Hello! Here are my comments for the site on Ringo's 6/23 show at Cache Creek and the 7/1 Mandalay Bay Las Vegas show. I sent the Cache Creek review a week or two ago, but perhaps it got lost in transit. My Cache Creek review is first, followed by some brief comments on the Las Vegas show focusing on things unique to that show. Keep up the great work on the website as always! :)

Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band
June 23, 2006
Cache Creek Casino Resort Events Center
Brooks, CA

Another Ringo tour, another lineup that, on paper, seemed questionable. Once again, the show is a success overall. There are minor complaints here and there, but again Ringo has managed to put together a lineup that wouldn't seem to have any chance of working well together, but pulls it off quite well.

A few general notes about this particular show: This show took place at the Events Center at the "Cache Creek Casino Resort" in Brooks, CA, which is nearest to Sacramento in terms of large nearby cities. I had never been to the this venue before, nor this casino. The actual concert venue is, as the title suggests, simply a large events center. This show did feel a bit like seeing Ringo at a Beatlefest in terms of the room the band played in. Thankfully, despite this being a "casino" venue, the band played the full setlist including two solo numbers, which seems to be the norm for this tour. Also, while the show was too loud for my liking (and trust me, I'm not one to normally complain about loud shows; I never wear earplugs), the sound overall was quite good in terms of the mix. The acoustics in the venue were surprisingly solid overall. Despite the fact that this room is about the size of a large hotel ballroom (again, comparable to a Beatlefest), the show was shot by a camera crew and shown on two large video screens at the front of the venue. Because I was in the second row, I didn't watch the screens much. The video crew seemed to be there simply to shoot for the large in-house video screens, and did not appear to be shooting for a DVD or anything like that.

Quite a few hours before the show, a table was setup selling prints of Ringo's "art." I feel about Ringo's art the same way I do about John's or Paul's. It's interesting, and if somebody gave me a print I'd be happy to hang it on the wall. But I have no interest in paying many hundreds of dollars for it. I did get a free postcard from the folks running the table. I'm surprised the little 5 by 7 postcard isn't being framed and being sold as a "mini print" for $75 or something! In any event, the only thing being sold here were hugely expensive prints, some sort of poster advertising the tour of art showings around the country, and some sort of acrylic thing attached to a necklace being sold for $20 or so.

Next to this table, shortly before the doors opened to the venue, the normal tour merchandise stand was opened up. Both the art and tour merchandise stands were open to anybody in the casino, as the "events center" entrance opens right into the casino floor. I quickly perused the tour merchandise. It was standard fare for these tours, with a few somewhat fairly-priced items, and a whole bunch of overpriced material. I tend to stick to programs and posters for these tours. As with the 2003 tour, there was no poster for this tour. There was a program for this tour, as there was in 2003. As with the 2003 program, the 2006 program is fairly light in page count and content. The $15 price wasn't too bad. A McCartney program usually costs $25-$30, but at least there is far more content found in those. The 2006 Ringo tour program seems like it was put together hastily. There are a few typos. Ringo's biography is strange in that it doesn't mention "Choose Love", but mentions a tour as well as a new album from the Roundheads coming in 2006. I don't think another new album is due in 2006. It kind of seems like this tour bio was written for a year or two ago (perhaps a Ringo tour was considered to support "Choose Love" last year?) and was slightly but not fully altered for 2006. The bio also mentions the "Tour 2003" DVD as "soon to be released" even though it came out a year or two ago. That makes me think this bio is even older. Also, while there are bios for each band member (each of which is clearly taken from a variety of sources, most likely each artist's publicist), there are no pictures for Rod Argent or Hamish Stuart, just large empty spaces. A few of the very few total pages seem like total filler, with just a few small pictures placed on the large pages. I'm glad they did a program, but a fair price may have been more along the lines of $5 or $10.

On to the show itself: I can't add a great deal to previous reviews. It was the same setlist, with the two solo spots on this night going to Marx and Argent.

Ringo, as with the past few tours, was very energetic both in front and back on the drums. His vocals were solid as well. It's simply amazing that he pulls this off at nearly 66 years old. My only complaint remains Ringo's setlist. A MAJOR plus on this tour is the addition of "What Goes On", which remains one of the few Beatles tracks he hasn't touched before. That alone was worth seeing the show for. I'm glad to see he's including three recent solo tracks (two from "Ringo Rama" and one from "Choose Love") as well. But I'd still love to hear more solo tracks like "Heart on My Sleeve", or even stay with Beatles material and do "Octopus's Garden", rather than hear "Boys", "I Wanna Be Your Man", and "Act Naturally" again. Still, all the tracks were great fun to see live. One particularly interesting omission from this tour: "You're Sixteen." That song is usually so popular with these tours that, as I recall, a few tours ago Ringo didn't include it in the setlist but had fans actually calling out for the song so much that it was added to the setlist a few shows into the tour.

I felt the entire band gelled quite well. On the whole, they seemed to be tighter musically and perhaps vocally than the 2003 band. Hamish Stuart did a great job filling the vocals out and also did a great job on bass. In fact, with all due respect to Paul McCartney's current touring band, having seen Hamish Stuart, I actually wish Stuart was back with McCartney's band again. The whole band was great in that nobody was trying to pose or try to be bigger than the band, or bigger than Ringo. They all seemed confident in their own abilities, but didn't need to show anybody else up. They all seemed to enjoy being in the band and playing with each other.

Sheila E. once again was most valuable in driving the whole band and especially Ringo. She did the same two songs she's done on the last two tours, so her song selection wasn't that exciting. She did, though, perform "The Glamorous Life" in a different arrangement as compared to past tours. It seemed to have more of a rock edge to it. And her percussion and drum solos are of course amazing.

Billy Squier is, arguably, the best lead guitarist in terms of proficiency to play with the All-Starr band in quite some time (with the obvious exception of Peter Frampton and, if we go back to the beginning, Joe Walsh). He displayed his impressive playing during the show, and brought two well-known hits to the show as well. The only criticism I would have is that he seemed to be going out of his way to NOT play the solos the same way that they are heard on the original recordings, especially on Ringo's material. This was sometimes quite impressive, while a few times he seemed to get lost in trying to improvise something new. I noticed at least two times during the show that Squier was doing something that was visibly throwing the rest of the band off; something the rest of the band wasn't planning on. After one song where Squier clearly played a longer solo than planned, Ringo happily commented that sometimes they play longer solos. On top of everything else, guitar buffs will note that Squier played an impressive assortment of different and, more impressively, vintage guitars.

Richard Marx was clearly the "second" guitarist in the band, filling out rhythm and occasionally joining in on lead. He seemed most important in singing two-part harmonies and backing vocals in general. Squier's guitar was not only more agressive, but it was also mixed louder. Marx seemed to just really enjoy playing in the band and playing everybody's songs. His two main songs were good, if not quite "classics." His solo spot with "Right Here Waiting For You" was performed well, even if I know the song most from seeing it on those "Soft Rock Hits of the 80's" CD advertisements on TV.

Edgar Winter was something else. Anybody else trying to do his schtick would seem totally insane. But he pulled it off. His keyboard and particularly sax work was great. His voice sounded great on "Free Ride", and the whole band just seemed to get a kick out of playing with him and watching him. His "strap-on keyboard to sax to percussion back to strap-on keyboard" bit during "Frankenstein" was quite entertaining.

Rod Argent was the wild card for me going into the show, as I was seemingly unaware of his work. Of course, I immediatley recognized all of his songs. His keyboard work was amazing throughout the show. Some have spoken of his rough vocals. While he did strain a bit on his solo turn with "Time of the Season", he seemed to do just fine with "She's Not There." More surprisingly, I'd say that "Hold Your Head Up" was not only one of the best songs performed during the show, it was also one of the best lead vocals of the night. Argent's voice was great on that song. It also speaks to Ringo and the band's esteem for Argent's work that they placed "Hold Your Head Up" as the last band song in the setlist prior to Ringo's final set of songs. This is a slot usually held for the most rousing, anthemic, well-known songs of the setlist (i.e. "A Whiter Shade of Pale", "All the Young Dudes").

Overall, a great show. I still haven't seen a band that beats the song selection and musicianship of the '97 band with Frampton, Bruce, and Brooker. But I feel the 2006 band easily holds up to the past several tours. I probably enjoyed the show overall more than the 2003 tour.

Here's the setlist:

SETLIST:
• 1. It Don't Come Easy
• 2. What Goes On
• 3. Honey Don't
• 4. Everybody Wants You (Billy Squier)
• 5. Free Ride (Edgar Winter)
• 6. A Love Bizarre (Sheila E.)
• 7. Boys
• 8. Don't Mean Nothing (Richard Marx)
• 9. She's Not There (Rod Argent)
• 10. Never Without You
• 11. Yellow Submarine
• 12. Right Here Waiting For You (Solo - Marx w/Argent)
• 13. Time of the Season (Solo - Argent)
• 14. Frankenstein (Winter)
• 15. Photograph
• 16. Choose Love
• 17. Should Have Known Better (Marx)
• 18. The Glamorous Life (Sheila E.)
• 19. I Wanna Be Your Man
• 20. Rock Me Tonight (Squier)
• 21. Hold Your Head Up (Argent)
• 22. Act Naturally
• 23. Memphis In Your Mind
• 24. With A Little Help From My Friends

Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band
July 1, 2006
The Beach at Mandalay Bay
Las Vegas, NV

I can't add much to the review of the Cache Creek show I attended eight days earlier. The main differences consisted of the solo spots being dropped for this Las Vegas show. Also, most likely because Richard Marx's throat was giving him problems as he mentioned during the show, the second of his two regular songs was also dropped, leaving him with only one song during the show.

I will say that this is probably the most ridiculous concert venue I've ever seen or been in. Mandalay Bay has simply stuck a concert stage next to a shallow swimming pool surrounded by sand. I suppose the idea is the novelty of being able to swim while a concert goes on. The problem is that nobody came to swim. Everybody simply stood and watched the show. It was as if you simply transplanted a normal Ringo audience into water and sand. The concert should have been held in another venue. The entire audience had to stand for the entire show, after staking out the least awkward possible position to watch the show from. Even Ringo jokingly mentioned this was the strangest venue he had every played. Plus, near the end of the show, it began to rain lightly in the midst of a hot night. On the plus side, the sound was quite good. The sound was mixed well and the outdoor venue allowed the music to breathe.

I of course knew of the previous night's Cirque du Soleil "Love" premier at The Mirage, and expected that there would be some guests who would sing during "A Little Help" at the end of the show, as Ringo often has guests do at All-Starr shows. Of course, rumors buzzed around the venue of Paul McCartney showing up (which, despite it making sense in a logistical sense, was not at all believable given that Paul has never appeared at a Ringo show to my knowledge) as well as Sean Lennon and/or Julian Lennon and/or Dhani Harrison showing up (rumors which seemed slightly more plausible, but not particularly believable either). In the end, it was a treat for me to see former All-Starr Jim Keltner join the band for drums on the final song (he played Ringo's kit). Another great treat was seeing Jeff Lynne join in on backing vocals as well (along with his engineer Marc Mann who is best known by Beatles fans for appearing at the "Concert for George" and working on "Real Love"). Also appearing during the finale was Peter Asher, Doug Feiger from The Knack, somebody from Paul Revere and the Raiders, Dave Stewart, and a few others I didn't recognize. Not quite the pseudo-Beatles reunion that was rumored, but it was a rare treat to see Lynne on stage and a great treat to see Keltner back playing with Ringo.

Ringo also mentioned during the show that George Martin was in the audience somewhere, although nobody in the crowd could seem to track him down.

The band sounded quite similar to the Cache Creek show, perhaps a bit more tight. Rod Argent said that he too had a throat problem. He souned a bit rough occasionally, but overall sounded quite good on vocals and was able to perform both of his songs.

A bit after the show, I was wandering around the Mandalay Bay casino and saw McCartney band member Brian Ray walk by. I was too tired to even attempt to even let him know I knew who he was.

• SETLIST:

• 1. It Don't Come Easy
• 2. What Goes On
• 3. Honey Don't
• 4. Everybody Wants You (Billy Squier)
• 5. Free Ride (Edgar Winter)
• 6. A Love Bizarre (Sheila E.)
• 7. Boys
• 8. Don't Mean Nothing (Richard Marx)
• 9. She's Not There (Rod Argent)
• 10. Never Without You
• 11. Yellow Submarine
• 12. Frankenstein (Winter)
• 13. Photograph
• 14. Choose Love
• 15. The Glamorous Life (Sheila E.)
• 16. I Wanna Be Your Man
• 17. Rock Me Tonight (Squier)
• 18. Hold Your Head Up (Argent)
• 19. Act Naturally
• 20. Memphis In Your Mind
• 21. With A Little Help From My Friends