Ringo is touring with his All Starr Band around Europe, he was in Moskva and Sankt Peterburg more or less in the same days when Beady Eye were there, but he was also also in Kiev, Göteborg, Oslo, Randers (Denmark), Riga, Warszawa and then in the UK. He's going back to East Europe (Budapest and Praha), before coming to Italy, in Milan this Sunday, 3 July.
His nickname Ringo comes from the many rings he used to wear, just like the Gallaghers :).
Ringo co-wrote some songs with the Fab Four but only 2 Beatles songs were "by Ringo Starr" only: Don't pass me by (1968, White Album), which took a lot of time to be finished (as Liam said about his I'm outta time, lol) since 1963 (Liam even more for that one, "9 fucking years", lol), and Octopus's garden (1969, Abbey Road), written in Italy at the seaside when he momentarily left the nervous Beatles at that time. A fisherman told him about how the octopus (as the famous Paul, Italian-born, English resident lol, at the World Cup last year) it goes down the sea looking for sparkling stones and items, to build a "garden".
Oasis used to perform a bit of it live at the end of Whatever, similar chords (video below, you can download Oasis @ Knebworth here), and also All the young dudes - All the young blues carry the news.
The lyrics recall Yellow submarine, written by Lennon/McCartney but sung by Ringo (he also sings With a little help from my friends, among others). Noel Gallagher clearly took the sentence "I'd like to be under the sea" for his b-side Take me away, on the first Oasis single Supersonic.
The meaning of the song for Ringo could be similar to Liam's condition in Oasis (or at least Liam recently described a similar situation), being in a band with someone writing and doing everything, so Ringo-Liam's talents didn't have much space (though Liam had more than Ringo during the first bands periods, Liam was singer and wrote more songs than him). But of course the two personalities are very different.
Also "Don't pass me by" (featuring a bluegrass violin added, sounding as random street music, that he didn't appreciate) has a meaningful title, he wanted to participate more (the first title was "Ringo's tune", then "This is some friendly"). In fact, he then published many albums.
Ringo tunes were quite simple songs, typical for his playful character, and sound as country songs, spaghetti western. So, as I said about Idha Ovelius country music, according to the music research, the conservatives appreciate him, lol.
He was a bit clumsy but funny and a good person, helpful for the nervous situations inside the band.
Liam is also funny and a good person (sometimes clumsy :), don't listen to haters, but he wasn't helpful for the nervous situations inside the band, lol!
They say a man looks clumsy when his value is bigger than the one he shows...
Ringo performed the famous concerts with the Beatles in Italy in 1965, but of course he was in Italy other times, as in 1992 at the Piazza Vittoria in Brescia (not far from Milan) that is the main Italian Beatles-city, they have a big fan club, organize events and all. That was the tour for the Time Takes Time album, he was also in Marina di Pietrasanta at the seaside but cancelled the show in Roma. He was at the Palazzo del Cinema in Venezia in 2005. It's 30 years he's married to the (well, used-to-be beautiful) Barbara Bach.
On 7 July Ringo will celebrate his 71th birthday, it doesn't happen and won't happen so often to see a concert of a legendary Beatle.
Whatever +Octopus's Garden @ Knebworth (250,000 people)
