Update (7/29/01) And an opening night reviews, from Richard L.:

I went to this concert last night. I have seen Ringo many ,many times before ( and some up very close). Casino Rama is located about 1.5 hours north of Toronto, Ontario. The concert was held in a brand spanking new 5, 000 seat entertainment complex. They did a nice job. I went with my wife and mother in law but they did not want to go to the concert. They stayed in the casino. I did not have a ticket so I started to look for a " high roller" who probably got comped and may not want to go. It was very difficult to find anyone selling! These two girls sold me an extra seat ( not the greatest) for $20.00CDN.( below cost, they were comps). I missed the first few songs and came in during Greg Lake's first song. The place looked packed. Ringo was rehearseing here for the past 10 days or so. One thing I never knew was Ringo has two tattoos on each forarm near his arm muscle. The highlights were anything Roger Hodgeskin and Greg Lake did. Sheila E. is one incredible drummer with a lot of energy. She was wearing black shades after apparently hitting herself in the eye with a drum brush! Ringo sang the usual Beatles stuff ( Boys, I Wanna Be Your Man, Yellow Sub ) and more solo material than usual it appeared. The fans ran down in front halfway during the show.Ringo did not mention the new release of the All Starr box set. I saw many people from the Toronto area Beatles clique.Someone up front was holding a Beatles drumskin. Overall this was a good show and made up for the one that was cancelled last year ( and would have been held in the makeshift tent in the parking lot). The All Starr Band this year is a very good and strong unit and Ringo has made a good choice with these musicians.

Update (7/28/01) A report on the opening night show, from Dan Courtemanche:

Hi Steve,

I was at the opening show of the tour last night and had a great time. Judging from the reaction of the sold-out audience I'd say that most everyone else did too.

The band was terrific, tight and vocally right-on...particularly Roger Hodgson. Sheila E. is one great drummer/percussionist.

Ringo was in fine form, amazingly fit for a 61 year old. His drumming hardly changed at all since the old days in terms of his energy level, and I think he did even more fills than he did during his Beatles touring days. (probably because he can actually hear himself play this time around)

There was an interesting mix in the audience, people of all ages. I saw a child probably around 2 yrs old and also people in their 70's. Security was a little sparse probably because they expected everyone to stay in their seats. Initially turning back a few people who walked up to the stage to take pictures, they gave up after the first 3 or 4 songs when a couple of hundred people rushed the stage, Beatlemania screams in tow. I think this surprised Ringo a bit because he said, "We were told you'd be a quiet audience". But he hasn't lost his sense of humor or charisma at all, and he handled it all in stride.

The two highlights of the evening for me were (1) when Ringo introduced "I'm The Greatest" saying that (and I'm paraphrasing) "this song was written for me by a dear friend of mine, God rest his soul" (obviously talking about John) and (2) the last song of the encore "With a Little Help From My Friends" Greg Lake put down the bass he had been using all night, went off stage and came back with a Hofner fiddle bass (a la McCartney) ...very cool!
Dan