By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Music Blogger
Ringo Starr is still delivering the music. And a lot more. Along, of course, with peace and love.
Dressed in a t-shirt with a peace sign and the words Peace and Love under a dark demin jacket, he held a Zoom press conference which included PubClub.com, to promote a book, his STARR ART exhibition at Animazing Art Gallery (September 5-October 15) in the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas, a country album with with T Bone Burnett and the current tour with his All-Starr Band.
All the while, he was typical Ringo, amazingly chill and even humble about the whole thing and using phrases from the 60s. such as “far out” as if it’s the most natural thing to have all of those projects and to be so famous.
“I’ve never put a band longer,” he said about forming the All-Starr band. “I just starting calling people I knew and nobody said no. It was so far out!” (A band member was not so casual about it. “You get to play with Ringo,” he said. “If he calls, you say yes!”)
About continuing to tour all these years, he casually said “we have to tour to get the pleasure of playing for people. I love playing live. It works. It just (pause) works.”
The All-Starr Band’s 12-concert tour in September includes six dates at the Venetian. “The first time (he played Vegas) was in the 60s with the lads. Then I put the band together. It’s so great. It’s Music City and I loved it. I went to the Sphere and it’s fabulous!”
Regarding his artwork, “It’s just something I love to do. I’ve got one little room where I can throw paint around. It’s a lot of spin art, and it’s so abstract, because you can’t control it, really.”
On his upcoming country album with T Bone, released in January 2025 which garnered him his first UK #1 and saw him chart in the Top 10 on numerous Billboard Charts and make his Grand Ole Opry debut, he said, “I love country music so there’s no problem with it; I just get on with it…T-Bone sort of likes the idea that my first recordings with the Beatles were Carl Perkins songs. I love Carl Perkins. Starr then revealed that “next year we’re coming out with another country album.”
The book? Ringo’s last book Beats and Threads published by Julien’s Auctions is an unprecedented chronicle of more than 70 years of his legendary sonic and sartorial style dedicated solely to his historic drum kits and era defining garments that in time signature made music and fashion history. Features 300 images and offers for the first-time the most comprehensive look at his legendary Beatles-era drum kits containing decades of research-based information with curated and detailed photographs of these pieces of music history.
He ended the press conference Zoom with three words, said, twice: “peace and love. Peace and love.”
The All-Starr Band Fall Tour Dates
September 2025:
• 10 The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL
• 12 Miller High Life Theater, Milwaukee, WI
• 13 Bourbon & Beyond, Louisville, KY
• 17 The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV
• 19 The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV
• 20 The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV
• 21 Ironstone, Murphys, CA
• 23 Yaamava’ Resort & Casino, Highland, CA
• 24 The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV
• 26 The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV
• 27 The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV
Members of the All-Star band are: Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Hamish Stuart, Warren Ham, Buck Johnson and Gregg Bissonette. The musical director is Mark Rivera.
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