Ringo Starr Reports Paul McCartney Is ‘Getting Ready to Rock’
UPDATE: McCartney himself confirmed Ringo’s optimistic diagnosis in a brief video. “Feeling great. Rockin’ and rollin,” said McCartney before playing air guitar.
Beatles drummer Ringo Starr got in touch with his former bandmate, Paul McCartney, when news broke that the latter was suffering a viral infection that forced him to postpone not just a string of Asian tour dates but also a U.S. tour that was supposed to kick off in June. “I spoke to him actually while he was in hospital,” Starr recently told Access Hollywood with a laugh. “Because not knowing the time, I just sort of dialed and – ‘Hello?’ And he picked up, and we said hi, and he said he’s doing OK, that he was still in hospital. Now he’s out and getting fit and he’s getting ready to rock.
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“He’s doing good,” Starr continued. “I text him, and he texts me back. And he was actually out the night before with Barbara, my wife, and Joe Walsh and Marjorie, [Walsh’s wife and Barbara’s] sister, and Nancy [Shevell, McCartney’s wife]. They were all like, dinner out, so they all say he’s doing good.”
McCartney’s tour postponement, which will find him resuming his U.S. tour in early July and playing his June U.S. dates in October, has likely forced him to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to musicians, crews, bus and truck companies that were supposed to begin work in June, Rolling Stone reports. But he’s likely in a better place financially than if he had canceled the shows rather than postpone them.
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While Access Hollywood was speaking with Starr, who is currently on tour, at an art gallery showing some of his works, the Beatle addressed the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four’s humorous romp A Hard Day’s Night, which will be heading back to movie theaters in July. It’s one of several half-century anniversaries the group is celebrating this year, including their arrival in the U.S. and influential appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. “How much did we do 50 years ago?” Starr asks. “We did everything. When we used to work, we had one day off a month.”