Ringo was awesome live with The Beatles

BeatlesFan

Senior Member
If you watch old footage, he has so much personality, charisma, and was badass on the drums...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiJDWLLrGNY

I Saw Her Standing There (Washington Coliseum, February 1964): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiJDWLLrGNY

She Loves You (Washington Coliseum, February 1964): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxriebbeHrc

Long Tall Sally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhxxQn5HsQs

Check out this rare cover of Elvis' I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You:
The Beatles cover (16 July 1963): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBwkYlcT6eQ
If the link doesn't work try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxsH-Sz0Rbo

Original by Elvis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjSGEA3N98g
 
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Funny, I was looking at some videos of him last night and thinking how innovative he was for his time. Look at him throwing the mounted tom into the backbeat on this one (one of their live performances spliced into a studio recording):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kge_Krzuegs

Watch his facial expression arounf 1:23. He's really getting into it.
 
Funny, I was looking at some videos of him last night and thinking how innovative he was for his time. Look at him throwing the mounted tom into the backbeat on this one (one of their live performances spliced into a studio recording):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kge_Krzuegs

Watch his facial expression arounf 1:23. He's really getting into it.

LOL! I think he really started getting into the song at 1:16, making John laugh.
 
The Dude was, and still is, FAB!
Think about how hard that was, being on stage with poor monitors and none of the live performance enhancers that exist today.
The audience was so loud that you could not hear what you were playing.
How about the vocal harmonies! How did they do that?
 
The Dude was, and still is, FAB!
Think about how hard that was, being on stage with poor monitors and none of the live performance enhancers that exist today.
The audience was so loud that you could not hear what you were playing.
How about the vocal harmonies! How did they do that?

I recently stumbled upon a DVD with unreleased footage of The Beatles playing live. The harmonies were all over the place, as you'd expect. Ringo, of course, was rock solid.

Watching the clips, you can see why they gave up gigging. It didn't matter where they went, the reaction was the same. There's footage of them playing in Japan and it's the usual scream scream scream, all in the same places in the songs.

Early on it must have been mind-blowing and funny for them, but in the end there's no way you could enjoy playing music under those conditions.
 
The Beatles were still together and making records when live concerts had evolved well beyond what they were when the Beatles were still playing out. There were proper PA systems, monitors, stage crews and security and the audience had grown up. Girls weren't screaming anymore. The first concerts I went to were in the late sixties and I saw every band I could. No screaming girls.

What a shame that no one in the band realized that. I think the Beatles could have been a great live band if they'd just made the decision to go on tour again. The Stones did it. Hell, everyone did it.

What might have been and all that.
 
What a shame that no one in the band realized that. I think the Beatles could have been a great live band if they'd just made the decision to go on tour again. The Stones did it. Hell, everyone did it.

What might have been and all that.

I'm sure I remember reading something on this years ago. It was all about the direction they took in the studio after deciding to pull the pin on the live shows...............the vast amounts of over dubs and use of other studio trickery couldn't be reproduced live at that time?!?!?
 
I'm sure I remember reading something on this years ago. It was all about the direction they took in the studio after deciding to pull the pin on the live shows...............the vast amounts of over dubs and use of other studio trickery couldn't be reproduced live at that time?!?!?

Heck, I thought they sounded pretty good when they played on the roof of Abbey Road studio, the only addition being Billy Preston on electric piano. They could have done it.
 
Heck, I thought they sounded pretty good when they played on the roof of Abbey Road studio, the only addition being Billy Preston on electric piano. They could have done it.

Can't argue with that!! Yes, it was a great performance. Agreed there should have been more.

"What might have been and all that." Indeed.
 
I wonder if the decision to go back to the roots in Let It Be was in part driven by the wish to play live again? They seemed to be enjoying themselves on the rooftop.

Good musos, great vocalists and outstanding songwriters ... no doubt that they'd have been great to see live. I have old live clips of The Animals as well and they were screamed at a lot too ... what with Eric being so cool and wry etc. Not as much, but enough to make for challenging gigging conditions.
 
I'm seeing Ringo with his band at a casino in June. So stoked :D

Cool. What casino might that be? I would love to talk the tribe I work for into bringing that act on.

As for Beatles live performances - I think their last one was Shea Stadium in 1965. I was 7 years old at the time and living in Paris, France, though a huge Beatles fan even back then. I caught a glimpse of the Fab 4 in Paris back in 65 or 66. They were of course swamped with the usual mobs, though. Wasn't a whole lot to see, really. Distant guys in suits with moppy hair and running for their lives, lol.
 
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Cool. What casino might that be? I would love to talk the tribe I work for into bringing that act on.

As for Beatles live performances - I think their last one was Shea Stadium in 1965. I was 7 years old at the time and living in Paris, France, though a huge Beatles fan even back then. I caught a glimpse of the Fab 4 in Paris back in 65 or 66. They were of course swamped with the usual mobs, though. Wasn't a whole lot to see, really. Distant guys in suits with moppy hair and running for their lives, lol.

Casino Niagara. I'm pretty sure he only really does the casino tours now.
 
Love the links, Beatles Fan. I had no idea of those BBC sessions. Nothing makes it more clear how much Ringo was holding back to provide appropriate accompaniment.

He's turning 70? OMG that makes me feel old.
 
Love the links, Beatles Fan. I had no idea of those BBC sessions. Nothing makes it more clear how much Ringo was holding back to provide appropriate accompaniment.

He's turning 70? OMG that makes me feel old.

My mom was born in 1964. So that makes me feel young. LOL!
 
Love the links, Beatles Fan. I had no idea of those BBC sessions. Nothing makes it more clear how much Ringo was holding back to provide appropriate accompaniment.

He's turning 70? OMG that makes me feel old.

Sigh. me too. Yeah, now I remember that some of the Beatles were war babies that survived the bombings of Liverpool in 1940. Ringo was one of them.
 
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