Ringo Starr brought his All Starr Band to Mohegan Sun on Friday where they performed a variety of classics for a packed house in Uncasville. The term “All Starr” couldn’t be more accurate as Ringo’s band featured the likes of Men at Work’s lead singer Colin Hay, playing guitar along with Toto’s lead singer Steve Lukanther playing lead guitar. The group was also joined by drummer Gregg Bisonette, who has played alongside the likes of David Lee Roth and Carlos Santana. Ringo of course played some drums throughout the show and sung others. The band performed some of Ringo’s solo work, selections from Men at Work and Toto, and even had a two song jam session in the middle of the show where Starr exited the stage for a quick break.
The setlist started with a Beatles classic, “Matchbox,” into one of Ringo’s most popular solo songs, “It Don’t Come Easy.” After an energetic first two songs, Ringo introduced the first guest song, which was “Rosanna” by Toto. The crowd really started getting into it once Lukanther started shredding and Hay’s vocals flooded the arena. The synergy of the band was already on display, and we were barely 15 minutes in. After “Rosanna,” there were two more guest songs. The first was a bit of an instrumental break in “Pick Up The Pieces” by Average White band, performed by Hamish Stuart. This was a welcome, jazzy diversion from the rest of the music that was played during the show, and Warren Ham absolutely killed it on the saxophone. The second guest song was another fan favorite, as Hay got another chance to flex his fantastic vocals on his biggest hit with Men At Work, “Down Under.” Ham covered the iconic flute part really well too.
Ringo brought it back to more Beatles songs in the next stretch starting it off with a John Lennon cover, “I’m the Greatest,” which he introduced joking about how Lennon had agreed the lyrics of the song were more closely aligned with Ringo’s life than Lennon’s. “I’m the Greatest” was followed by “Boys,” a cover from the Shirelles. The main event of the night shortly followed with Ringo’s most popular Beatles song “Yellow Submarine.” Ringo led the way as the whole crowd and band sang along and the arena was lit up by the projection show behind the band and a sea of cellphones in front of it. Next would be “Cut the Cake,” where Ringo announced to the audience that he would head backstage for a short break while the All Starr band performed the “Magical Music Moment,” a ten minute jam session. The jam session featured solos from the entire band including Lukanther on guitar and a long solo by Bisonette. Starr joined back at the end of the song to join Bisonette for a moment before heading back down to the front of the stage to introduce the next song. Ringo would keep the crowd into it heading right into the Beatles classic, “Octopus’s Garden.”
This was our favorite Beatles song of the whole show, and for good reason. Ringo seemed so goofy and carefree for the entirety of the song, and his singing voice has honestly aged reasonably well. The band were grinning ear to ear while doing their background vocals, clearly loving every minute of Ringo’s performance, just like the audience. Ringo played another one of his solo songs before they played “Overkill” from Men At Work, which I (Zach) was pleasantly surprised by. Then, “Africa” by Toto played and Mohegan Sun erupted. This live rendition was very impressive with the amount of layering from all of the instruments on stage in addition to all the voices. While “Africa” is normally overplayed in our opinion, the All Starrs brought enough heat to flip the script.
The final part of the concert began with a cover of the Isley Brothers song “Work to Do,” which was followed by Beatles song “I Wanna Be Your Man.” It was the last four songs of the show however, where things began to pick up once more. First came Colin Hay’s performance of “Who Can It Be Now?” from his band Men at Work, followed by Lukanther’s performance of our favorite Toto song “Hold the Line.” Ringo followed with his original song “Photograph,” and later with a Beatles classic that he wrote, “With a Little Help From My Friends.” At this point, almost everyone in the crowd was giving the band a standing ovation as Ringo briefly left the stage before rejoining the band when he heard them playing the famous “Give Peace a Chance.”
After a few more peace signs were thrown up in the air and he waved to a few more fans, the 84-year-old Ringo Starr left the stage for the final time to a wave of shouts and cheers from the audience. It’s not every day you get to see any member of the Beatles perform, let alone with all of the other wildly talented members of the All Starr Band. In the end, it’s safe to say Ringo put on a show, with a little help from his friends.
