Commentary

I was planning on writing a review of Ringo Starr’s first U.S. date on his new tour this past weekend. I was going to tell you how I’ve loved the Fab Four since I was in the womb. How in my life The Beatles have always been up here (holds hand high above head) and everyone else is somewhere around here (holds hand above stomach).I expected I would write about how despite being 67, Ringo doesn’t seem to age. How with this being my eighth time seeing him over the past 16 years, he always keeps things fun, energetic and wonderfully upbeat.

I was going to write that while I wasn’t overly excited about this year’s chosen All Starr Band, they won me over. At first, I thought they didn’t compare to some of his earlier tours filled with 60’s luminaries, but they were as good and I was happy he chose them to accompany him.

Unfortunately I can’t. Instead, I can quote the one sentence I said numerous times Saturday afternoon and evening.

“Dude, I can’t believe this is happening.”

I’m not the type of person that says dude. Ever.

Yet, here I was on Saturday, starting most of my exclamations with dude. Dude was the best way I could mask the supreme disappointment I felt learning that Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band would not be performing that night. Dude kept me from crying as night set and I looked at my watch only to know he would be performing “Photograph” around that time had the night gone off without a hitch.

In 18 years of attending more concerts than I can keep track of, I’ve never had this happen. Well, there was that one time Paul McCartney canceled a show in Syracuse, but he added a show in Toronto to make up for it… and our seats were better. This time the show was canceled mere hours before it was set to start.

The concert was a birthday present from my parents. The three of us, along with my husband, drove about three hours down to Bethel, N.Y., on Saturday morning. We checked into our hotel rooms and headed to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts to go to the Museum at Bethel Woods before the show. The museum is dedicated to the hallowed ground on which it sits, the original site of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

As we neared the venue, a flashing electronic sign said “For Bethel Woods info, turn to channel 1610 AM.” We tuned in just in time to hear a recorded announcement right from the beginning: “The Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band concert set for tonight has been canceled due to a transportation and equipment breakdown at the United States border … The performance will not be rescheduled. Bethel Woods and Ringo Starr apologize to ticket holders for the inconvenience.”

We were all painfully silent for a few minutes before the exclamations of despair started. How could we have traveled this way, how could we have two hotel rooms in the middle of nowhere and most of all, how could we not be seeing Ringo? The highlight of our month was taken away from us within seconds.

We parked and got out of the car. We talked to staff members, many of whom apologized profusely. We saw other despondent would-be concert goers wandering around the grounds in their Ringo Starr tee shirts with frowns upon their faces. We commiserated with them and tried to make light of the situation: maybe one of the tour staff was caught trying to cross the border with something they shouldn’t have; maybe someone forgot their passport; maybe they misplaced Ringo’s snare drums.

None of it really helped ease our anguish. Learning the band was on-site (except for Ringo), we devised ways they could still pull something off for the evening: maybe they could rent some equipment, do an acoustic show or maybe Ringo could just stand on stage for two hours as we all cheer… strangely enough, that would have been just fine by me. Or, maybe he could get a mic and do a Q&A, an Evening with Ringo Starr… I think that would be more priceless than a concert.

Alas, nothing.

We checked out the museum so the day wasn’t a complete wipe (later in the week I will write about the wonderful museum). After we were steeped in 1969 history, we debated the rest of the evening… do we still stay overnight in an area where there’s next to nothing to do, or do we swallow the unfortunate cost of the hotel rooms, check out and drive the three hours home?

We chose the latter.

Four days later, I’m still bummed. None of his other dates fit into our schedules, so we won’t be seeing him on this tour. I can only hope that we can see him with his 11th All Starr Band in a few years. While I don’t hold it against anyone, Ringo especially, I can’t help but feel that it will remain an open wound until I do finally get to see him again.

Concert disappointments, while few and far between, stay with you I imagine. You remember the “could have beens,” possibly even more than if it happened. That could have been the best concert I ever attended but I’ll never know. I’ll always wonder though…

So, have you had a concert disappointment? Was a concert you were looking so forward to canceled? Were you not able to attend a show you were planning on? Do you still think of it on occasion, or does the memory fade?