Ringo Turns Small Club Into “Octopus’s Garden”
Ringo Starr performed in a rare club
date Tuesday night at the Bottom Line in New York.
Starr, busy promoting his new Vertical Mam album, which
arrives in the U.S. June 16 on Mercury,
interspersed four new songs with a hefty dose of
Beatles/Ringo classics, including “With A Little
Help From My Friends,” “It Don’t Come Easy,” “Don’t Pass Me By,”
“Back Off Boogaloo,” “Octopus’s Garden,” and “Photograph.”
For closers, Starr romped through “Love Me Do,” an early hit for
the Beatles — originally recorded with John Lennon, Paul
McCartney and George Harrison sharing
vocals and, Starr admitted to the crowd, a stand-in on drums.
The lean and exuberant Starr performed as front man for much of
the show, shuttling back to play drums for only a handful of
numbers. His guitar-heavy band, the Roundheads,
included such stalwarts as Joe Walsh, Timothy B.
Schmit, drummer Simon Kirk (Bad Company)
and Mark Hudson, who produced Starr’s new
album.
Starr shot footage for a video of first single “La De Da” over
the weekend in New York; he was to tape an installment of VH1’s
“Storytellers” series Wednesday night. The living legend and his
All-Starr Band will also tour this summer, playing sheds in Europe
and Russia.