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Collaborative show cuts straight to the hits
as it spreads message of peace and love

Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band
The Venue at Horseshoe Casino
Hammond, IN
July 24, 2010

Ringo Starr

Edgar Winter & Ringo Starr

Richard Page

Story and photos by Andy Argyrakis

Across the 11 incarnations of Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band, the Beatles beat keeper's kept the line-ups relatively fresh, and despite some being stronger than others, it's pretty much always a sure fire bet that the set list will be chock full of hits. But rather than turning towards a bloated marathon that starts straying outside those lines (as he's been known to do in the past), Starr steered the ship towards nothing but the hits, and given the well-paced back to back barrage of familiar material, he scored a ceaseless sing-a-long from start to finish.

As has been the tradition on all these types of tours, Starr kicked off his appearance at the jam packed Venue at Horseshoe Casino with an opening trio of solo tunes, which in this year's instance, ranged from oldies like "It Don't Come Easy" and "Honey Don't" to the newer peace-seeking pleasantry "Choose Love." Across the next two hours, his guests took turns in center spotlight, eventually passing the baton back to its ringleader and then repeating the pattern without a single second of downtime.

Edgar Winter offered a rousing version of his swamp rocker "Free Ride," The Romantics' Wally Palmar charged forcefully through the '80s pop nugget "Talking In Your Sleep," while Rick Derringer and Gary Wright recalled their renditions of "Hang On Sloopy" and "Dream Weaver" respectively. One of the most underrated but equally proficient faces on this tour is Mr. Mister's Richard Page, who recalled the MTV era with a flawless rendition of "Kyrie."

Starr accompanied the whole cast on drums, but also took a break for the Fab Four's cheery "Yellow Submarine," plus additional solo staples like "Photograph" and his quirky cover of Buck Owens' "Act Naturally." Along the way, the All Starrs interspersed some additional crests such as Palmar's stomper "What I Like About You," Page's beautiful "Broken Wings" and Derringer's snarling "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo."

Of course, its fearless leader capped off the show with a pair of tunes from the psychedelic era, starting with The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" and tipping his hat towards late great band member John Lennon with "Give Peace a Chance." Both of the tunes were especially fitting, starting with the fact that Starr benefited from his enduring backers, followed by their propagating a much needed message of love and unity.