ringo at great woods
Stuart Troutman
at Great Woods (just outside Boston) last night, Tues. 8/15.
(He's up in New Hampster tonight, Wed. 8/16).
Last night's set (not necessarily in this order):
Ringo: It Don't Come Easy
Photograph
You're Sixteen
The No-No Song
Act Naturally
Honey Don't
Boys
I Wanna Be Your Man
Yellow Submarine
With a Little Help From My Friends (the finale)
Dr. John: Right Place, Wrong Time
Iko Iko (excellent New Orleans shuffle drums)
Candy (probably the best music in the show, a slow jazz ballad)
Billy Preston: Will It Go 'Round in Circles
Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing (Preston dancing all around)
Joe Walsh: Life in the Fast Lane (yawn)
Rocky Mountain Way (Levon on great Butterfield-style blues harp)
Desperado (his little piano spot, boring)
Nils Lofgren: Shine Silently (very very good)
Getting Angry is a Full-Time Job (not sure that's the correct title)
Levon Helm: The Night They Drove ol' Dixie Down (Helm's voice was beautiful)
The Weight (Helm & Danko)
Rick Danko: The Shape I'm In (Danko singing the late Richard Manuel's parts)
Raining in My Heart (Buddy Holly song, Dr. John on bass, Danko on guitar)
Clarence Clemmons: Quarter to Three (with some silly rapping verses with Preston)
You Are a Friend of Mine (?? that smarmy pop hit from a few years ago)
special feature: Get Back (with local Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston (gag), lousy)
All in all, about what I expected, similar to other reviews of this tour. Not
anything spectacular, but fun, for the most part. Too much posturing by Ringo
when he was up front, and his drumming was pretty much buried under Keltner's
and Helm's (but the three of them worked pretty smoothly together). Ringo was
completely absent on maybe three or four songs. Clemmons played some good tenor
and baritone on a few songs, especially some subtle lines on "Candy", but the
young crowd wanted him to blast out in his usual E Street Band-style, which he
did two or three times. Nobody seemed to have a clue who Lofgren was, but his
songs were excellent, his voice was superb, and his guitar was terrific (I pre-
ferred it to Walsh's noise), but the crowd was less reponsive to unfamiliar
songs. I still don't know what Walsh is doing on this tour, I could've done
without all of his features, though he does play some powerful slide guitar.
The guitar mouthbag that he uses in the middle of "Rocky Mountain Way" was
connected to one of those neat little undersize Les Paul guitars, about three
quarters normal size....but the stage techies couldn't get it to work, so
Lofgren filled in with a tasty little solo while Walsh changed back to his
slide Les Paul. Lofgren played accordion on a couple. Danko's voice was a
little strained, not his usual good self, but not bad either. Helm had his
mandolin up there, but he never used it. Dr. John did a couple of funky
little dance-struts out front a couple of times, once with his full Mardi
Gras headdress on, hilarious. Preston did his usual routine of getting the
crowd fired up at some slow moments, with his dancing and shouting. All of
the Beatles songs were pretty lackluster, except maybe the finale. There was
never any recognition of Keltner's constant perfect drumming....he's an ace.
The real reasons I went to this show turned out to be the best parts of it
for me - Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, and Jim Keltner.
Ringo acknowledged the night's history - the 20th anniversary of Woodstock
(it also happened to be the 18th anniversary of the Bangla Desh Benefit
concert, which included Ringo, Keltner, and Preston), and the younger folks
in the audience seemed to be having a great time. Two next to me kept asking
me, "Who's that guy? Who'd he play with?" They didn't seem to know the cast
of characters until they'd suddenly hear some unforgettable song starting up,
like when Levon lit into "Virgil Kane is the name and I rode on the Danville
train..." or "I pulled into Nazareth, I was feelin' 'bout half past dead..."
Then everyone would go nuts with surprise, like "I didn't know HE was here!"