Ringo Starr tripped over onstage at a gig in New Mexico earlier this month, it has emerged.
The Beatles drummer, who was performing with his All-Starr Band on September 20 at Albuquerque’s Rio Rancho Events Center, fell over while making his way back onstage during the band’s encore performance of John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band‘s ‘Give Peace A Chance’.
Starr, 83, quickly got to his feet after the fall and joined his band to sing the chorus. There were no later reports of any injuries suffered.
Moments after the fall, which you can watch via TMZ, Starr cracked a joke about the tumble. “I fell over just to tell you that, thank you,” he said.
Ringo is one of two remaining Beatles still alive alongside Paul McCartney. Lennon was murdered in 1980 aged 40, while George Harrison died of lung cancer aged 58 in 2001.
The musician and son of late Beatles icon John Lennon talked about the song, which remains one of the Fab Four’s biggest hits, during a recent appearance on the Club Random With Bill Maher podcast.
“I have a love-hate [relationship] with it, I have to say,” Julian explained (via Loudwire).
“I’ve probably heard that song and heard renditions of [it] more than most people alive. And even my dear friends send me babies in nappies playing guitars [and] singing ‘Hey Jude’, which I really don’t need.”
He continued: “I’m thankful for the song without question. But…the other real thing is that people don’t really understand that [the track is] a stark and dark reminder of actually what happened.
“The fact that dad walked out, walked away – left mum and I. That was a point of complete change and complete disruption and complete darkness and sadness. I mean, I was only 3, but I recognised that something was up, you know?”
As Julian referred to in the conversation, McCartney wrote the 1968 non-album single for him about his father’s break-up with his mother, Cynthia. The couple had separated and John began a relationship with Yoko Ono, whom he married in 1969.