Ringo Starr And His New All-Starr Band: Tour 2003 [DVD]

This disc would have gotten five stars, had the whole wonderful show been included and put in the correct order. This was a fantastic tour, why in the world would they cut half of it out and put it in a blender? If there ever consistently is an over 2 hour show that just flies by, it's an All-Starr Band show. Every one of them has been great fun to see and hear, and this show was one of the best. The biggest omissions from my view are the rest of Greg Lake's songs, and not showing the dueling drum solos between Sheila and Ringo. Ringo NEVER did drum solos, but Sheila brought it out on this tour--how could anyone cut that out? Ringo's drumming was inspired more than it has been in decades on this tour (prodded by Sheila I think) it's a shame so much of it was left on the cutting room floor...

The other small complaint I have with this is the rear 5.1 sound mix has too much echo and delay to be mixed as loud as it is. On some of the songs that became a distraction, which is something you should never be noticing at all. It may not bother any of you, and is still a more exciting listen than the stereo mix.

Don't think twice about buying this disc though, what is here is very enjoyable. If it sells enough, who knows, maybe we can get all the old shows put out--complete please--on DVD too. That other All-Starr Best of DVD is a nice preview to what is sitting in the vaults somewhere. The complete All-Starr Gary Brooker version was out on VHS, why not DVD? How about it, you studio business types out there, start giving the people what they want on DVD! And stop cutting up great shows! Anyone that wants to buy a concert video, wants the whole show, its as simple as that. Why is it such a foreign concept to these companies? They just keep feeding us half-baked releases over and over again, when they have all the ingedients for REALLY tastey releases still sitting in the cupboards.

Ringo's 2001 All-Starr tour was a tremendous success
in terms of music and entertainment value. When this tour
was initially announced, the eclectic nature of this
particular line-up of musicians (Ringo Starr, Roger Hodgson,
Sheila E., Greg Lake, Ian Hunter, Mark Rivera, Howard Jones)
seemed to almost defy logic because of the conflicting musical
styles of the individual members (a fact to which Hodgson
jokingly referred during the actual shows.) Amazingly,
however, the band seamlessly clicked in the live setting
as each musician selflessly mastered the styles of the
rest while apparently enjoying every moment. The result
was a unique and completely enjoyable tour that demonstrated
the joyous qualities of the finest musical collaborations.

After experiencing this tour in person, I was overjoyed to
learn about the upcoming DVD release. However, I was
eventually disappointed to discover that the DVD does
not contain the entire show. Instead, the disk
features MOST of the highlights of the tour but sadly
the well-paced original 2-hour set list has been rearranged
and cut down to a modest 80 minutes. Several stand-out
songs (most glaringly Lake's "In the Court of the Crimson
King" and Hunter's touching "I'm Going to Be Someone") have
been cut. Because this unique line-up of musicians will not
tour again, I'm puzzled as to why the entire show wasn't
immortalized on DVD (especially considering Ringo's previous
All-Starr DVD and VHS releases have been far more generous.)
Still, what remains is top quality entertainment and proof
that Ringo still knows how to surround himself with top talent
to throw a fantastic musical party.

Ringo Starr Tour 2003 marks the third recent Ringo tour DVD. Ringo's various All-Starr tours are always very entertaining and feature unique line-ups of talented performers. The 2003 line-up was no exception and offers up many classic songs performed by the original singers. Highlights include Ringo's usual hits (this time adding lively renditions of "Don't Pass Me By," "Honey Don't," and "Memphis on Your Mind") and other standouts like Colin Hay's "Land Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now?" Paul Carrack's "How Long?" and "The Living Years," and John Waite's "When I See You Smile."

However, although the vocal talents of this particular All-Starr group (John Waite, Colin Hay, Sheila E., Mark Rivera, Paul Carrack) are very impressive on all the songs, it was not quite as strong musically as some of Ringo's other groupings. Some of these same songs are featured on Ringo's 2001 release ("Ringo and his New All-Starr Band") and quite frankly are performed better there with a higher energy level (particularly when comparing Waite's rudimentary bass playing on the funky Sheila E. numbers like "Glamorous Life" with ELP's Greg Lake's stand-out earlier work on the 2001 DVD or with the work of other former All-Starr bassists such as the Who's John Entwistle or Cream's Jack Bruce.) Colin Hay's lead guitar work also could have used a supplement from the stellar line-up of guitarists (Peter Frampton, Nils Lofgren, Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, Randy Bachman, Mark Farner) from other Ringo tours featured on "The Best of the All-Starr Band So Far" DVD.

To be fair, the filmed concert on the new DVD was the FIRST of the band's entire tour, meaning the group hadn't really jelled as it would after weeks of touring. On most songs the performances are top rate nonetheless. As the DVD reveals, Sheila E. was also nursing an unfortunate knee injury that particular evening (yet still amazes as a drummer, singer, and the ultimate gamer) which may have affected the band's carefree chemistry on that night only--especially during her physically challenging solo numbers.

The photography of the concert itself is quite well done. The interspersed documentary footage is wonderfully entertaining due to the upbeat personalities of the talented musicians but also interrupts the flow of the concert songs. Unfortunately there is not a "play songs only" mode to play the just the concert. In addition, unlike Ringo's other DVD's, there is no DTS sound option (only 5.1 surround). Although Ringo seems more fun to hang around with than Paul McCartney on his "Back in the US" disk (no offense to Sir Paul--Ringo is just a classic lovable guy with a stellar sense of humor), some might prefer just watching the concert's momentum unfold as on the tour. In addition, some standout songs (Hay's "Overkill," Carrack's "Tempted") performed on the tour have been left off the disk. Even the tour's emotional highpoint, a moving tribute to George Harrison, is left out of the regular documentary and is shown only in an added bonus rehearsal version.

Overall, I would recommend this disk for Ringo completists and fans of the individual 2003 All-Starrs. However, I would recommend Ringo's other DVDs if you are shopping for your first Ringo disk or prefer your concerts uninterrupted by documentary footage.