With A Little Help From My Friends - Ringo Starr and the All Star Band

The introduction to music for me was the Beatles. Like so many people. I was immediately captivated by their songs, their voices, and their impact on modern culture. Because of this, being able to see Ringo Starr, one of the most underrated drummers of all time, was a thrill. 45 years after the demise of his band, he's still going strong and sounds the same. Touring with him were a number of other artists who each took a turn on the mic. Steve Lukather, the guitarist for Toto, sang a few songs including "Hold the Line" and "Africa". Gregg Rolie, the lead singer of Santana and Journey (before they were bad) sang a few great songs including "Black Magic Women" and "Evil Ways". All in all, it was a great show and the band as a whole sounded great together. Of course, Ringo's songs were the main attraction and while he surprisingly sang very few Beatle songs, he sang most of the favorites including "Yellow Submarine" and "With a Little Help From My Friends".

This show was packed. The final count was over 7000 which means we were slightly over capacity. I had to man South gate for the second half of the show and had to direct traffic at the end. This meant, among other things, that I got to wave goodbye to Ringo and the band when they zipped by me on their way out. I thank Mother Nature that the rain held off for the entire show and there were very few problems in general. People were there to have a good time and crowd control was overall not too difficult. One thing that was difficult was the traffic. I have never seen the Toll Road so backed up in my life and despite leaving at 4:30, I still arrived a few minutes late. I guess I'll have to leave earlier in the future but it felt like being back in LA with all the traffic. As always, looking forward to more shows!

While seeing Ringo (which makes me 2/2 for seeing the living Beatles live) was definitely a highlight, I gotta say Oyo Como Va got me dancing more than any other song that night. Such a great song with awesome instrumental passages.

DC

Proud to say I've seen those 2 mop tops on the left in concert