The Beatles' Ringo Starr says 'we're just musicians' as he issues Paul McCartney tour verdict
Ringo Starr has addressed The Beatles' enduring popularity as he issued his verdict on Paul McCartney's world tour. Ringo, 84, and Paul, 82, remain good friends more than 50 years after The Beatles went their separate ways.
Paul is currently taking his 'Got Back' tour around the world and is in the middle of a run of three gigs in Mexico City, having played a number of concerts in many cities across Central and South America over the past few months. The tour will arrive in Europe next month, including two nights at Manchester's Co-op Live and two at The O2 in London.
In an interview with Vice published earlier this week, Ringo spoke about the band's everlasting appeal and how that is exemplified by Paul's sell-out tour. Asked about the generations of Beatles fans who were born after the band split up, the legendary drummer said: “I think it’s great. I mean, since we had the first new-coming musicians and bands and that in the ‘70s, the kids all like to listen to The Beatles, it seems.
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"Every generation we get another crowd - they’re still playing us on radios and kids and musicians are still interested in what we did. That is so great.
"Now, whatever it means streaming, but The Beatles are still streaming in the billions. You think ‘wow’, you know. Someone mentioned that we’ve got another documentary coming out and on the internet someone was saying ‘not another documentary’. (It's by) Marty Scorsese, it just goes on."
The documentary he mentioned is 'Beatles '64', which will be released on Disney+ on November 29. Produced by Martin Scorsese, the film will concentrate on the band's first visit to America and the spread of Beatlemania following their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
It follows a number of high-profile documentaries released about The Beatles in recent years, including Peter Jackson's 'Get Back', Ron Howard's 'Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years' and Martin Scorsese's 'George Harrison: Living in the Material World', which have all hit screens since 2010.
Ringo remained humble as he spoke about the interest that audiences still have in his and Paul's work. He said: "We did it and now it’s still going on. Paul’s in South America right now playing to 50 or 60 thousand a night. It’s so great, I’m still doing my stuff, we’re just musicians."
In January, Ringo will release his first album in six years. Recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville, 'Look Up' will be a country album and marks a departure from his previous solo work.