Instead, I saw Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band--not once, not twice but 4 times. I'd been a Beatles fan since the mid-1970's where I'd be going to sleep while my brother was doing his high school homework playing Beatles albums. I think I memorized most of the songs while I was drifting off. Ringo was my 2nd fave Beatle at that time.
A chance to see a Beatle, but so much more! Ringo's All-Starr's consisted of Nils Lofgren (my fave musician of that time period--solo artist and E Street Band sideman), Clarence Clemons (also of Bruce's E Street), Billy Preston (sometimes rumored to be the 5th Beatle), Joe Walsh, Levon Helm and Rick Danko of the Band, and Dr. John, plus session drummer Jim Keltner when Ringo would go out front.
My New Jersey friend Sue got tickets for me and her friend Pilar to see Ringo and His All-Starr's at Bally's Grand in Atlantic City on August 6. Great timing! My parents were driving out to New Jersey to move my brother to his professor gig at Rutgers University. I could go!
Atlantic City was revitalized by this time. Yes, there was a Trump Casino/Hotel which we walked into (my friend, an economics major, was intrigued with Trump in 1989--I doubt she is now!). The boardwalk was cool and we could hear the soundcheck as Bally's had an open air amphitheater. Most memorable was "Get Back" (which they did not do in concert). The tickets for this show were $75 each (which in 1989 was quite expensive) but it said "Orchestra--General Admission." We found out for your $75 you had to tip a guy in a tuxedo who would seat you based on how much you tipped him. Sue, Pilar and I pooled $5 each so our $15 tip got us pretty decent seating but nowhere near the front of the stage.
Excitement was brewing and this being Atlantic City, we saw our share of "Wiseguys" in the audience yelling "Yo, Vinny, over here!" It was quite fun to crowd watch. Rumors were also abounding that Bruce Springsteen might join Ringo for a number since he had appeared in North Jersey at a show a few nights before. We only ended up seeing his wife, Barbara Bach, watching from the sidelines and Roy Bittan did sit in on a song or two.
The first guitar chords of "It Don't Come Easy" rang out and the concert was on!
Ringo followed with the "No No Song" and "Yellow Submarine." Then the All Starrs performed numbers, as follows:
Dr. John--"Iko, Iko"
Levon Helm--"The Weight"
Nils Lofgren--"Shine Silently"
Billy Preston--"Will It Go Round in Circles"
Then Ringo performed a few numbers:
"Act Naturally"
"Honey Don't"
Then Clarence "Big Man" Clemons sang a duet with Billy Preston for "You're A Friend of Mine."
Rick Danko--"You Don't Know the Shape I'm In"
Joe Walsh--"Life in the Fast Lane"
Back to Ringo with "I Wanna Be Your Man"
15-minute Intermission (Here is a picture of my tourbook)
Rick Danko then performed Buddy Holly's "Rainin' in My Heart" with Nils on accordion.
Then the rest of the band came back out for the following numbers:
Levon Helm--"Up on Cripple Creek"
Ringo--"Boys"
Nils Lofgren--"Being Angry is a Full Time Job"
Dr. John--"Candy" and "Right Place, Wrong Time"
Clarence Clemons--"Quarter to Three"
Joe Walsh--"Rocky Mountain Way"
Billy Preston--"Nothing From Nothing"
Ringo--"Photograph"
Two song Encore:
"You're Sixteen"
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
This show was fun and filled with great music. There was a great chemistry between the musicians and everyone was enjoying themselves on stage.
I was fortunate to see a show 2 nights later, August 8, at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Nils Lofgren's brother Tom was a special guest who came out to play on "Shine Silently."
The next night, August 9, Sue and I didn't have tickets to the Ringo show at Mann Music Center in Philadelphia, but we went to the box office and Sue asked the guy at the window if there were any unclaimed tickets. He had 2 tickets. They were in the second row center. Sue said, " I would have gone out on a date with that guy if I'd known the tickets were this close." That was a great show since we were so close, Nils could actually see the first few rows and he knew Sue (since she photographed a lot of his bar gigs) so he gave us a secret wave at the end of the show. When Ringo was out front singing, it looked like he was making eye contact with you (since we were so close!). And E Street drummer, Max Weinberg dropped in for a couple songs.
August passed and Ringo was finally on the West Coast in September. My friends (who I met at the Bruce concert in 1988), Lenore and Mark got us tickets to see Ringo in Costa Mesa on September 2. Same song set but some special guests were on hand. From the Band, Garth Hudson, played accordion to Rick Danko's "Rainin' in My Heart." It was Billy Preston's birthday, so we all got a chance to sing "Happy Birthday" to Billy. AND Ringo's son, Zak Starkey (now with the Who off and on for the past 20 years) played drums for the opening numbers and the encores. What fun!
To cap that off, we found cool Ringo t-shirts on sale for $8 in the parking lot after the show. I still wear mine proudly, although we've lost Levon, Rick, Clarence and Billy over the last couple of decades. Sorry to see them pass but I treasure the memory of these All Starr shows!
Ringo did many other All Starr groups but no lineup was as good as the first one in 1989. See for yourself:
https://youtu.be/KqKa7tjBR4Y
