer-sounding, Hawaiian-spaceman-looking Todd Rundgren doing "I Saw the Light" and "Bang the Drum All Day," and Gregg Rolie of Santana leading "Evil Ways" with a scorching solo by Steve Lukather, who then took the lead on Toto's "Rosanna." Representing the tame side of the '80s was bassist-singer Richard Page from Mr. Mister, starting with "Kyrie."

When it came back around to Ringo, he dug deep into the Fab Four days for "Boys," a rollicking version of "Don't Pass Me By," the first Ringo original recorded by the Beatles, and an even more rollicking group vocal on "Yellow Submarine." That's one where you're thinking, "Wow, that's Ringo Starr doing 'Yellow Submarine' right there."

He took a break for what he called a special "musical moment of the evening," a seven-minute Rolie-led "Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen," with more Santana-style pyrotechnics from Mr. Lukather and other-drummer Gregg Bissonette driving the fiery beats with Warren Ham on percussion.

The hits kept coming in the second hour with "You're Sixteen," Toto's "Africa" and "Hold the Line," Utopia's "Love is the Answer" (with a dramatic Rundgren vocal) and even more Mr. Mister ("Broken Wings"), which was enough Mr. Mister.

The 75-year-old Beatle tastefully pounded his way through it all, including the rigorous Santana/Tito Puente workout "Oye como va."

Ringo went in and out of tune on "I Wanna Be Your Man," but we didn't stand up and walk out on him, which was good because the show came to a joyful finish with the wonderful "Photograph," "Act Naturally" and his most endearing moment, "With a Little Help From My Friends," tagged with "Give Peace a Chance."

This Starr-studded affair was certainly different than one of McCartney's hit-filled marathons, but Ringo always did dance to a different beat. Oddly, right now it's Toto AND Mr. Mister, which is a little heavy on the lite rock. It would be cool next time if he could get a little help from his friends in the psych-pop, power-pop circle.