One night wasn’t enough, so Ravinia scheduled two back-to-back concerts for The Beach Boys and Ringo Starr with his All-Starr Band over the weekend. It was a perfect night under the stars as these two pop superstars took to the stage.
The Beach Boys were accompanied by special guest star John Stamos of Full House, who leaped his way from drums to guitar and back again. He even brought his baby son, Billy, to play drums with him. Stamos, who has been living his dream, has been on tour with The Beach Boys for 35 years.
It was a night of happy memories as The Beach Boys went through their entire songbook and then some, bringing the audience back to a time when life was a lot simpler and more innocent. Lead by singer and frontman Mike Love, The Beach Boys setlist included, “Little Deuce Coupe,” “409,” “I Get Around,” “California Girls,” “Sloop John B,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “God Only Knows,” “Pisces Brothers,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Kokomo,” “Good Vibrations,” and more. Love was accompanied by a 10-piece band that included Bruce Johnston, Christian Love, Randell Kirsch, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill, and Scott Totten. The audience was up on their feet for most of the performance, singing and dancing along to their most treasured songs.
Love introduced a new song, California Beach, from his new solo album, 12 Sides of Summer, which represents his band’s trademark vibes with covers from The Ramones’ “Rockaway Beach” to The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.” Mike Love promised they’d be back on stage.
After intermission, Ringo Starr, who first made his appearance at Ravinia in 1995, is now celebrating the 30th anniversary of his first All-Starr Band tour. The current lineup of his supergroup features guitarist Steve Lukather (Toto), keyboardist Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey), drummer Gregg Bissonette (David Lee Roth), bassist Hamish Stuart (Average White Band), guitarist Colin Hay (Men at Work), and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham (Kansas, Toto). Kudos to Hamm on the saxophone and flute, who was outstanding with songs like “I Come from the Land Down Under, “Pick up the Pieces,” “Evil Ways,” and “Black Magic Woman” from Rolie’s Santana days.
At 79, Ringo looked a lot happier behind the drums, but he came to the mike out front for his iconic songs, “Yellow Submarine,” “It Don’t Come Easy,” “You’re Sixteen,” “Act Naturally,” “Boys,” and “A Little Help from My Friends”. He sang number ones “Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen” with “that other band I used to be with.”
Love kept his promise and joined Ringo on stage for “Give Peace a Chance,” which everyone was singing as they were leaving the show. Give Peace a Chance, indeed.
Next up at Ravinia this week is Chicago on August 10 and 11, Sarah McLachlan on August 12, Nickelback with Buckcherry on August 13 – 14, Pentatonix with Rachel Platten on August 15, Sting on August 23 – 24, and Queen Latifah on August 31.
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Featured Image Credit: Matthew Murphy
