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| Ringo and the All-Starr Band at Billy Bob's, Fort Worth, Texas (Thanks to Darrel for the pics.) |
First off, Billy Bob's sucks for seeing a show. The reserved seating is cramped tables put together end to end in rows. The crowd was subdued on either too much liquor, barbituates or something. The guy behind me even told me to stay seated cause he didn't want to stand up. Of course I stood, danced, jumped, and danced as the spirit of the night saw fit.Saint Ringo and the All Starrs were magnificent. I was less than twenty feet directly in front of Ringo. I could smell his sweat. And the man did put on an awesome show. They all did. He was in such great shape...61 years old doing jumping jacks on the stage. He and Sheila E ran a marathon that night in drumming and dancing. Ringo and his talented All Star's entertained and enlightened me once again.
As Saint Ringo says at the end of his show...Peace and Love.
Darrel
It was another fabulous show from Ringo and the All-Starrs in Fort Worth, Texas.This venue, Billy Bob's Texas, has got to be one of the unique venues of the tour. Billy Bob's bills itself as the world's largest honky-tonk: a set of country house bands on a secondary stage, professional rodeo bull riding, saloon, restaurant, dance floor (for Texas two-steppers), arcade games and pool room, along with the main stage area that more normally has country acts performing. It's quite an experience to see a crowd that includes cowboys going wild for a former Beatle!
Billy Bob's has reserved seating (rows of long tables that seat 10-20 people) plus standing room around the perimeter of the reserved seating area. Both of these areas were completely packed. The reserved seating sold out very early: by 5:00 pm on the first day most tickets were already taken. Ticket prices were very reasonable: reserved seats for $22-$35 and general admission tickets for $11. The reserved seating area holds 1800, and Billy Bob's nearly sold out their total club capacity of 6000 last night. They can't estimate how many people the standing room area around the main stage can hold, but I think it's fair to say that Ringo and the All-Starrs were a big draw last night.
While the set list was essentially as has been published in previous reviews, there was one difference. In the place where "I Still Love Rock and Rock" was slated, Ian Hunter performed "Irene Wilde" instead. This came after one of the more interesting segues of the night. Howard Jones had just done "Things Can Only Get Better". After the verses and choruses were over, Howard moved to the front of the stage and led the crowd into a singalong/call-and-response. In fact, he led the crowd into it so well that when he was finished the crowd kept going! It was in this environment that Ian Hunter moved into the heart-wrenching ballad "Irene Wilde"... no verbal intro by anybody, the crowd still up from the singalong. This served to help spotlight the song, however, to a good effect.
The show-stopper of the evening was definitely Sheila E's "Glamorous Life". She was fabulous and the crowd absolutely adored her. I don't know if this was a regular part of the show, but when she was done and the crowd continued to go wild, Ringo said, "Do you want to hear more?" and she went into another drum solo. Everybody loved it, and her band mates all looked clearly impressed.
At this show, Ringo again threw a towel into the crowd. He accepted a hat someone threw on stage for him. And a lot of the same stage comments and banter that other reviewers have written about went on.
A few other things: Howard Jones came on stage wearing a cowboy hat. He also had a camera with him, and he'd take pictures of the audience and his band mates at times throughout the show. Also, during his solo in the "No- No Song", Ringo came over to him, messed with the camera a little, and took Howard's picture.
Ian Hunter also repeated the variations on "Cleveland Rocks" that others have reported from previous shows. Here, he managed to lead the crowd into yelling "Rangers Suck" (i.e., the Texas Rangers baseball team), at which point the crowd realized what they were saying (no one here would voluntarily say that!), but then he deftly led them into "Fort Worth Rocks" and "Texas Rocks".
The crowd was loud, enthusiastic, and very appreciative. The show was over at 12:55 am (2 hours and 20 minutes), and the audience definitely did not want it to end. Ringo was the first to leave the stage, while the others stayed out front, did a few more choruses of "With a Little Help From My Friends", and took the applause. Eventually, they all moved to the front of the stage (minus Ringo) for a group bow, and then left. The Billy Bob's audience continued showing their appreciation for another 5 minutes, standing, applauding, yelling, and then starting with rhythmic pounding of the tables with beer bottles, even after the crew started getting ready to break down the stage set-up. It was only when the Billy Bob's staff came on the PA, making it clear that there would be no more, that the crowd started quieting down and getting ready to leave.
This was a terrific show, the whole band seemed really relaxed, like they were having a great time, interacting beyond the expected musical cues. All this, plus the fact that playing at Billy Bob's is like being back playing the clubs again, made for a terrific concert environment.