Ringo Starr returned to Liverpool today for the opening event of the city's reign as European Capital of Culture 2008.

 

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKpkHhD...Z3_KJQD8U3VEQ00

Ringo Starr returned to Liverpool today for the opening event of the city's reign as European Capital of Culture 2008.

 

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKpkHhD...Z3_KJQD8U3VEQ00

 

I went last night. The atmosphere was great but I didn't reckon much to the 'event' that Liverpool laid on. The fireworks were almost non-existent and although the idea of staging the performances from the roof of St George's Hall must have seemed like a good idea at the time - the geographical realities of it were a shambles. And Ringo - love the guy to pieces - but his song is real pants!

 

The Wombats were on though as well!

 

Had a brilliant night in Ma Egerton's pub afterwards though!

 

Norma

Ringo on the roof

Liverpool's Capital of Culture kicks off

BBC6 MUSIC news

 

12 Jan 08 - The Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008 celebrations kicked off in spectacular style last night, with 40 thousand people turning up to see Ringo Starr perform from the 100ft high roof of St George's Hall.

 

He was joined by pyrotechnics, a troop of acrobats suspended from cranes, and more than 1,300 musicians and performers perched on other roof tops around the city centre.

 

A row of junk drummers dressed in construction gear, and bathed in blue light, lined the roof's edge of St George's Hall, while the sixteen pillars of the hall itself were lit up with projections of graphics equalizers.

 

Meanwhile, a spotlight picked out a guitarist on at the top of Radio City Tower, the evening's narrator was perched at the top of Wellington's Column and more musicians played from the rooves of the Walker Art Gallery and Empire Theatre.

 

And Ringo explained why he thought it was time for Liverpool to take centre stage again:

 

"When I was here it was known mainly as a port, and then when I left it was known mainly for The Beatles, and now it's really grown up I feel.

 

"So I think it's great that we can spread that message that there's a little more to Liverpool than the Fabs."

 

To make that point, a band from Liverpool's current vibrant music scene, The Wombats, also performed; although their current single Moving To New York sounded slightly at odds to the evening's theme.

 

The event launched a year-long programme of more than 350 events, which are set to attract an extra two million visitors and boost the economy by £100m.

 

Tonight (Saturday) the celebrations continue with a special musical to be staged at the brand new Echo Arena.

 

Ringo, The Farm, The Wombats, Pete Wylie and Dave Stewart are all involved in Liverpool: The Musical, as well as Echo and the Bunnymen who'll be the first band to perform in the new venue when they play Nothing Ever Lasts Forever.

 

Ian McCulloch says he's keen to add his voice on why Liverpool is so significant as a city:

 

"The reason I think it is the most special city in the world, is it has as much soul as culture and mosty cities don't have that!"

 

The musical will feature a combination of live performance and film, with performers stacked seven stories high in the arena.

 

Ian Broudie had also been set to join tonight's celebrations, but will now not be apprearing. He is said to be ill with flu, and denies a rift with organisers.

 

Liverpool: The Musical

Ringo leads bizarre celebration of city’s history

BBC6 MUSIC REVIEW

 

13 Jan 08 - Liverpool: The Musical was a rather peculiar cross between The Last Night of the Proms and Top of The Pops 2.

 

The idea behind the two hour show was to tell the history of Liverpool through song, physical theatre, acrobats, film and a lot of children carrying lit up boxes.

 

So the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra did not only play Classical Favourites, but also backed the likes of Merseyside acts Echo and The Bunnymen (Nothing Lasts Forever), Pete Wylie (Heart as Big as Liverpool), The Wombats (Moving to New York), Shack (Pull Together) and The Farm (All Together Now) and it was The Farm who finally got the audience out of their seats, an hour and a half into the show, for a giant Scouse sing-a-long.

 

The concert was being billed as the first at the new 10,600 capacity Echo Arena, with Echo and The Bunnymen the appropriately named first band on. However this was not strictly true; last weekend it played host to CBeebies Live! meaning that Ian McCulloch was beaten to the stage by Postman Pat, Fireman Sam and the Teletubbies.

 

If Thomas the Tank Engine had also been involved then we would have had some symmetry, because last night's headliner, for the second night in a row at Liverpool Capital of Culture celebrations, was Ringo Starr. He played his new single Liverpool 8 again (the audience sat down) and then treated the crowd to what they wanted; a Beatles number, playing With A Little Help From My Friends (the audience went nuts). Joe Cocker, Wet Wet Wet and, ahem, Sam and Mark may have all had number ones with the song, but last night Ringo reclaimed it in his hometown.

 

He then led the Live Aid style all-star sing-a-long to John Lennon's Power to the People which closed the show, although Pete Wylie, in his gold trousers, was never far from the mic.

 

Liverpool: The Musical was not without its flaws; £56 a ticket was a lot for what lasted less than two hours, the sound was very patchy and often too quiet and the audience was also given no running order, so as the acts shot on and off stage they often had no idea who was performing. Furthermore, each song was tied into an element of Liverpool's history - some rather clumsily; The La's There She Goes played through the speakers to accompany a film about 60s Slum Clearances, while Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Two Tribes was teamed up with shots of the Toxteth Riots.

 

What matters on occasions such as this, however, are the opinions of those who actually paid to go and afterwards it was hard to find a dissenting voice from the crowd, who would have given it a Liverpool 8 out of 10.

 

Colin Paterson