The First Gig: Anselmo Valencia Ampitheater Tucson, AZ 4/24/12 (SETLIST/REVIEWS)

[Phoenix]

Fine.  I can't resist any longer.  I've tried.  
Somebody hook me up, please.  

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Sometimes brian sounds amazing, sometimes he sounds like a robot.

I'd prefer it without it.

[Awesoman]

It would be much appreciated if someone would PM me!

I'd gladly take a PM as well.  :-)

[Pretty Funky]

What the heck!

Can I get a PM this PM?

[stack-o-tracks]

Wow I didn't even notice this? When is it the most evident?

The "we could ride" part of Surfer Girl was the first part I really noticed it. Also a lot of That's Why God Made The Radio and Heroes & Villains.

[seltaeb1012002]

Wow I didn't even notice this? When is it the most evident?

From the minute you hear him sing on Surfer Girl, B-Pain's in the building.  It's not a spot here or there.. they left it going full throttle for the whole show.

 

On another note, everyone else sounds great. Really impressed with how Mike's, Al's and Bruce's voices still retain their original vocal character.

[LetHimRun]

Wow I didn't even notice this? When is it the most evident?

From the minute you hear him sing on Surfer Girl, B-Pain's in the building.  It's not a spot here or there.. they left it going full throttle for the whole show.

 

On another note, everyone else sounds great. Really impressed with how Mike's, Al's and Bruce's voices still retain their original vocal character.

B-Pain, classic, yet sad.

[runnersdialzero]

Sometimes brian sounds amazing, sometimes he sounds like a robot.

I'd prefer it without it.

Where does he sound "amazing"? Everything I've heard thus far is laughable due to the autotune. The irony is, I've NEVER heard Brian as out of tune as he is with this! Autotune has been known to actually make the vocal out of tune in extreme cases, and boy oh boy does it sound pretty extreme here.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

When it is 100% in tune, which he normally never is.
It's only 10% of the time though, Serously though, they need to stop it!

[pixletwin]

I can see Autotune pretty easily throwing off the best singers. Heck, even reverb or an echo chamber can put a singer out of tune, let alone autotune.

[seltaeb1012002]

Gotta wonder who made this decision. You'd think they'd realize during rehearsals that it doesn't work.

[NatureShowInStereo]

Sometimes brian sounds amazing, sometimes he sounds like a robot.

I'd prefer it without it.

Where does he sound "amazing"? Everything I've heard thus far is laughable due to the autotune. The irony is, I've NEVER heard Brian as out of tune as he is with this! Autotune has been known to actually make the vocal out of tune in extreme cases, and boy oh boy does it sound pretty extreme here.

Exactly, the autotune is canceling itself out almost. It's on a little too strong. Very obvious in the "improvised" style parts. It's supposed to make his singing BETTER and that's the irony in this whole thing. Honestly, I think he sounds worse with the autotune than he would with his natural trying voice. He can't sound THAT bad. Just get that pitch correction out of here.

I also considered that it could be on for the first few shows to boost his confidence a bit? Just a brainstorm idea.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Gotta wonder who made this decision. You'd think they'd realize during rehearsals that it doesn't work.

Yes, but as a live musican myself, everything can go wrong on the actual night and be fine in rehersals, but this is just inexcusable.

[anazgnos]

Autotune obviously shouldn't come within a million miles of a live show just on general principals, but it's almost more galling that it's being done so badly here than that they're doing it at all.  It sounds really amateur hour, and not something anybody should have signed off on as an acceptable effect.  I would seriously hope that there was a big "let's review what went wrong" meeting among the people responsible after the show.  

It seems like it escaped the notice of any of the press writeups from last night but if it goes on like that, I'm certain they will eventually get called out on it.  I think it threatens to be way more of an embarrassment to the group than any mere off-key singing.

Just to avoid PhilCohening this thread, I really do think Brian sounds good.  I feel like as long as there's some energy in his delivery and he doesn't sound totally checked out  - which he doesn't, going by last night - his vocals work.  There's a lot to love about this tour and the setlist and the production and I hope they do whatever they need to do to remove this liability from the show.

[Autotune]

The further he sings from the pitch, the more robotic it will sound.

I tell ya: I'd rather have a pitch corrector hooked up there than letting Brian embarrass himself while trying to sing his own tunes.

[runnersdialzero]

The further he sings from the pitch, the more robotic it will sound.

I tell ya: I'd rather have a pitch corrector hooked up there than letting Brian embarrass himself while trying to sing his own tunes.

Are you hearing how awful this is? I'm not trying to defend Brian when I say that the filter is actually making him more out of tune than he probably was because of how extreme it was.

I've never really heard Brian "embarrass" himself because he sang so badly during a live performance. Certainly heard a few where he was a bit "pitchy" or sounded like he didn't really give a sh*t to be there, but he's never sounded as bad as he does here, and the filter is to blame. I hear energy, I hear "give a sh*t"ness, I'm betting he sounded just fine.

Even Brian at his vocal peak would have sounded pretty damn awful through this because, given the extreme amount of correction, no human can keep up. They just can't. It's not a case of, "The further he sings from the pitch, the more robotic it will sound," it's the comical amount of extreme correction people generally use only for effect, not for actual pitch correction.

[amonomous]

It would be much appreciated if someone would PM me!

I'd gladly take a PM as well.  :-)

I've already bought TWGMTR and played it 1,000x's, but if we're talking live stuff, I tried to be discrete before and got nothing, and I'd planned to try getting my mini digital recorder into the show on Sunday in Raleigh so I could contribute *something* too, it's kind of like when I first started tape trading before the net, I didn't really *have* anything to trade yet but desperately wanted to get a start at it and had no luck trying to buy something to start with until Dave Prokopy himself sent me 3 maxell cassettes with what had to be the most complete SMiLE set up to that point, complete with a nicely written and printed up (albeit xeroxed) booklet and I was off to the races. I will never forget the joy I got from making copies and putting the same booklet together (complete with little paper sleeve) and dubbing those tapes and then anxiously awaiting a personal thank you letter and some Summer Days/Nights and Today! sessions along with the Pet Sounds preview disc that was floating around when we were *supposed* to get the box set the first time..

I've never and will never understand people who go on forums (or anywhere for that matter) and brag and talk about what they have that everyone else wants. That's no fun. If I have something and can find anyone who loves the Beach Boys as much as me, I'm ecstatic to share, it's the people who couldn't care less but expect me to fall all over myself for their favorite James Blunt song or whatever that really bug me.. certainly not the ones who *want* to know more/hear more Beach Boys. /my little rant.

quick edit: sorry to get off topic, that was just something I've noticed a LOT in the forum communities and believe me, it's actually not bad here but it does get frustrating when you try to be discrete and then see message after message later in the day outright asking for it. Having said that: I'm PSYCHED to be taking my daughter to this and sharing this experience with her, I also see a LOT of her favorites on that wet dream of a setlist (that's about twice what they played when I saw them and most of the car songs were a medley, I guess to make room for a full rendition of "Duke of Earl")  and everything I've read so far has me salivating to hear something.. Lest anyone "phil" me.. "You phil me?" I probably shouldn't be posting after the day I've had though, admittedly, but I had to add that in there: I REALLY needed this after a very tough 2011 and `12 so far but SMiLE Sessions was released on my birthday, then this? It's so surreal but I'll take it.

Post post Script edit lol - THANK YOU!

[Pretty Funky]

What the heck!

Can I get a PM this PM?

My PM seems to be working very well. Thanks!

[Sie W]

Good stuff

[Ron]

I've never and will never understand people who go on forums (or anywhere for that matter) and brag and talk about what they have that everyone else wants. That's no fun. If I have something and can find anyone who loves the Beach Boys as much as me, I'm ecstatic to share, it's the people who couldn't care less but expect me to fall all over myself for their favorite James Blunt song or whatever that really bug me.. certainly not the ones who *want* to know more/hear more Beach Boys. /my little rant.

Don't take it personally amonomous, I'll try to explain for you.  

1.  Record companies don't like having copies of live shows floating around, ESPECIALLY if  they may release a cd/dvd of this tour in the near future.  The reason they don't like having the copies floating around, is because they feel it will hurt ticket sales if you can hear what happens at the show for free.  That's their opinion, whether or not it's valid can be argued both ways.

2.  In extreme instances, if a forum such as this one consistantly is posting material that is technically illegal (like a live concert recording)... the owners of that copyrighted material could do all kinds of nasty things, up to and including shutting down the site, or even bringing a lawsuit (that they may or may not win) against the OWNER of the forum.

3.  Capitol Records has people that read this board daily.  It's pretty much the biggest Beach Boys message board on the internet.

So as you can see, it's very important to the owner of this site that illegal concert recordings not be published here, even if it's just a link.  You may not agree that it's illegal or that it hurts sales or whatever, but Capitol Records holds all the cards and can make things very tough for the site owners if they wanted to be jerks about it.  

[seltaeb1012002]

Gotta wonder who made this decision. You'd think they'd realize during rehearsals that it doesn't work.

Yes, but as a live musican myself, everything can go wrong on the actual night and be fine in rehersals, but this is just inexcusable.

Yeah man. I don't care how good of a day BW is having.. he would never sound good with the autotune set to zero retune like that. No one would really, aside from Mr. T-Pain himself. They could have fixed it mid-show, but this was clearly something they wanted to do (unless they meant to send it to Foskett's mic  ). Just like hiding his bangin' vocal on live TV for the Grammys, this stuff isn't necessary. Nothing wrong with a little rawness. It's Brian F'n Wilson. It pisses me off to think that the multitracks for the first show of the tour contain this compromised vocal.

[Wirestone]

It's very curious.

Autotune is one of those things it is very hard to unhear. So once it's apparent that Brian's vocals are being processed, you can hear the effect everywhere. It's hard to listen objectively, in other words.

But none of the live audience reports from last night mention the tuning. And I can't believe that the critics, etc., in the audience were that unsophisticated. So the room itself, possibly the PA system or some other sound source, may have made it less apparent if you were actually there.

Brian has toured successfully for years. Why spring this crazy new thing on him during the highest profile string of shows he's had for awhile? Brian's also an incredibly inconsistent vocalist, so why would anyone think that live tuning would even work? If the tuning made Brian sound like an angel, that would be one thing. But at least in what I've heard, it doesn't do much of anything except make him sound strange when he's trying to hit a high note.

None of the people arranging this tour are dumb either. Say what you want about Mike, Melinda, et. al, but they are smart cookies. And they know when Brian sounds good and when he sounds bad. So why do this?

Something here doesn't add up.

[Justin]

An LA Times review of last night's show:




Live: The Beach Boys kick off 50th anniversary tour in Tucson

TUCSON -- Let's not make too much of the fact that the Beach Boys kicked off their 50th anniversary tour on casino grounds, nowhere near the beach, on a day that hit 105, with gusts of dry wind blowing in from the surrounding Arizona desert -- not a wave, T-bird or little surfer girl in sight.

After all, the band, touring for the first time in decades with co-founders Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine, as well as longtime voice Bruce Johnston and early member David Marks, transcended the literal summer ages ago in service of the metaphorical kind, one that celebrated Southern California life and put sound to a cultural vibe.

This is one reason why at Casino del Sol on the Yaqui reservation, the band, augmented by a dozen instrumentalists and vocalists, was able to convincingly sing about summertime joys, fears and frustrations even though most of the remaining Boys have been doing this for four decades and are themselves approaching proverbial wintertime.

The first of a five-month, 56-show tour that would challenge a band half its age, the Beach Boys will travel the arenas, festivals and outdoor amphitheaters of America (and, later in the year, Europe and Asia) offering a version of this concert.

If opening night is any indication, the Beach Boys will celebrate not only their sound, but the music that gave birth to it and was inspired by it. They performed songs by Phil Spector, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and the Mamas and the Papas, among others, while images of the band in its glory days cascaded across the big screen.

And if Wilson's distant onstage presence in Tucson is a hint, it's going to be a long summer for him.

Wilson, the sole living brother from the trio that included Dennis and Carl, who has avoided the Beach Boys stage like the plague -- while his revolutionary aesthetic has been reverently honored by new generations.

The quintet of clean-cut, handsome young men from Hawthorne sent out a four-song demo that put sound and lyrics to the uniquely L.A. lifestyle of beaches, breezes, bikinis and muscle cars. Two of those songs, "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfer Girl," have become singalong classics, and the band offered them early in the set.

These hits set the course for much that followed: from "Help Me, Rhonda" to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" to "Little Deuce Coupe," the Beach Boys brought the massive Wilson production sound to life. While the principals played along -- Wilson on white grand piano, Jardine and Marks on guitar, Johnston on keyboards, and Love on vocals -- a bevy of young backing musicians pushed forth driving rhythms (three percussionists), guitar texture (at times, as many as five guitarists), keyboards (three of them), and a virtual choir of male voices filling songs whose age and design has rendered them exquisite antiquities.

The music they presented embodies a SoCal, endless summer archetype.

The band understands this and offers evidence of this spirit in the Hawaiian shirts they wear -- and in the songs they still sing. When Love, whose warm, confident voice can still hit the notes effortlessly, sang his 1964 love letter to a motorcycle, "Little Honda," you could hear the wind blowing through the spokes. When Jardine harmonized on "Catch a Wave," his joy was infectious, especially when he pumped his fist and pointed at Wilson.

But Wilson didn't seem to be having much fun. Sitting behind his piano stone-faced, he feigned a smile a few times, and had to be nudged into acknowledging the crowd when they rose to give him his first ovation during his falsetto-intoned version of Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love."

He appeared to be residing within the Malibu of his mind at times, then ambivalent if not miserable in other moments. There's a reason why he stopped touring with the Beach Boys: He obviously doesn't like it.

One of the few times he tapped his foot and bounced his torso was during "Sloop John B," which opened the second, and much more vibrant, of the two sets. One of the night's high points, the band presented "Sloop" with the same rush-of-wind exuberance of the recording, a sharp reminder of a band at its peak. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" was equally inspiring, as were the odes to departed brothers Dennis and Carl, both of whom duetted from beyond via recordings -- Carl's lead on "God Only Knows" was gorgeous.

From the beaches in their youth to the casinos in their retirement years, there is certainly something bittersweet going on. Anyone who understands both nostalgia and the aging process will no doubt have an idea of the frayed edges, the relentlessness of singing the same songs over and over again for five decades, as Jardine, Love and Johnston have done. They have combated this by adding vocalists who can hit the notes they no longer can -- singer/guitarist/bandleader Jeff Foskett is the unsung workhorse of this show, who covers for Wilson on the more difficult notes.

Long ago turned men, the Beach Boys on the opening night of an impressively relentless schedule did what you'd expect, and did it quite well. Wilson and the band's art, those interlocking harmonic voices, exquisite arrangements and that summer feeling were celebrated 100 miles from Phoenix, where in 1962 "Surfin' Safari" got its first substantial airplay.

Even if the sight of five aging men offered visual confirmation that summer does indeed end, and winter can get a little tough, it doesn't mean you can't handle this reality, as the Beach Boys did, with both pride and grace.

[hypehat]

I just can't believe it because just over 6 months ago I sat in the Royal Festival Hall and watched Brian Wilson nail his entire fucking Gershwin album (with Jeff only helping him out on ONE SONG), and The Beach Boys think he can't fucking sing. And I've been genuinely optimistic about this reunion up until now. I honestly can't believe they would do that to him. I can't believe his band let that fly. Even presentation-conscious wife&managers, and Jeff 'Kneecaps' Foskett, never stooped that low.

It's 4am here and I can't sleep. Hence the cursing/melodrama. But still. Are they actually serious.

[jmc]

PM me too please.  Thanks in advance.