Hi, Steve.

I wanted to send you my fan review of the Los Angeles show at the Gibson Amphitheatre. I travelled this time with my son Michael, who had never seen a Ringo show before. We arrived at the amphitheatre in plenty of time for the gates to open.

The venue was stocked with a huge assortment of souvenir items. I recall there were at least four t-shirt designs, as well as the usual programmes, coffee mugs, buttons, pins and teddy bears. Also on sale was some vinyl plastic artwork autographed by Ringo. I was rather shocked by the price of everything; a single 12-ounce bottled water was nearly four dollars! I did break down, though, and buy a $35 dollar t-shirt for my son.

It seemed to take forever for the show to start, but that may have been purely a subjective impression. We were up in the Mezzanine section, which was a different experience for me than the one I had with the 2003 Tour, where I was near the Orchestra seating. While the distance removed me from the excitement of being on the floor, it spared me having to stand the whole time to see what was on stage.

Here’s the set list, at least as best I can remember it, as I did not write it down:

• Billy Shears Intro (from the opening of A Little Help from My Friends)
• It Don’t Come Easy (Ringo walked on stage at this point.)
• What Goes On (It was great to finally hear this one performed live.)
• Everybody Wants You
• Free Ride
• Love Bizarre (Hamish Stewart did some noodling on the bass that was lovely.)
• Boys
• Don’t Mean Nothing (Richard sang a note at the end for an incredibly long time.)
• She’s Not There
• Never Without You
• Yellow Submarine (This one really got the audience moving.)
• Dying to Live (Rod accompanied Edgar on synthesizer.)
• Rambling On My Mind (Billy on guitar, with Edgar on keyboards.)
• Frankenstein (This one brought the house down! Incredible performance!)
• Photograph
• Choose Love
• Should Have Known Better (Richard Marx, not John Lennon)
• Glamorous Life (As usual, an extended drum solo for Sheila, goaded on by Ringo.)
• I Wanna Be Your Man
• Rock Me Tonight (Billy stole Ringo’s “What’s My Name?” rejoinder to open the song.)
• Act Naturally
• Hold Your Head Up (This was a tour de force by Rod.)
• Memphis In Your Mind
• A Litttle Help from My Friends (Unlike past shows, no guest appearances this time.) >

Overall, a fantastic concert, in keeping with Ringo’s other shows. I thought the introductions by the band members in the beginning were a bit long and over the top (Richard praising Rod for his great kissing?!), and both Billy and Edgar are potential show stealers, but the band worked well together. Sheila’s songs seemed a bit slower in tempo than in the past, but her playing was solid as usual and the drum solo after Glamorous Life was marvellous. Richard’s singing was strong, but I felt was occasionally drowned out by Billy’s guitar as they both vyed for center stage. Rod did some fantastic playing, but his voice hasn’t held up as well over time, I thought. Hamish did not do any songs of his own, but was definitely a solid presence holding up the band.

Afterwards, my son thanked me for a wonderful time. He was particularly impressed by Edgar Winter and said he hoped there would be a CD or DVD eventually. I said I hoped so.

Anyway, that’s the news from Los Angeles...

Best wishes,
Mark Askren