{"id":833287,"date":"2026-05-30T23:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T23:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/833287\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T23:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T23:00:18","slug":"ringo-starr-embraces-and-transcends-time-and-nostalgia-at-rousing-san-diego-concert-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/833287\/","title":{"rendered":"Ringo Starr embraces and transcends time and nostalgia at rousing San Diego concert \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

The numbers increasingly add up for Ringo Starr, whose sold-out Friday night San Diego performance at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay was the second date on the 2026 spring tour by this two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and his six-man All-Starr Band.<\/p>\n

\n

Ringo Starr, with new San Diego and L.A. concerts set, talks candidly: \u2018I\u2019m giving away all the secrets here!\u2019 he says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Their 21-song repertoire ranged from \u201cMatchbox,\u201d the Carl Perkins-penned 1956 rockabilly rave-up that opened the evening, to the concert-closing double-punch of The Beatles\u2019 1967 classic, \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends,\u201d and the sing-along chorus of John Lennon\u2019s sadly still-timely 1969 anti-war anthem, \u201cGive Peace a Chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

In between came an array of favorites from the songbooks of Starr and The Beatles, including \u201cIt Don\u2019t Come Easy\u201d and \u201cI Wanna Be Your Man,\u201d plus hits by Toto, Average White Band and Men At Work. Three of those bands\u2019 key members \u2014 Toto guitarist-vocalist Steve Lukather, former Average White Bands bassist\/singer Hamish Stewart and Men At Work singer-guitarist Colin Hay \u2014 are All-Starr Band veterans. Each clearly relishes still sharing the stage with a rock legend who, improbably, is now 85-going-on-just-17.<\/p>\n

\n

Ringo Starr talks drums, The Beatles, bouncing back from COVID and rocking on in his 80s<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Starr was featured on drums or vocals (and sometimes both simultaneously) on all but one selection in the 103-minute concert. Still as boyishly slim as Mick Jagger, three years his junior, he was consistently compelling whether singing center stage or drumming in unison with Gregg Bissonette.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Starr joked and bantered with the audience throughout, singling out the \u201cboat people\u201d who watch concerts for free from the adjacent Humphreys marina.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this venue,\u201d he told the cheering crowd. \u201cI can yell at these tight bastards who won\u2019t even buy a ticket!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RingoRingo Starr drummed with a winning combination of spunk and precision Friday night at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Guitarist Steve Lukather is shown at left. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s frequently rousing show came 64 years after Starr replaced Pete Best in 1962 as the drummer in The Beatles. It was also 62 years after the soon-to-be most influential rock band of all time won over America with its game-changing TV performance on \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

For good measure, the concert took place 61 years after The Beatles\u2019 sole San Diego concert in 1965 at Balboa Stadium. And it was 56 years after Starr\u2019s first solo album, the presciently titled \u201cSentimental Journey,\u201d was released just as The Beatles were imploding in early 1970.<\/p>\n

\n

Get back! The Beatles\u2019 only San Diego concert was 60 years ago this week<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His spirited performance Friday \u2014 like his black beard and shoulder-length hair \u2014 made him appear decades younger at Friday\u2019s concert and he drummed and sang with admirable spunk. Starr wryly acknowledged his age during his performance of \u201cI\u2019m The Greatest,\u201d the 1973 gem written by Lennon, changing the line \u201cI\u2019m only 32 and all I want to do is boogaloo\u201d to \u201cI\u2019m way past 32 and all I want to do is boogaloo.\u201d (At his 2012 Humphreys concert, he sang it as: \u201cI\u2019m only 72.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n

Ringo Starr shines anew at Humphrey\u2019s show<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But Starr, who has performed at the intimate bayside venue more than 15 times since first playing there in 1995, isn\u2019t resting on his laurels.<\/p>\n

He has released two engaging country-music albums in the past 16 months, last year\u2019s \u201cLook Up\u201d and this year\u2019s even better \u201cLong Long Road.\u201d They feature him alongside such younger musical admirers as Alison Krauss, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, St. Vincent, Larkin Poe and San Diego-bred multi-instrumental wizard Stuart Duncan.<\/p>\n

True, Starr only did one new song Friday, the flute-punctuated \u201cChoose Love,\u201d which quoted \u201cTomorrow Never Knows\u201d and other Beatles\u2019 songs and is the least country-sounding song from \u201cLong Long Road.\u201d But he delivered it with the same commitment and warmth he brought to \u201cAct Naturally and \u201cNo No Song.\u201d And when Starr led the crowd in call-and-response vocals on \u201cYellow Submarine,\u201d the 17-year-old girl seated near me happily sang along with her beaming grandmother and the rest of the audience.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe audience was on its feet for much of Ringo Starr\u2019s sold-out Friday show with his All-Starr Band at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The crowd reacted with similar enthusiasm to the lively performances of Toto\u2019s \u201cRosanna\u201d and \u201cAfrica,\u201d Men At Work\u2019s \u201cWho Can It Be Now\u201d and \u201cDown Under,\u201d and Average White Band\u2019s \u201cPick Up the Pieces\u201d and \u201cCut The Cake,\u201d the latter two of which featured gritty tenor sax solos by Warren Ham.<\/p>\n

A former touring member in the bands of Cher, Donna Summer and Olivia Newton John \u2014 and a 12-year All-Starr Band veteran \u2014 Ham doubled on percussion, flute and keyboards, as well as singing the high parts on \u201cRosanna\u201d and several other numbers. His deft harmonica work evoked the sterling playing of Nashville music great Charlie McCoy.<\/p>\n

Starr, as usual, topped off the night by energetically doing jumping jacks as he sang \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends.\u201d It\u2019s an age-defying move that has become a trademark of this seemingly tireless force of nature, an affable artist who exults in sharing the joy of performing with his audience from start to finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The numbers increasingly add up for Ringo Starr, whose sold-out Friday night San Diego performance at Humphreys Concerts…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":833288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,97136,977,3549,7264,978,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-833287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-humphreys-concerts-by-the-bay","tag-ringo-starr","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-the-beatles","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116666017149495258","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}