Ringo Starr And His All-Star Band
San Jose Civic
June 5, 2026
Photos by Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell
When I was about 6 or 7 years old I saw a news story on TV about The Beatles. Being so young, I had never heard of the band before, but something about them piqued my interest. Upon asking my mom and dad about the band and who they were, my parents went out and got me any Beatles cassettes or CDs that they could find. They’re the one band that I can say has been with me throughout all of my life, but despite having seen Paul McCartney in concert already, I had never gotten the chance to see Ringo Starr. All of that changed last week at the San Jose Civic. The lights dimmed and Ringo’s All-Star Band came on stage to play the introduction of the Carl Perkins classic “Matchbox” before Ringo himself ran on stage and began singing the song.
There he was. The drummer of arguably the greatest band of all time, standing in front of me singing his songs. For my entire life, Ringo Starr has existed as a face on a screen or in photos, and finally seeing him in front of me playing live was an experience that’s hard to put into words. I know that I wasn’t the only one in attendance who felt that way, as there were people around me being moved to tears by the performance as it went on.
I think that I should take a moment to explain the concept of Ringo Starr And His All-Star band. The group has an ever-changing lineup of popular musicians who have come together, not just to play the songs of Ringo and The Beatles, but also the songs from their own respective bands. The big names in this iteration of the band are Colin Hay of Men At Work (guitar), Hamish Stuart of Average White Band (bass and guitar), and Steve Lukather of Toto (guitar and bass), although the lineup also includes Buck Johnson (keyboards), Gregg Bissonette (drums), and Warren Ham on seemingly any other instrument that the band needs. Saxophone? Check. Conga drums? Check. Flute? Check!
I will say that as the members of the band played the songs from their respective groups, I was taken aback by the fact that I knew all of the Toto and Men At Work songs, two bands who I’m admittedly not incredibly familiar with. If there was one part of the show that had a dip in energy for me, it would be the Average White Band songs that the band played. It’s just a kind of classic rock that I’ve never been into, and none of the songs particularly moved me, although it was a treat to see Ringo drumming on all of the songs.
Which brings up another point, which is that if there’s one word that you could never use to describe Ringo Starr’s drumming, it’s the word “busy.” Gregg Bissonette is a busy drummer. That’s neither good nor bad, that’s just how he drums. As he and Ringo drummed together on their respective drum kits, I was noticing that Gregg was the one doing things like playing triplets and performing complex drum fills. Ringo on the other hand was just laying down and maintaining a steady beat and groove on every song. Just standing back and paying attention to how Ringo plays made me appreciate him even more as a drummer. Throughout his entire career, he’s always played drum parts in service to the song, and he proved why he’s one of the greatest drummers of all time throughout the evening.
I could wax poetic about how moving it was to finally see songs like “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “Octopus’s Garden” being sung in front of me, songs that I’ve known like the back of my hand for nearly 30 years. I could talk about Ringo’s still shining and sharp sense of humor and the various quips that he made towards the audience in between songs. But all that I’ll say in closing is that the part of the show that resonated with me the most was a line in the song “Choose Love,” a song originally released in 2005 but that has since been re-recorded for his new album Long Long Road. The lyric goes, “You gotta pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues.” And if there’s one person who has paid his dues throughout the nearly seven decades that he has been in the public spotlight creating music, it’s Ringo Starr. Yes, his light faded in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the record buying public no longer interested in the drummer of The Beatles. But over time, Ringo has gotten the respect and appreciation and accolades that he has. So rightfully deserved all of this time, and when he waved goodbye to the audience and gave his trademark peace signs one last time, everyone in the audience was full of the love towards him that he has so often sang about and championed. If anyone deserves to be able to sing the blues, it’s Ringo Starr.
