Beatles News
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band have announced the first of their 2026 tour dates.
The group concluded its 2025 concerts in September with a series of performances at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The new tour starts in late May and runs through mid-June. "I am happy to be touring again in the spring," Starr said in a press release announcing the shows. "See you all in June. Peace and love."
The All Starr Band currently includes Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette and Buck Johnson.
Starr's latest album, Look Up, was released in January, marking his return to country music after a several-decade hiatus. He famously recorded Buck Owens' "Act Naturally" with the Beatles, and the 1970 solo LP, Beaucoups of Blues, was recorded in Nashville.
He and Look Up producer T Bone Burnett are now in the studio working on a follow-up album. Where Is Ringo Starr's All Starr Band Playing in 2026?
Starr and His All Starr Band will hit the road on May 28 for a date in Temecula, California. Over the next few weeks, they will perform dates in San Diego, Tucson, Denver and Phoenix.
The run is scheduled to conclude with a concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on June 14.
You can see the 2026 tour dates for Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band below.
For more information about the shows and tickets, visit Starr's website.
Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band Tour 2026
May 28 Pechanga Resort Casino, Temecula, CA
May 29 Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, San Diego, CA
May 31 Findlay Toyota Center, Prescott, AZ
June 1 Eccles Theater, Salt Lake City, UT
June 3 Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, Tucson, AZ
June 5 Thunder Valley Casino, Lincoln, CA
June 6 Vina Robles Ampitheatre, Paso Robles, CA
June 8 Kiva Auditorium, Albuquerque, NM
June 9 Bellco Theatre, Denver, CO
June 11 San Jose Civic, San Jose, CA
June 12 Gammage Auditorium, Phoenix, AZ
June 14 The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Source: Ultimate Classic
If you are a devout Beatles fan, then you know the history behind their iconic No. 1 hit song, “Come Together”. If you don’t, then long story short is that Chuck Berry’s song “You Can’t Catch Me” heavily influenced John Lennon during the writing process. As a matter of fact, the opening lines in both songs are nearly identical. Consequently, after the song’s release, Berry’s publishing company, Big Seven Music, accused Lennon of plagiarism.
Instead of settling the case in court, Lennon agreed to record three songs for Big Seven Music. Though it seems this concern was a concern from the start, as Paul McCartney voiced his perspective on the matter when John Lennon first showed him the song back in the late 1960s. Paul McCartney Loved the Song, but He Knew John Lennon Needed To Change It Up.
In an interview with Dana Carvey and David Spade on Fly On The Wall, Paul McCartney recalled the moment John Lennon showed him “Come Together”. Paul McCartney seemingly dug the song, but he knew that if they didn’t alter some things, Berry’s parties would meet the band with legal action.
“We’re in Abbey Road Studio number two, and John comes in, and he goes, ‘Listen to this one I got… Here come old flat top,’ and I go, ‘John, stop, that’s ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ by Chuck Berry,’” McCartney said. “And he goes, ‘Yeah, I know. But it’s good though, isn’t it?’ I said, ‘No, you gotta do something with it.’”
McCartney continued, “So, that was a case where we had to get it out of that Chuck Berry tempo. You couldn’t change that opening line. It’s just such a good opening line, and John had to pay Chuck Berry for using that later.”
Despite changing the tempo of the song, it seems that it still wasn’t enough to avoid a legal dispute. Nevertheless, this was seemingly no sweat off John Lennon and The Beatles’ backs, as the song was an enormous success.
Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com
On December 8, 1980, John Lennon passed away in front of The Dakota Hotel in New York City. 21 years later, George Harrison passed away on November 29, 2001, after a battle with lung cancer. A battle he’d fought for roughly four years after he received a cancer diagnosis in 1998. 17 days before his passing, Harrison met with his good friends Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney for the last time, which was on this day, November 12, 2001, at a hotel in New York City.
Harrison’s battle with cancer was both lengthy as well as diverse, as the man didn’t just have one type of cancer. Originally, in 1998, Harrison had a throat tumor. Subsequently, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and in 2001, the thing that ultimately took his life was a brain tumor brought on by the cancer. The day he passed away, the news was reported across the globe, and other than leaving behind one of the greatest legacies in pop culture history, his death also became a warning against smoking.
Nevertheless, on this day, November 12, 2001, Harrison scored a little bit of peace before his death when his friends and former bandmates met with him at a hotel in Manhattan.
At the time of their meeting, George Harrison was receiving treatment for cancer. The meeting between the three former Beatles was a lunch, and luckily, there were no cameras or press there to document the event. Rather, it was just three very old friends reminiscing on the past, which certainly brought both laughter and tears to the conversation.
Given that there was no press present at the meeting, there is no way to know what the three friends discussed. And that is a good thing, as that conversation should only belong to them, and them alone. While the subject matter is unknown, the meeting was surely incredibly cathartic for the three friends. It’s unclear if Starr and McCartney knew they were saying goodbye to their friend in this moment. Regardless, they did, because this was the final time they saw Harrison, as he passed away 17 days later.
Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com
By the time George Harrison and Bob Dylan were in the Traveling Wilburys with Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne in 1988, the two already had established a long friendship, and collaborations, from the early 1960s, first co-writing, Harrison’s All Things Must Pass opening track “I’d Have You Anytime,” during sessions in November 1968 at Dylan’s home in Woodstock, New York.
Both remained friends through Harrison’s death in 2001 and collaborated on several more songs including co-writing several songs for the Traveling Wilburys, including “End of the Line” and “Handle With Care,” along with “Nowhere to Go” (“When Everybody Comes to Town”), a song they co-wrote in the late ’60s and later recorded at Dylan’s home in Greenwich Village in New York in 1970.
“Bob Dylan is the most consistent artist there is,” said Harrison. “Even his stuff, which people loathe, I like. Every single thing he does represents something that’s him. He may write better songs tomorrow, sing high on this album and low on another, go electric or acoustic, go weird or whatever, but the basic thing that causes all this change is an incredible character named Bob Dylan.”
From All Things Pass to Harrison’s through the early ’90s, the former Beatle also covered several Dylan songs along the way.
George Harrison first recorded a solo performance of Dylan’s “If Not For You” for co-producer Phil Spector in London during the All Things Must Pass sessions. Along with his co-write with Dylan, “I’d Have You Anytime” opening the album, Harrison’s cover of his New Morning track “It’s Not for You” appeared on side two of All Things That Pass. Dylan and Harrison later recorded “If Not for You” for possible inclusion in the Concert for Bangladesh, which was released on the concert film in 1972 and again on DVD in 2005.
In 1971, Olivia Newton-John also recorded a version of “If Not For You” as the title track of her debut album; the single went to No. 7 on the UK chart.
Source: Tina Benitez-Eves/americansongwriter.com
True love can and often does manifest in strange, mysterious ways—like the time John Lennon wrote a particularly pining Beatles song that he would later come to realize was about Yoko Ono. At the time he wrote the song, he had yet to meet Ono at her avant-garde art exhibition at the Indica Gallery in London. That wouldn’t happen until early November 1966, almost one year to the date that Lennon and the rest of the band recorded the song that they would feature on Rubber Soul.
As Lennon explained in Anthology, he wrote the Rubber Soul track, “Girl”, with no particular girl in mind. “There is no such thing as the girl,” he clarified. “She was a dream. But the words are all right. It wasn’t just a song. And it was about that girl. That turned out to be Yoko, in the end. The one that a lot of us were looking for.”
From the intimate performance that captured every breath Lennon took before a vocal phrase to the dreamy instrumental arrangement, he certainly captured what it was like to wistfully imagine the partner of your dreams who has planted themselves firmly in your mind’s eye. “Is there anybody going to listen to my story all about the girl who came to stay? / She’s the kind of girl you want so much it makes you sorry / Still, you don’t regret a single day.”
John Lennon called on many sources of inspiration for his 1965 Beatles track, “Girl”. One, of course, was the imaginary and elusive woman he was pining after—the woman who would later reveal herself to be John Lennon’s second wife, Yoko Ono. But the other was a far less romantic critique of Christianity as a whole. Elaborating further on the song in Anthology, Lennon said, “It’s about, ‘Was she taught when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure? Did she understand it?’ SI was trying to say something or other about Christianity, which I was opposed to at the time because I was brought up in the Church.”
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
For the most part, who took the lead on each Beatles song made sense. No one else could’ve sung “Yellow Submarine” but Ringo Starr, and no one could’ve sung “Yesterday” but Paul McCartney. They had four vocalists with very different strengths, and they used them to their utmost advantage. There was one song, however, that John Lennon wished he had taken the lead on instead of his songwriting partner, McCartney. Find out which song Lennon thought his bandmate “didn’t sing too well” below.
McCartney’s voice works twofold. He can deliver intimate vocals that shine on his ballads. He can also roughen up his vocals a bit and better align them with his blues influences. Most fans don’t have any issues with McCartney’s lead vocals, but Lennon took issue with his performance on “Oh! Darling” from Abbey Road.
According to McCartney, he found the vocal part in that song difficult to get right. His voice needed to equal the passion in the lyrics, which is not an easy feat. According to the former Beatle, he tried to record the vocal several different ways before finding a take he was happy with.
“I mainly remember wanting to get the vocal right, wanting to get it good, and I ended up trying each morning as I came into the recording session,” McCartney once said. “I tried it with a hand mike, and I tried it with a standing mike, I tried it every which way, and finally got the vocal I was reasonably happy with. It’s a bit of a belter, and if it comes off a little bit lukewarm, then you’ve missed the whole point. It was unusual for me, I would normally try all the goes at a vocal in one day.”
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
The documentary One to One: John & Yoko turns its lens to John Lennon and Yoko Ono during the period when they first moved to New York in the early 1970s, following the breakup of the Beatles. It was a time when the couple left London behind for a small apartment in Greenwich Village, where they began mixing with political radicals, free thinkers, and activists. It was a transformational period in their lives that led to the creation of some of Lennon’s most politically charged music.
At the time, Ono was receiving intense backlash from Beatles fans who blamed her for the band’s demise. In the doc, she details the abuse she endured at their hands, and why she believes the Fab Four themselves might have fanned the flames of public resentment—whether knowingly or not. Through archival footage, candid phone calls, and Lennon’s own reflections, One to One reframes the era as a deeply turbulent time where love, art, and politics collided.
Source: Erin Maxwell/tvinsider.com
Without a phone in sight, the legendary rock artist performed a collection of his greatest hits during the Nashville show of his world tour “Got Back.”
Paul McCartney made a Nov. 6 stop in Nashville, Tennessee, for an unforgettable evening of live music and heartfelt audience interactions at The Pinnacle. Throughout his performance, McCartney spent over two-and-a-half hours singing songs encapsulating a career spanning over 60 years, from speaking about personal anecdotes to playing fan-favorite songs by The Beatles, Wings and McCartney himself.
Even though McCartney needs no introduction, which his performance surely proved, he spent the entire evening bringing fans through every corner of his musical discography — even the parts lesser known by longtime fans. McCartney is most widely known for being a leading vocalist and songwriter for The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Following the band’s disbandment in 1970, McCartney continued his work in the 1970s with Wings before eventually beginning his solo career.
The concert’s atmosphere was like nothing I had seen before: There were long lines 30 minutes before the show was scheduled to begin, and attendees were required to store all electronic devices in a Yondr pouch, which prohibited the use of phones during the show. Even though I was very disappointed with not being able to personally photograph the show, it was also reminiscent of concerts of the past and likely evoked a similar experience to a performance with all four members of The Beatles during the 1960s. It also allowed celebrities to freely experience a concert in plain sight, from Sabrina Carpenter to McCartney’s wife, Nancy Shevell.
Upon arrival, fans were greeted with a screen that featured a house with a variety of colors and imagery, such as images of The Beatles during the 1960s, more recent images of McCartney and a Ukrainian flag. As the screen continuously scrolled forward, many of McCartney’s songs played with a backing disco track. Eventually, McCartney made his way to the stage and opened with the classic Beatles song “Help!”
Source: Alex Brodeur/vanderbilthustler.com
Defining the greatest rock band of all time is an impossible task, as everyone’s criteria differ. However, if the whole world were to base its opinion on achievements, then the greatest of all time title would go to The Beatles. Need we remind you just how many accolades the Fab Four acquired during their career and after? No, because if we did, this whole article would just be a laundry list of No. 1 hits and awards. Though what we will remind you about is a major achievement they scored on this day, November 10, 2023, 53 years after their dissolution in 1970.
In May of 1963, The Beatles scored their first of many No. 1 hits on the United Kingdom singles chart. That No. 1 hit was their single, “From Me To You”, and the last single they scored on the chart while they were still together was “The Ballad Of John And Yoko”. That was not their last ever single on the UK singles chart, as today, November 10, 2023, The Beatles scored yet another No. 1 hit on the chart with their single, “Now And Then”. The Lengthy Gap Between The Beatles’ First No. 1 Hit and “Now And Then”
As stated previously, The Beatles’ first No. 1 hit on the UK singles chart was “From Me To You”. Subsequently, the biggest band in the world went on to score 16 more No. 1 hits on the chart. Is that impressive? Incredibly, but arguably the more impressive feat is the record they set with “Now And Then”. When the single peaked at No. 1 on the chart on this day, The Beatles broke the record for the longest gap between their first and last No.1 hit. That gap was an astounding 60 years.
Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com
When the Beatles’ eight-part Anthology series was first released in the 1990s, it was a mind-blowing experience for young Beatles fans like me. For years, my dad had regaled us kids with his tale of sneaking into a Beatles concert in Memphis in 1966. And every year on my birthday, my mom recounted the story of my early-morning birth, and how my dad sang “Here Comes The Sun” in the delivery room as the sun came up. She gave me her original Abbey Road LP when I turned 11. Suffice it to say, I was obsessed with the Beatles from a young age. But I hadn’t been around when the Beatles were together — John was killed before I was even born. So all of the band’s performances and music releases were relegated to the past, and I was never a part of it. When the Anthology series was announced, I couldn’t believe that I would be hearing new Beatles songs on the day they were released. The documentary series, which aired on ABC, was in some ways just as groundbreaking as the Beatles’ music had been. While most music documentaries of the day featured an outside narrator and talking heads offering retrospective soundbites, the Anthology series featured the Beatles themselves at various points in their lives and careers, telling their own story with a candor and sincerity that rose above the temptation to smooth over the complexities and contradictions in their personal and professional relationships. It invited new generations of viewers and listeners into the Beatles fandom, much as Peter Jackson’s Get Back docuseries did when it was released in 2021. (See our article Peter Jackson’s Beatles Documentary Used Artificial Intelligence To Perform Restoration Magic.) I think it’s fair to say that the very existence of the Peter Jackson series is a direct result of what the Beatles describe as a “creative and commercial afterlife” that began with the original Anthology series and albums in the 1990s. Now in 2025, the Anthology returns in what Disney+ calls “its ultimate form,” for a comprehensive global release “on screen, on record, and in print.” A newly-restored and remastered version of the 8-part documentary series will be streaming exclusively on Disney+ beginning November 26th, along with a brand-new 9th episode. There will also be new music releases and an anniversary edition of the Beatles Anthology hardbound book.
Source: Jacob Green/audioholics.com
