Show 3: New Orleans Jazz Fest- New Orleans, LA 4/27/12 (SETLIST/PICS/REVIEWS)

[Craig Boyd]

Looks like Brian has a back brace on under his shirt in the third photo.

It wouldn't surprise me, he's been having a lot of trouble with it for a while now. When I seen him in Glasgow last year i'm not exaggerating when I say that he walked with his body at nearly a 90 degree angle to his legs, it didn't seem as bad the following week in London though. They should have brought Anna Lee on tour with them! 

[Bicyclerider]

Something no one's mentioned yet about the Jazzfest covert- Cameron Diaz was in the VIP section clearly visible on the right at the start of the show.  I was excited enough to see the reunited Beach Boys- then I saw her!  Gives new meaning to the Beach Boys "woodie!"

[Rocker]

Hope this wasn't posted before.

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/05/new-orleans-jazz-fest-2012-incredible-music-all-over-the-place/



Beach Boys

3. Surprise, surprise. I didn’t even intend to check out their set, but The Texas Tornados reunion on the small, outdoor Fais Do-Do stage really wasn’t making it, so I found myself wandering over to Jazz Fest’s main stage where the first performance of The Beach Boys 50th-anniversary reunion tour was already in full swing and got the shock of my life. Everybody was singing along — everybody, from the old and shaggy to the young and pierced – to every song and guess what? They’re all great songs, every single one of them, gorgeous harmonies, beautifully constructed, filled with youthful optimism, longing, and just a touch of regret, so solidly constructed they sound as fresh today they did in that long ago age of innocence when they were recorded. Sure the presentation’s a little hokey, the old-time band members mostly just going through the motions (but then again, they almost always did anyway) and the ranks filled with plenty of ringers to make sure the music sounds now exactly like it sounded then and still sounds in recordings. But something new has now been added. Stage front, extreme left, tucked away behind a white baby grand piano, there’s Brian Wilson, stone-faced and emotionless, but there he is on stage and suddenly you realize, it’s not just Brian’s music this is his band, and it always has been, whether he’s playing with it or not. As if to remind us, the video guy onstage keeps most of the video screen focus on Brian, stone-faced though he is, and then, with the sun beginning to set, somewhere in the middle stunningly beautiful renditions of “Heroes and Villains” and “God Only Knows,” the stage goes into shadow and a single, long, slanted ray of cuts across the festival grounds, the audience, and everyone assembled on stage, landing directly on Brian Wilson, bathing him in pure sunlight. For that moment, I felt blessed by perhaps having been in direct contact with the eternal — and ever since have found myself randomly humming the joy-filled bouncing refrain to “Help Me, Rhonda.”

[Rocker]

I thought this was too funny not to post it:




More pics of various shows here:
http://www.pollstar.com/photosIndexThumbnails.aspx?Tags=a_77175&SearchBy=&StartsWith=