POP MUSIC REVIEWS : All-Starr Rockers Return to Yesterday

With the deaths of Jerry Garcia and Mickey Mantle, Baby Boomers have fielded a flood of childhood memories lately. What better time for Ringo Starr to bring the third edition of his All-Starr Band nostalgia revue to town for two shows at the Greek Theatre?

But it wasn’t a Beatles song that first brought the crowd to its feet Friday, or even one from John Entwhistle, representing the Who in this All-Starr lineup. It was BTO co-founder Randy Bachman singing “Takin’ Care of Business.”

Sure, it’s a fine radio song and a nifty office supplies store jingle. But people! Don’t you want a little more meaning in your memories?

Maybe not. Cheers were plentiful for the Ringo-led roster of rockers, each offering a few hits from long-gone glory days. The best: ex-Rascal Felix Cavaliere, in amazingly good voice. The worst: the annoying, prancing Mark Farner of Grand Funk.

Also on hand was the spirited Billy Preston and, joining on encores, Joe Walsh (a former All-Starr) and Guns N’ Roses’ Slash (a future candidate?).

Ringo contributed good-natured renditions of songs you’d guess (“Yellow Submarine”; “Photograph”). Frankly, the real, uh, Starr of the show was Zak Starkey. Ringo’s 20-something son, paired with his pop on drums, took a powerhouse turn in the Keith Moon role during Entwhistle’s “My Wife.”

But the novelty of this novelty tour has worn off (which explains the many empty seats). Maybe some day Ringo will live up to his opening number, “It Don’t Come Easy,” and give a show of depth and character worthy of an ex-Beatle rather than a pizza pitchman.