Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band are ready to rock.
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The iconic Beatles’ drummer and the current members of his All-Starr Band – Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Edgar Winter, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette – recently launched their spring 2023 tour in the U.S. Ahead of the tour, Starr and his bandmates shared their excitement with American Songwriter and other media during a press conference at rehearsals.
“The rehearsals are going great,” Starr said at the time. “I feel ready to rock.”
“[I’m] having the time of my life in this band,” added Lukather. “Love everybody, it’s going to be a great tour. We’re really excited to be here.”
“I love touring, but there’s no touring like touring with Ringo,” praises Stuart.
One of the trademarks of the All-Starr band that makes it unique is that each of the members gets to perform songs from their individual careers, alongside Starr’s hits. Collectively, the musicians have also played for Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Toto and many more iconic acts. Among the songs that have made the setlist include Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy,” the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends,” a cover of Toto’s “Africa” led by Toto founder Lukather, “Pick Up the Pieces” by Average White Band of which Stuart is an original member and Men at Work’s hit “Overkill” that was founded by frontman Hay.
The bandmates agree that the sense of freedom they have onstage when it comes to reimagining their songs is part of what makes the live experience so enjoyable. “It’s such an interesting variety of material,” Winter explains. “I think that the chemistry of a band is a very unique and personal thing. I try to find a place to really listen and fit into what everybody else is doing. Then it becomes a whole new experience and a whole new thing. I think we do a lot of these songs in a very unique way that you will never have heard before.”
“It’s great playing with this band and for the freedom of…that we may change it a little,” shares Starr. “It’s not actually what was on the record, and that’s fine by me.”
“We put our own imprint into it,” adds Ham. “That’s what makes it unique and so much fun.”
The tour launched on May 19 in Temecula, California, and makes stops in San Diego and San Francisco; Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. The band will play three shows at the Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada; and appear at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California, before the tour wraps on June 17 in San Jose, California.
They’ll then embark on a fall tour in 2023 that runs from September 17 until October 13.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
