event, and extricated himself from his filming commitments in Spain for Blindman. The shows marked the first time that two Beatles had shared a concert stage in the US since the band quit touring in August 1966, and they were also Starr's first public concert performances since that time. Starr forgot some of the words to the song. According to Beatles biographer Nicholas Schaffner, he nevertheless "received the show's biggest ovation" for his turn in the spotlight. The evening performance of "It Don't Come Easy" was included on the Concert for Bangladesh triple album and in the 1972 Apple Films documentary film of the same name. A Rolling Stone writer commented that "Seeing Ringo Starr drumming and singing on stage has a joy in it that is one of the happiest feelings on earth still." In his album review for the same publication, Jon Landau approved of the decision to retain Starr's live vocal, saying that his idiosyncratic delivery and "tremendous good-nature and humor" added to the authenticity of the concert. Writing in The Village Voice soon after attending the event, critic Robert Christgau conceded his favouritism towards Starr when ruing how Harrison, at the front of the stage, blocked his view of the drummer dressed in "grand ole black-on-black" as he sang "It Don't Come Easy". Christgau described Starr's demeanour during the performance as "brimming with quiet happiness, as if after eight years he still couldn't quite believe his own good fortune"; he cited this deferential quality as the reason why "unlike the others he remains immune to the vagaries of our affection. Ringo is our representative on the Beatles." Subsequent releases and other live versions The studio version of the song remained unavailable on an LP until the release of Starr's 1975 Apple greatest hits compilation, Blast from Your Past. It was also heard in the 1978 NBC-TV special Ringo. Although Starr recorded new versions of several songs for the special, the released recording of "It Don't Come Easy" was used. According to author Andrew Grant Jackson, "It Don't Come Easy" became the artist's "signature single"; Nick DeRiso of Ultimate Classic Rock describes it as "a kind of theme song for Starr". Starr's re-recording of "Back Off Boogaloo" for his 1981 album Stop and Smell the Roses references the song, along with several Beatles tracks, by reprising Harrison's opening guitar riff. On 12 March 1984, EMI released a