With a Little Help From His Friends: Ringo Starr Brings Peace and Love to Washington, DC
Outside The Anthem in Washington, DC on September 28, fans stretched down the block wearing Beatles T-shirts, Ringo Starr tour shirts, 60s mod dresses, pink Sgt. Pepper-inspired coats, and even wigs emulating the early iconic Beatles hairstyles.
Some had been listening to these songs for decades and others had inherited the joy of Ringo Starr from their parents, but as I talked to the fans as the line crawled toward the doors, it became clear that the evening was a celebration of music that had evolved and outlived the era in which it was created.
On Monday night, Starr was joined by an all-star lineup featuring Toto’s Steve Lukather on guitar and vocals, Men at Work’s Colin Hay on guitar and vocals, Warren Ham of Toto and Kansas on saxophone, percussion and vocals, Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart on bass, guitar and vocals, drummer Gregg Bissonette, and Buck Johnson of Hollywood Vampires on keyboards and vocals. Throughout the night, you could tell that they were not only a group of incredibly talented musicians, but that they genuinely enjoyed making music together.
The night opened with “Matchbox” and “It Don’t Come Easy,” and from the beginning it was difficult to imagine the group had been performing for so many years. At an age where most performers would be content to let the music do the work, Starr still bounced around the stage with an unmistakable enthusiasm.
The set moved through each member’s musical history. Lukather took the spotlight for Toto’s “Rosanna,” followed by Stuart leading the band through Average White Band’s “Pick Up the Pieces.” The songs were familiar but hearing them performed by the people that gave them life gifted the evening with a sense of authenticity that could never be replicated by tribute bands.
The whole show was incredibly immersive with phantasmagorical visuals swirling across the screens behind the band and rainbow light bathing the audience during select songs like “Yellow Submarine.” Starr seemed right at home in the middle of it, with a charismatic stage presence and a humor that characterized the night just as much as the music. Between songs, Starr interacted with the audience with the easy comedic timing of someone who has spent a lifetime entertaining crowds, referencing the screaming fans of Beatlemania while lightheartedly noting the changes in the audience over the course of his career.
The best joke of the night, however, came from Lukather, who explained that he had been working on a long orchestral piece for the past fifteen years and was eager to try some of it in front of a public audience. He jokingly claimed that this piece would showcase where he believed music was headed over the next five years.
“I’ve placed some special gummy bears under each seat to ensure this goes well.”
The band began playing a deliberately bizarre-sounding piece before abruptly stopping.
“I bet you guys are thinking: ‘what the hell did I pay all that money to see?” he laughed before launching into Toto’s well-known hit, “Africa.”
“With a Little Help From My Friends” easily could have served as a conclusion on its own, but the night ended with a resounding chorus of “Give Peace a Chance,” a fitting ending for a performance built around connection.
Connection between musicians, between generations, and between songs was woven throughout the evening and is the real reason that the songs played Monday night have remained meaningful long after their original release. The audience came from a variety of backgrounds, carrying different relationships with the music, but for a few hours everyone was there to sing and dance together.
There is something particularly special about seeing artists this far into their careers still approach a stage and perform with that kind of enthusiasm. Starr played like someone revisiting the past in order to celebrate the present. Judging by the number of people out of their seats, it was clear that the audience felt the same way. Some of the songs have survived for decades and the joy that they bring will continue to resound far into the future.
