Recap By: The Vibe Dog and Rob Smittix
Photography: Stephanie J. Bartik
RINGO STARR & HIS ALL-STARR BAND: featuring Steve Lukather (Toto), Colin Hay (Men at Work), Hamish Stuart (Average White Band), Warren Ham (Toto), Gregg Bissonette (David Lee Roth Band) and Buck Johnson (Aerosmith)
Rob Smittix chiming in here. The very day that this concert was announced, I knew there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to be there. Of course we threw a Hail Mary and tried to get an interview with Ringo (I mean “hay” I’ve interviewed Colin Hay before). But we’d probably have to be Barbara Walters status to interview a Beatle, right? But we did try.
The second best option was for us to cover this show to the absolute best of our ability. We brought out the big guns, or should we say, the big lenses with award-winning photographer Stephanie J Bartik. The game plan was for me to write the review, accompanied by Steph’s eye for capturing the moment, but then I ran into the Vibe Dog at the Palace Theatre’s entrance. The Vibe Dog is the biggest Beatles Fan I know that’s living. Shout out to my late friend Gundy who was the biggest Beatles fan that ever lived. At Gundy’s funeral, all the music playing at the funeral parlor was instrumental Beatles tunes. But what I’m getting at is that The Vibe Dog is perfect to recap this show in his almost gonzo style of reporting. So I will say a few of my own takeaways and leave it in the Vibe Dog’s hands after that.
Ringo came out sprinting on the stage when he was introduced. This couldn’t possibly be an 86 year old man. I mean … you see the photos; it doesn’t add up! He said, “I promise you tonight everyone will know at least one song,” or in this case, all the songs. I’m not sure if anyone else noticed, but when they played “With a Little Help from My Friends,” Ringo did an arm gesture (almost conductor-like) when that certain cymbal crash happens in that second of empty space. So even though Ringo was singing on this one, it was intriguing to see him still focusing on the drums. There was even a point at the end of the show when Ringo did Jumping Jacks; this man can not be human. Anyway, I’ll let the Vibe Dog take it away!
THE BEAUTIFUL SOUND OF “NOT GOING QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT”!
An All-Starr Night at The Palace Theater in Albany, New York (October 7, 2026)
By The Vibe Dog
There are certain evenings when the universe loosens a few screws, the laws of physics take an unauthorized smoke break, and several thousand people suddenly remember they were once young – back before the world became a giant dysfunctional vending machine.
Tonight’s Ringo Starr concert was one of those evenings!
The lights went down…the band slowly filled the stage…the sold-out crowd leaped to their feet in unison…their thunderous roar engulfed the room…why?
Because here comes Ringo!
Richard Starkey… Liverpool’s favorite, and most precise timekeeper!
The man who commanded the drum kit while the band that made his name a household word rearranged the molecular structure of popular music, and who somehow emerged from the wreckage with his humor intact, his peace sign polished, and a sly grin that suggests he knows where the bodies are buried – while Ringo would much rather talk about “Peace & Love!”
And tonight, he was back onstage with his All-Starr Band, a traveling collection of musicians whose combined resume would give most record store clerks a nervous breakdown.
This was not your grandfather’s nostalgia show… well… technically – it could have been your grandfather’s nostalgia show…your grandmother’s, too, and possibly your great-uncle’s, depending on what he was doing during the Summer of Love!
But calling it “nostalgia” would somewhat miss the point.
To me… “Nostalgia” is sitting in your basement listening to old records and wondering where the years went.
THIS was different… this was “the years” coming back like a tidal wave with amplifiers!
The opening notes hit, and suddenly the audience was no longer a collection of adults with mortgages, orthopedic concerns, and deeply suspicious opinions about modern music. They were teenagers again. The calendar had been mugged. Time was face-down in an alley. Somewhere, a younger version of every person in the building was demanding to know why it took so damn long to get back there.
And Ringo?
He was having the time of his life!
That’s the great surprise – only if you’ve somehow managed to spend the last six decades paying absolutely no attention. The man radiates an almost indecent amount of good humor. He sings, he plays, he waves, he smiles. He doesn’t need to dominate the stage because he had already helped his three mates conquer the musical universe once before. Why start a second war, when you can hop on the flat-bed and hitch a ride inside the parade!
Then, the “All-Starr Band” went to work.
These were not hired hands standing around polishing the silverware. These were musicians with their own histories, their own hits, their own fingerprints all over the radio dial. Colin Hay can send a room hurtling back to the days when Men at Work ruled the airwaves. Steve Lukather can remind you that Toto was never merely background music for somebody’s questionable yacht party. And when the band connected the dots between their respective catalogs and Ringo’s legacy, the whole evening became a serendipitous soundtrack – like a jukebox operated by an eccentric curator!
One minute you were revisiting Liverpool. The next, you were somewhere in the late seventies, early eighties, or another corner of your personal record collection which you possibly hadn’t visited in years.
The songs kept coming. The crowd kept singing. Memory began behaving like an unsupervised animal.
And there was Ringo… sitting behind that drum kit, the “engine room” of one of the most consequential bands in human history, still doing what he does.
C’mon you sonic vibewranglers… think about THAT for just one minute…
The music business has chewed up legends, spat out prodigies, buried trends, resurrected trends, and sold the resurrected trends back to those same people at twice the price.
While Ringo? He’s survived the entire circus!
He doesn’t need to prove he’s the greatest drummer who ever lived. He doesn’t need to pretend he’s still twenty-five. He just needs a band, a stage, a room full of people, and a few songs that refuse to die.
Then comes the inevitable realization: we’re not merely watching a Beatle perform.
We’re watching a living connection to the cultural earthquake that changed the world and watching him immensely enjoying himself while doing it!
There is something beautifully ridiculous about that.
The world can be a deranged carnival of bad decisions, collapsing attention spans, and people arguing with strangers through “glowing rectangles”.
But put Ringo Starr in front of a crowd and let the music loose, and for a couple of hours, the machinery changes its tune.
You sing. You smile. You remember!
And when it’s over, you walk back into the night carrying a little more oxygen in your lungs and a little less dust on your soul.
Peace and love, everybody!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…The Vibe Dog has left the building… while that beautiful sound is still rumbling through his head!
Photography by Stephanie J Bartik.
