{"id":358157,"date":"2026-06-12T18:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/358157\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T18:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:06:14","slug":"review-beatles-legend-ringo-starr-concert-tour-hits-san-jose-civic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/358157\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Beatles legend Ringo Starr concert tour hits San Jose Civic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ringo Starr<\/a> was full of energy and enthusiasm as he took the stage on Thursday night (June 11) with His All Starr Band.<\/p>\n

\u201cReady to hear some good music?\u201d the 85-year-old Beatles<\/a> legend asked the packed house at the San Jose Civic.\u00a0 \u201cI have to tell you that all of you in the venue will know at least one song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk about underpromising then overdelivering.<\/p>\n

Starr<\/a> and his band of merry men would deliver a 100-minute-plus show that was filled with 22 great tunes that most everyone in the house knew by heart. That included songs from both The Beatles\u2019<\/a> catalog \u2014 ones like \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends\u201d that Starr<\/a> originally sang lead vocals on \u2014 and Sir Ringo\u2019s<\/a> own often-underrated solo catalog.<\/p>\n

\"RingoRingo Starr performs with \u201cRingo Starr and His All-Starr Band\u201d at the San Jose Civic in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The concert also mined the catalogs of three of the members of His All Starr Band \u2014 guitarist-vocalist Steve Lukather from Toto<\/a>, vocalist-guitarist Colin Hay of Men at Work<\/a> and bassist-vocalist Hamish Stuart from Average White Band.<\/p>\n

And one can make a case that some of these selections \u2014 especially the old MTV blockbusters \u201cDown Under\u201d by Men at Work and \u201cAfrica\u201d by Toto \u2014 are even more prominent and familiar to crowds today than much of the Starr material.<\/p>\n

Indeed, \u201cAfrica\u201d might be the single most omnipresent \u201980s tune of the last 10 years \u2014 having wrestled that title away from Journey\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Believin’\u201d \u2014 thanks in large part to a straight-ahead (and totally unnecessary) cover by Weezer.<\/p>\n

\"RingoRingo Starr, far right, Steve Lukather, left, and Warren Ham, center, perform with \u201cRingo Starr and His All-Starr Band\u201d at the San Jose Civic in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rest of His All Starr Band was filled with seasoned pros \u2014 saxophonist Warren Ham (who also hails from Toto, but wasn\u2019t in the fold when the band crafted its biggest hits), drummer Gregg Bissonette (who has worked with everyone from David Lee Roth to Pat Boone) and keyboardist Buck Johnson (whose credits include Aerosmith and Hollywood Vampires).<\/p>\n

The show kicked off with Starr down at centerstage, working in front of his six bandmates and running through the Carl Perkins rockabilly favorite \u201cMatchbox,\u201d a Beatles favorite dating way back to the pre-Ringo days when Pete Best was on the drum throne and handled vocals on the cover tune.<\/p>\n

\"RingoRingo Starr performs with \u201cRingo Starr and His All-Starr Band\u201d at the San Jose Civic in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starr stayed on the microphone for the 1971 solo smash \u201cIt Don\u2019t Come Easy,\u201d before heading back to his drum kit \u2014 erected next to the one where Bissonette thundered away all night long \u2014 and handing the show over axe-man extraordinaire Lukather for a terrific take on Toto\u2019s \u201cRosanna.\u201d The song, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1983 ceremony, climaxed with a absolutely triumphant guitar solo from Lukather, showing once again why he\u2019s one of the very best in the business.<\/p>\n

\""Ringo\u201cRingo Starr and His All-Starr Band,\u201d including Steve Lukather, center, Warren Ham, far left, and Ringo Starr, far right, perform at the San Jose Civic in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

From there, Stuart stepped to the forefront with the Average White Band\u2019s groovy instrumental \u201cPick Up the Pieces,\u201d which found Ham\u2019s leading the way with his mighty tenor sax work. Then it was time for Hay, who zoomed right back to days when MTV ruled the entertainment world as he led the crowd in a sing-along of \u201cDown Under.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lest we not forget who was the Starr of the show, Sir Ringo popped back up with \u201cBoys\u201d \u2014 a Shirelles classic that the Beatles covered and released on the 1963 U.K. debut \u201cPlease Please Me\u201d \u2014 as he handled the vocals from the drumkit. He then set down the drumsticks and ventured down front for the John Lennon-penned \u201cI\u2019m the Greatest\u201d that served as the opening track to 1973\u2019s \u201cRingo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starr sounded strong on the microphone throughout the night \u2014 never wowing, of course, but certainly doing justice to these longtime fan favorites. He also managed to more than just keep pace with Bissonette on drums, which is certainly no easy feat. And he showed off that classic Ringo sense of humor as he interacted with the crowd, playfully responding to one fan\u2019s cry for his attention with: \u201cYeah, what do you want? Let me stop the whole show and come over to talk with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starr continued on with \u201cYellow Submarine,\u201d which arguably resulted in the biggest sing-along of the night, and then left the stage as his bandmates grooved through a funky version of the Average White Band\u2019s \u201cCut the Cake\u201d that included nods to Queen, Led Zeppelin, Free, Rolling Stones and, most appropriately, The Beatles.<\/p>\n

\"FromFrom left to right, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette, and Colin Hay perform with \u201cRingo Starr and His All-Starr Band\u201d at the San Jose Civic in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starr then reappeared to handle lead vocals on a trio of tunes \u2014 staying on the \u201cYellow Submarine\u201d underwater theme with the Beatles\u2019 \u201cOctopus\u2019s Garden\u201d; following up with the big \u201cNo No Song\u201d solo hit from 1974\u2019s \u201cGoodnight Vienna\u201d; and then closing out the segment by touching on his latest solo album, this year\u2019s country music effort \u201cLong Long Road,\u201d with \u201cChoose Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Starr moved back to the drums and made room for his bandmates to race through another round of hits, as Hay powered through both Men at Work\u2019s \u201cWho Can It Be Now?\u201d and \u201cOverkill,\u201d Lukather unleashed Toto\u2019s \u201cAfrica\u201d and \u201cHold the Line\u201d and Stuart switched from bass to guitar for AWB\u2019s Isley Brothers cover \u201cWork to Do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show wrapped up in Starr-studded fashion, as the man of the hour took centerstage one more time for the platinum-plus-selling \u201cRingo\u201d single \u201cPhotograph\u201d and then returned to his Beatles days with the country cover of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos\u2019 \u201cAct Naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

As expected, the closer was the Fab Four favorite \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends\u201d \u2014 which found His All Starr Band burgeoning into an octet with the appearance of Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon and Vic Johnson from Sammy Hagar and the Circle.<\/p>\n

Starr took his bows as \u201cMy Friends\u201d was wrapping up and waltzed off stage. Yet, the song then managed to twist its way into the John Lennon anti-war anthem \u201cGive Peace a Chance,\u201d which brought the band leader bounding right back into the mix to help close out the night with plenty of his signature \u201cPeace and Love\u201d vibes.<\/p>\n

\"RingoRingo Starr, left, and Hamish Stuart, right, perform with \u201cRingo Starr and His All-Starr Band\u201d at the San Jose Civic in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Setlist:<\/p>\n

1. \u201cMatchbox\u201d
2. \u201cIt Don\u2019t Come Easy\u201d
3. \u201cRosanna\u201d
4. \u201cPick Up the Pieces\u201d
5. \u201cDown Under\u201d
6. \u201cBoys\u201d
7. \u201cI\u2019m the Greatest\u201d
8. \u201cYellow Submarine\u201d
9. \u201cCut the Cake\u201d
10. \u201cOctopus\u2019s Garden\u201d
11. \u201cNo No Song\u201d
12. \u201cChoose Love\u201d
13. \u201cOverkill\u201d
14. \u201cAfrica\u201d
15. \u201cWork to Do\u201d
16. \u201cI Wanna Be Your Man\u201d
17. \u201cWho Can It Be Now?\u201d
18. \u201cHold the Line\u201d
19. \u201cPhotograph\u201d
20. \u201cAct Naturally\u201d
21. \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends\u201d
Encore:
22. \u201cGive Peace a Chance\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ringo Starr was full of energy and enthusiasm as he took the stage on Thursday night (June 11)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,2644,44992,4978,967,1533,181,330,3743,2944,8257,8258,88,90,89,198,94685,200,420],"class_list":["post-358157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-concerts","tag-country-music","tag-downtown-san-jose","tag-entertainment","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-music","tag-nightlife","tag-photos-and-videos","tag-pop-music","tag-rock-music","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-social-alert","tag-south-bay","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}