Another Concert

I love to write about interesting things that I do. That’s not to say that my whole life is interesting. I have plenty of dull moments, mediocre experiences, and mundane activities. Sometimes those are the predominant features of my days. Ho-hum, boring. That’s why I love to branch out and do fun things that wake the body up and get the creative juices flowing. As a family, we have had several very tough years recently. The year 2023 hasn’t exactly been a bed of roses, and there have been some real challenges which remain unresolved. But, I decided not to let them dampen my spirit, or my spirit of adventure. This year, I decided that I would take advantage of every single thing that I could, entertainment-wise. YOLO, and all. Thus, I declared in 2023 the Spring of Activities, the Summer of Fun, and the Fall of Festivities. I have been on the go quite a bit, traveling, and attending many special events.  

Music is a big part of our lives, since Rob and I both enjoy listening to it so much. Because we are such fans of live music, concerts have been high on our list of activities.  This year, our musical journey began when went to one concert. And then another. And another. Another. And one more. We’ve had a rockin’ good time.

#1. In Spring we saw Keb’ Mo and Boz Scaggs. Both of them were incredible, and so talented. I wrote about that experience here: The Fox, The Gorilla, The Legend.

#2. In summer, we saw Jim Lauderdale in concert. Jim Lauderdale is a Grammy winning staple in the Nashville scene, performing and writing many songs for himself and others.  He has a slew of albums (Country, Bluegrass, and Americana), and you can catch him on the Buddy and Jim Radio Show on the Outlaw Country channel on SiriusXM. He has a great personality, a clever sense of humor, a great stage presence, and a wonderful singing voice. Jim is also a childhood friend. We have seen Jim perform several times, including a gig at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. At those performances, he was always accompanied on stage by his full band. But, this summer Jim played a one-man show at a small local venue in Atlanta. It was an outstanding performance (as expected), with an intimate vibe. We loved the music and we loved catching up with Jim again after the show.

#3. In summer, we crossed an item off the old bucket list. We attended a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Red Rocks is a stunning geological formation which was fashioned into a music venue in 1941. According to their website, redrocksonline.com, it is  “the only naturally-occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheatre in the world.”  At Red Rocks, we saw Tedeshci Trucks band, which is another favorite of ours. Derek Trucks (of the Allman Brothers family) is a master guitarist, just incredible to watch. Susan Tedeschi has a soulful voice with a giant range and a powerful delivery.  She can belt it out with the best of ‘em, and deliver the emotion in a gut-wrenching way. The band never disappoints. And the venue was to die for. I could write a few pages about that experience, but suffice it to say it was spectacular; as real memory-maker.

#4. In fall, we traveled to Louisville Kentucky for the Garvin Gate Blues festival. We have a connection to the festival, as our brother-in-law is an organizer.  There, we enjoyed hours and hours of music as we saw a variety of local, regional, and national blues performers. There’s more story behind that trip, and you can read about it here: Booze, BOOs, and Blues.

#5. And, finally, we spent a night with Ringo Starr. A night which deserves a little more discussion. Now, Ringo might not be the most famous member of the Beatles. He doesn’t get all the press that Paul McCartney and John Lennon do. Most would agree that he’s juggling between 3^rd or 4^th place with George Harrison. But I have always liked Ringo. Maybe it’s because, in my fantasy rock-band group, I’ve always wanted to be the drummer. I feel the urge to drive the beat and keep up the tempo. Or maybe it’s because I took a real liking to Ringo when he played Mr. Conductor on the children’s TV show Thomas the Tank Engine (also called Thomas & Friends or Shining TIme Station), which I used to watch with my son. I loved the fact that music icon Ringo chose to be part of that children’s show. Interestingly, when Ringo left the role of Mr. Conductor in the late 1980s, he was replaced by George Carlin, a comedian who was decidedly NOT G-rated. I found that to be a very odd choice. George Carlin on a children’s television show. But, he did the job, too. And he was fine.

So, Ringo. I was unaware of his current goings-on in 2023, but saw that he was coming to Atlanta to perform with his All-Starr Band. I’m not even much of a Beatles fan, but, historically speaking, I thought it might be interesting to see one of the Fab Four in concert.  So we snatched up tickets to see what that was all about. According to Wikipedia, “Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band is a live rock supergroup founded in 1989 with shifting personnel, led by former Beatles drummer and vocalist Ringo Starr.”  So, apparently, Ringo gathered a variety of musicians from different bands to perform together on each year’s tour. Different year, different group. Again, according to Wikipedia, All-Starr Band members and guests have included the likes of Joe Walsh, Billy Preston, Peter Frampton, Jeff Lynne, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Steven Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Slash, and more. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we were game for anything at the Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band concert.

Well, it was another awesome night. Incredible music. And Ringo was sumpin’ else. First off, he looked fantastic. 83? Couldn’t be. He looked exactly like Ringo back in the day. IDK, maybe there’s a little hair dye helping him out. But it ain’t just the hair, yall.  Whatever his secret is, he looks absolutely fab. Here's a picture of his 48 year-old son Jason with him in 2016. Granted, 7 years ago, but he's stylin' the same look today. Stunning.

Ringo played front man part of the time, and spent the rest of the time behind his drum set. He was energetic and funny, and he had great charisma. Fun fact: Ringo had absolutely NO rhythm when it came to dancing. I mean, he’s a drummer, right? Rhythm is his thing. But, when he came out to the front of the stage to groove while he sang—he was just as awkward as half of the senior citizens in the audience. Not sure, maybe he had a bum hip. But, his uncoordinated and clumsy dancing was actually endearing. We got a real kick out of that.

The All-Starr Band had members from bands that I knew about, but they were not bands that I particularly wanted to go see. But, let me tell you, the whole group put everything out there on the stage, and it was one rockin’ night. From the Beatles catalogue they performed Ringo’s songs (where he originally sang lead). They also did songs from Ringo’s solo career. And, then each band member took turns to play the biggest hits from their band, with the rest of the All-Starrs providing backup. And that, my friends, was incredibly cool. Those geriatrics could bring it. Abundant talent. As other people in the audience agreed, these weren’t our favorite songs, but the effort, the precision, the showmanship, and the drive of the band made it all special, very special, indeed.

We found ourselves jamming to “Pick Up the Pieces” from the Average White Band (look it up if you don’t know what song that is – very funky.) We found ourselves singing “Who Can It Be Now?” with Colin Hay of Men At Work. And, getting a Vegemite Sandwich in the land “Down Under.” We belted out “Rosanna” with Steve Lukather of Toto. And swayed our arms in the air as we sang about the rains of “Africa.”  With Edgar Winter, we took a “Free Ride.” And, we laughed and cheered when his turn came to speak. He was absolutely hilarious, witty, and captivating. He explained that in the 1970s he invented his signature strapped keyboard and immediately wrote the song “Frankenstein.” Then, to our amazement, he and the band cranked out the song, with him tearing up the keys on his synthesizer keyboard; then, putting the keyboard down, he ran to the side of the stage to grab his saxophone, blasting an entire section of the song with his sax fingers flying; then, laying the sax aside, he rushed over to a full set of drums and slammed out a marvelous pounding extended solo; only to go rushing back to pick up the keyboard again to finish out the song. I mean, the talent of Edgar and all the musicians was really unbelievable. Those old guys still had it. Vocals, a few times weren’t up to snuff, but they had a younger guy in the band who hit the high notes for them when they needed help with that. Here are a few of my rather blurry pics:

Even though it’s a very silly song, we joined in with the entire audience to sing-along “Yellow Submarine” with Ringo. That and many other songs. Maybe I’m Starr-struck. But, I couldn’t believe that we were actually seeing THE Ringo Starr perform his original songs. The OG. It was incredibly special. Ringo is all about Peace and Love and Harmony. And, Music. Always the Music.

As ambassadors of the good feelings, Ringo and His All-Starr Band ended the night singing,

“What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song, and I’ll try not to sing out of key,

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends……”

And,

^{“All we are saying, Is Give Peace a Chance.”}

Good feelings, indeed. You hit the nail on the head, Ringo.