Men At Work’s Colin Hay—one of the busiest touring artists in the industry—had come down with a “chest infection,” which led him to sitting the Saturday night classic rock revue out. Despite his rightful spot as one of the most powerful vocalists to come out of Scotland, Hay is already a pretty important link to the current lineup of the funny Beatle’s long-running All-Starr Band, being capable of taking on the impossibly high vocals on the chorus of Toto’s “Africa,” and of course, leading his pals through a trio of Men At Work jams, on which he does most of his own guitar work.
His bandmates weren’t going to just perform those songs without him though, so in between the remaining All-Starrs’ mostly-standard regular set, this rare situation saw the boys throw some never-before-played classic rock standards in their place.
Toto’s Steve Lukather (a bandmate of Ringo’s since 2012) would take the forefront on Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing,” even filling it to the brim with some frenetic guitar work that would have impressed the late Woodstock legend.
Aerosmith keyboardist Buck Johnson, who has filled Edgar Winter’s shoes since the band’s last visit here in 2023, was a living, breathing reminder to never assume that the keyboardist can’t carry a tune. Being more of a touring musician rather than the co-founder of a band, Johnson wasn’t granted a trio of his own songs to perform on this tour, but he took the helm during a Jeff Beck Group rendition of Alabama State Troupers’ “Going Down.”
Oh, and the “Africa” chorus? On a Hay-free stage this tour, no one (sorry, Warren Ham) could have belted it out better.
Then there was Ringo, two weeks away from his 85th birthday and in better form than some people half his age: Head full of brown hair, probably roasting in his star-spotted black blazer, and still doing full-on jumping jacks without breaking a sweat. He made sure to blend in a healthy amount of the Beatles tunes that he sang leads on all those years ago, along with a John Lennon-penned “I’m The Greatest,” the title track of his new country album Look Up, and most notably, a transposed version of (ironically) the funniest stoner song of all time, 1974’s “No-No Song.”
“I have so many requests for it,” Ringo explained beforehand. “It’s strange to me, but here we are.”
Just when you thought the touring supergroup had succeeded in making it up to all the disappointed Men At Work stans in the crowd, it decided to throw in some local star power during the “With A Little Help from My Friends” finale. John Travolta, along with Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander and his kids Robin Taylor and Robin-Sailor, walked out unannounced to sing background harmonies for ol’ Billy Shears (oh, shut up: Paul’s not dead).
See Ryan Kern’s photos below.
