Here is my review of Ringo's concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center in NJ: I went with my parents and a friend. The concert was at 8pm and we left for it at 4pm. The skies had been looking dark all day, and the moment we left, thunder, lighting, wind hail. I was fearing the concert may have to be postponed or something, but not long before arriving, the rain stopped and the clouds broke up. It was warm, but not to hot. We had ordered one of those preferred parking tickets, so we were able to park fairly close. We had arrived at 6pm, so we waited outside for a while. I talked to a family parked near by, who were playing McCartney's Back in The US CD. At about 6:30pm, we entered the complex. I thought the interior was very nice, with ample bathrooms, water fountains, benches and tables, and overpriced food and merchandise stands. I bought a T-shirt, a Ringo pin, and a program. The program was $20, which is about $10 cheaper then McCartney's programs, but McCartney's program was much larger and contained much more information. I think the pin was about $5, and the shirt was $35. We entered the actual arena at about 7pm. My friend did not order his tickets with ours as he wasn't sure if he was going at first, so he had a separate seat from us (it was still in the orchestra/floor section, just further back). Our seats were in section 104 row K (which was on the left side of the stage about 11 rows back). The seats were excellent. I could make out the Ludwig label on Ringo's drums along with "RS". I had my binoculars with me as well, so I could get an even closer look at the equipment. The show started about on time and of what I could see, the arena was packed. The show started with It Don't Come Easy, with all band members on stage starting to sing and play, and when it came time for Ringo's line (Got to pay your dues.), Ringo jogged out on stage and sang. It was excellent and Ringo seemed to be in good form. Next followed was Honey Don't, which rocked as well. Then came time for the new song, Memphis in Your Mind. Before he started it, he asked if anyone had bought his new album, at which point, both my mom and I started waving our CD booklets in the air. We seemed to be the only ones doing so in our area. Ringo then pointed over to us and said "there's someone waving it around over there, that's what I like to see!" That was definitely one of the highlights for me! After Memphis In Your Mind, Ringo went to his drums while the other All Star Band Member's got their chance to take the vocal spotlight. They did about four songs, with the highlights being Down Under by Colin Hay, How Long by Paul Carrack, and Sheila E's fantastic drumming on her song Love Bizarre (though I didn't recognize the song), and of course, Ringo's drumming! Ringo both sang and played drums on the next song Boys, which was excellent and a real crowd pleaser. Colin Hay did the song Overkill after this, then Ringo went off the drums to sing. The first of this group of songs was Act Naturally, the cover song he originally did on the Beatles Help! Album, which he performed wonderfully, both back then and now. The next song was You're Sixteen, from Ringo's "Ringo" Album. He asked if there were any sixteen year old girls in the audience, quite a few raised their hand's, some looking like they could be 16 or so, others looking to be a few decades older (but it's how young you feel anyway). I think it might have been around this song where he asked how everyone was doing on the grass, at which point he quickly says "No, not that kind of grass, lawn I mean," at which time he looks over at his one guitarist who responds "what are you looking at me for" which got quite a few laughs. On the next song he looks over to one of the guitarists and says "give me that famous chord" and the band launches into Yellow Submarine. I wish I hadn't already read the set list, as I would have totally gone nuts when this song played had I not known it was coming. As it is, I still went pretty nuts. Ringo left the stage at this point, and the band did a couple of songs, New York City Girl, and Here Comes the Sun which was just great, though I'm not sure why Ringo doesn't play on it (there are drums on the original Abby Road Version). Ringo then keeps the mood going when he returns and does another new song from his album, Never Without You, as a tribute to George Harrison. Anyone who hasn't heard his new album should give it a listen, in my personal opinion, it's quite good, not life changing, but good rock and roll fun. Ringo then plays the first song he ever wrote, Don't Pass Me By from the White Album. Never my favorite White Album song, but I really enjoyed it live, as did a lot of the audience. After the song, he mentioned how "you were in a car crash and you lost your hair" had sounded like a good line at the time. He then does the No No Song, which got quite a nice reaction as well. Ringo goes to the drums at this point, and the All Stars do a few of there songs, one being Shelia's Glamorous Life, never all that crazy over the song, but her drumming was just so energy filled it really was a spectacular performance. After this Ringo sings I Wanna Be Your Man while still on the drums (the only other song besides boy's he does this on). I was up and moving and singing to this one quite a bit, as was rest of the audience. In some ways, this was a highlight for me, as it was such a big Beatle mania song, and being 21 (22 as of Aug 8!) I never got to experience Beatlemania, so seeing Ringo here, and Paul back in 2002 gave me at least a taste of it. Ringo stayed on drums after I Wanna Be Your Man and the All Stars did a few more songs, the highlight for me was Who Can It Be Now, by Colin Hay, with some excellent saxophone by Mark Rivera, who played sax on other songs that night. Also, I have read other reviews from previous concerts saying Colin Hay had seemed not really into the music and wasn't playing well. Well, if that's true, he seems to be over it now, as he seemed excellent and into it all night. I think I might check out a best of Men At Work CD pretty soon. Ringo went off the drums for the final three songs off the night. The first one was Photograph, another classic from the "Ringo" Album, and one he co-wrote with George Harrison. It was during this song (I think) where my mom and I were waving our glow sticks back and fourth synchronized with each other and the beat, well, more or less anyway. It was during this song that Ringo pointed at both of us and nodded his head. Actually, he pointed twice, possibly because some in the front row had thought he was pointing at them and got excited, but he pointed again to make sure we knew he was acknowledging us. We were the only ones in our area with glow sticks, so there is no doubt that it was us. When he looked right at me, I really felt incredible joy and excitement, guess I found out what a bit of Beatle mania feels like after all. He had mentioned our booklets earlier, but this moment just seemed so much more special, probably because I made eye contact with him and held it for a few seconds, unlike before where he just sort of motioned and commented about the booklets. Yep, that was definitely the highlight of the evening for me! The next song was Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go, a song in which I actually hadn't heard until earlier that day, so I wasn't all that familiar with it, but I liked it. The final was of course With A Little Help from my friends, sad in a way as I knew the concert was coming to an end, but it was a great song, and after the song's final vocals are delivered, Ringo jogs off the stage, and the band continues a bit with an instrumental With A Little Help From My Friends before they take their bows and say goodnight. All in all, a spectacular concert, and when I met back up with my friend, he was really horse, so he certainly had a good time. I lent him my lighter before the concert as I had the glow sticks now anyway (the lighter was actually the one I took to the McCartney concert and it still works) and he said he was the only one up in his area with a lighter, so when Ringo pointed up towards him, we assume it was him who Ringo pointed at. He says that next time we go to a McCartney or Ringo concert, he definitely wants to get his tickets right away this time, as he wished he was closer. After that, we left the arena, stopped at a Dunkin Doughnuts on the way back and had a snack. After that we dropped him off at his house and went home ourselves. A splendid time was had by all.
Steve, The empty seats at the Ringo show at the PNC Bank Arts Center that I referred to in my comments were towards the front of the 300 section. The corporate boxes are in the 200 section and were all full although I suspect that may have been because other people did what we did and moved from the back into those seats. The front two sections of the house (100 and 200) were full. In the 300 section people were seated in the first two rows and the back. There were about 15 rows starting with the the third row from the front of the section where it appeared that the only people sitting were people like us who had moved from the back rows of the section which were full. Again, I bought my tickets the day the morning they went on sale and got seats in the very back of the third of four sections while there were at least 15 rows of empty seats at the front of the section. This is a ticket system run by people that really don't care about the customer.
Update (8/8/03)
Seems like the solo spot tonight was NYC Girl given the close proximity to the city and Staten Island. Ringo mentioned "all my new friends at Make a Wish" and there were a number of young kids at the front, so perhaps they were being given a wish by the foundation. Some of the vacant seats Frank Branchini mentioned may have been the boxes that corporations owned; there seemed to be vacant seats there; corps buy the tix and give them to employees and clients, and because they are season tickets and presold as a private box, they don't get dumped back into the system. I was in the front section of the venue and there weren't any vacant seats in my area until half the section got up and rushed the stage! PNC is another great venue for a show if you like your shows lively like I do. It's a close second to Boston, they don't sit on their hands there, and luckily they don't sit down all the time either. For the most part people don't start yelling at you or hitting you (shame on you that did) or shove chairs into the backs of your legs if you get up to dance...yes people actually do this and i have the bruises to prove it!
Update (8/6/03) From: Wayne Kaminski, Cranbury, New Jersey:
August 3, 2003 The evening opened up at 7:45pm with the usual "Star Spangled Banner" with everyone standing. At 8:04 the announcement was made regarding turning off cell phones and pagers then the band came out and immediately started playing "It Don't Come Easy". I was in the 8th row and everyone around was standing on their feet cheering as Ringo can running out from the left of the stage. Ringo wore a shirt that was colorful and the back had the words "Ringo and the All Starr-Band" in small type across his shoulder blades. He went into "Honey Don't" which kept everyone in the front standing and bouncing. For me a highlight was the next song "Memphis In My Mind". It was such a relief to hear Ringo sing a different song from the usual 10 he's been doing since '89. Paul Carrack's "How Long" had the audience sit down although his performance was very good. Colin Hay had people back up for "Down Under". (This was the pattern all evening until the 'Arts Center' granted the first 6 rows access to stand in front of the stage). The chatter between the band was spontaneous which was refreshing. I have seen the Radio City Show and there was only a couple of 'canned' chatter but the majority of the time Ringo and the band seemed to be really having fun. John Waite looked too thin which lead to joke's from Paul Carrack and Ringo. I remember Ringo introducing Paul as "the only member of the band with a boyish figure and a full head of hair" During the show a lady gave Ringo a purple sequenced star pillow which Ringo responded warmly holding it up and saying "I'll use this to decorate my house". He placed it upright at the bottom of his drum kit. Although Ringo sings "Never Without You" every night on his tour, he still looked 'choked up' singing it. And there was of coarse Nils Lofgren. He was introduced as "A friend of mine for years" Ringo also said "He is such a nice fellow, even with his band having the day off he came down to sing". It was an enjoyable evening and with three different songs in the Ringo lineup, it was fab-tastic.
Ringo's Arts Center show was fantastic. I've been reading these reviews for awhile and it really is amazing how everyone has a different take on each performer. I agree with most that Sheila E. is the most impressive of the All Stars. But I think what's even more impressive then her solo spots is her incredible drumming behind the others. For my money, she's the best drummer Ringo has ever had (with the one exception, of course, being Zak.) I have seen all but one of the tours and I think this was truly the first one where there was not one "bathroom" song. It was truly a musical jukebox. Plus I had the pleasure of bringing my children (5 & 9 years old) and they had a great time. Question: How can anyone not know who John Waite is? Of all of this year's All Stars, he had the most Top 40 hits of all of them through his work with the Babys, Bad English and his solo work. He also looked like he had really clicked with Ringo. Lastly, many of the set lists keep mentioning that Waite's first song is "Everytime I Think Of You," which was one of the Baby's hits. But the song he has actually been performing is "Isn't It Time."
(8/5/03) From Debbie G1:
Springsteen spies report that Nils Lofgren joined the All-Starrs on stage to sing "With a Little Help" at the PNC Arts Center show the other night. Didn't play, just sang the chorus. :) Debbie
Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band at PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ
Sunday, August 3, 2003 We arrived at PNC around 7 pm. I was told I could not bring in my backpack although there were women carrying purses the size of suitcases. There was nothing in the backpack I needed but I bought several t-shirts and a program and, of course, they had no bags, so I spent the rest of the evening juggling. Our seats were four rows from the BACK of the third section out of four. The tickets were bought on the morning they went on sale. And, we were behind row upon row upon row of empty seats. This seems to happen frequently at shows in the New York area and it is really annoying. This system of selling tickets does not work well and really should be fixed but Ticketmaster has no motivation to fix the system because no matter how badly they treat people, people are still buying tickets and paying exorbitant fees for the privilege. As 8 pm neared I told Melissa we were moving. We went up to the front of the section which wasn't too bad. We had binoculars which helped, and the have an in-house video system with large screens above the stage. Most Beatles related shows draw diverse audiences covering a wide range of ages from small children to the elderly. This show was no exception, but it did seem that that audience was dominated by first-generation Beatle fans. The level of alcohol consumption in the audience seemed to be particularly high which is disconcerting for a venue where virtually the entire audience arrives by car. We were just behind a promenade and throughout the show we could see people who were obviously drunk staggering by. The show started a little after 8 pm. It was warm and muggy but there was an occasional strong breeze. It was very comfortable when the breeze would come up, no so comfortable when the breeze would die down. There was a considerable amountof visible lightning to the north during most of the show, but it never stormed at PNC during the show. PNC is a huge oval sunk deep in the ground and covered with a concrete roof. The front two sections were full but the back half of the house was probably less than half of full and there didn't seem to be many people on the lawn. A lot of the concessions were closed. The show opened with the playing of the national anthem with the audience rising to salute the American flag . . . placed very tastefully behind a large ad promoting Kraft Foods. It was appalling. Ringo began the evening wearing a very colorful orange and green long-sleeve shirt covered with stars and other illustrations. The long sleeve shirt was open and he was wearing a dark colored t-shirt with a design in sequins. Halfway through the show he took off the long-sleeved shirt and changed to a "peace and love" t-shirt. Ringo looks terrific - slender and athletic. I wasn't sure what to expect from this show and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Sheila E. is definitely the star among the All Starrs as she was on the last tour. The audience reacted extremely warmly to her. As well they should! She is gorgeous, she exudes personality, and she is full of talent. Glamorous Life was a tour de force with her throwing a stick in the air and spinning around and catching it, drumming while raising one leg and resting it on the drums, bouncing sticks off the floor and catching them. While introducing Ringo, Sheila described him as a "humanitarian" to which he replied, "vegetarian". That made my evening! At the signing at Tower Records in New York, I asked him if he was a vegetarian and he laughed and said he was "about 360 days a year" which is a more honest answer than people who claim to be vegetarian when they eat chicken or fish. The audience was bizarre. Yellow Submarine got a huge reaction with most of the audience participating enthusiastically. At the end of the song a chant of "Ringo, Ringo, Ringo" went up. But the stunning performance of Here Comes The Sun and Never Without You elicited only polite applause. In my opinion, Here Comes The Sun was the best performance of the evening and Never Without You was the show's emotional peak. But most of the audience was indifferent. I didn't know who John Waite was before the show and, having seen him, I am none the wiser. I didn't recognize his songs and he was definitely the weak link in this version of the All Starrs although NYC Girl was particularly beautiful and appropriate for a New York area show. Colin Hay was wonderful and was the second crowd favorite after Sheila E. Mark Rivera is unbelievably talented and his flute work on Down Under was stunning. Paul Carrack was a strong performer with great songs, particularly "The Living Years". Don't Pass My By seemed to be another crowd favorite with lots of people singing along. Nils Lofgren joined the band (to thunderous applause and cries of "Bruuuce") for With A Little Help From My Friends. One very annoying aspect of the show was a light mounted above the stage. When it was turned on, and it was on a lot during the evening, it was like staring into the highbeams of an SUV, absolutely blinding and excruciating. The lighting director should be jabbed in the ribs with a sharp stick! I've seen all eight All Starr tours. Most tours featured very strong line ups where every song was a hit and there were no low-points. This tour, and the last one, had definite low-points, but most of the songs are still hits and the show was a lot of fun. It is great to see Ringo adding some new material. And any time you have an opportunity to hear Ringo singing Boys, Yellow Submarine, and With A Little Help you are going to have a great evening. This is one of the thrills of a lifetime for any Beatlefan! The one thing he could have done to make it a perfect evening for me would have been to perform Octopus' Garden! It Don't Come Easy
Honey Don't
Memphis In Your Mind
How Long (Paul)
Down Under (Colin)
Every time I Think Of You (John)
Love Bizarre (Sheila)
Boys
Overkill (Colin)
Act Naturally
You're Sixteen
Yellow Submarine
NYC Girl
Here Comes The Sun (Paul, Colin, John, Sheila)
Never Without You
Don't Pass Me By
No No Song
Tempted (Paul)
When I See You Smile (John)
Glamorous Life (Sheila)
I Wanna Be Your Man
The Living Years (Paul)
Missing You (John)
Who Can It Be (Colin)
Photograph
Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go
With A Little Help From My Friends