Paul Mertens on what to expect from upcoming BAD shows

[Wirestone]

Best BW setlists ever were from 2002 -- about three years into the regular touring.

Set 1:
1. Wonderful
2. Cabinessence
3. Sail On Sailor
4. Meant For You
5. Friends
6. Dance Dance Dance
7. California Girls
8. Don't Worry Baby
9. Please Let Me Wonder
10. In My Room
11. Good Timin'
12. Forever
13. You're So Good To Me
14. The Night Was So Young
15. Imagination
16. Busy Doin' Nothin'
17. Darlin'
18. Melt Away
19. Our Prayer
20. Heroes and Villains (Cantina)
21. Surf's Up
22. Marcella
23. Do It Again
Set 2:
24. Wouldn't It Be Nice
25. You Still Believe In Me
26. That's Not Me
27. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
28. I'm Waiting For The Day
29. Let's Go Away For Awhile
30. Sloop John B
31. God Only Knows
32. Hang Onto Your Ego
33. Here Today
34. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
35. Pet Sounds
36. Caroline No
37. Good Vibrations

Encore 1:
38. Surfer Girl
39. Help Me Rhonda
40. I Get Around
41. Barbara Ann
42. Surfin' USA
43. Fun Fun Fun

Encore 2:
44. Love & Mercy

[AndrewHickey]

Best BW setlists ever were from 2002 -- about three years into the regular touring.

Absolutely -- I saw them do that setlist (and You're Welcome) in Manchester that year, and it was the best show I've ever seen. The June 2002 tour was the peak of Brian's touring career, and the sets have gone downhill since (except when they did the full album tours of Smile and That Lucky Old Sun, obviously).

[STE]

Brian has performed "Lonely Sea." But IIRC only a couple of times, and in England (and it was mainly Foskett).

When exactly, are you sure? Are you thinking of "Surfer Moon" maybe?

[Wirestone]

Brian has performed "Lonely Sea." But IIRC only a couple of times, and in England (and it was mainly Foskett).

When exactly, are you sure? Are you thinking of "Surfer Moon" maybe?

That's it. My mistake. Sorry to get anyone's hopes up!

[job]

I would love for him to do Lonely Sea, but I doubt he can anymore.

[hypehat]

Brian has performed "Lonely Sea." But IIRC only a couple of times, and in England (and it was mainly Foskett).

When exactly, are you sure? Are you thinking of "Surfer Moon" maybe?

That's it. My mistake. Sorry to get anyone's hopes up!

I think with that, the whole 'It was all Jeff!' schtick was down to what side of the room you were on? The footage of it I've seen was shot on the other side of the RFH from me, and that is mostly Jeff. However, I could hear BW clearly when I saw it, from the other side of the room. Maybe it was shot on a different night, mind.

[MaxL]

Brian has performed "Lonely Sea." But IIRC only a couple of times, and in England (and it was mainly Foskett).

When exactly, are you sure? Are you thinking of "Surfer Moon" maybe?

That's it. My mistake. Sorry to get anyone's hopes up!

I think with that, the whole 'It was all Jeff!' schtick was down to what side of the room you were on? The footage of it I've seen was shot on the other side of the RFH from me, and that is mostly Jeff. However, I could hear BW clearly when I saw it, from the other side of the room. Maybe it was shot on a different night, mind.

There may be some truth to that, both times I saw BW and he played that song I was off to the left and heard Brian pretty clearly. When I watched videos I was surprised by how much Jeff there was in comparison. Might be just one of those things you don't pay attention to live but sticks out on a YT video that does little to represent the genuine article.

[gfac22]

Best BW setlists ever were from 2002 -- about three years into the regular touring.

*snip*

That is an incredible setlist.  If the BAD shows had even half of that first set, I'd make the trip to Pittsburgh, no questions asked.  As it is, I'm holding out for something a little closer.

[hypehat]

Do bootlegs survive? (plz don't ban me)

[Wirestone]

Best BW setlists ever were from 2002 -- about three years into the regular touring.

Absolutely -- I saw them do that setlist (and You're Welcome) in Manchester that year, and it was the best show I've ever seen. The June 2002 tour was the peak of Brian's touring career, and the sets have gone downhill since (except when they did the full album tours of Smile and That Lucky Old Sun, obviously).

I would distinguish between setlists and performances, myself. The '04 shows (Smile as the second half) had adventuresome first sets too, but somewhat more focused on 60s material.

In terms of good  live performances, though, Brian's '06 shows with Al were excellent. And his fall 2009 American tour was the best live work of his entire career (decent setlists there, too, with the Darian Darlin' making its debut). That was also the tour when he actually started playing piano live onstage again (well, for more than one or two songs). A watershed.

But that being said, you've had years (like 07) where both the BW setlists and performances were so-so. Brian was always a pro, but you can tell that he gets pretty bored with GH shows.

[Wirestone]

Do bootlegs survive? (plz don't ban me)

Recordings circulate of pretty much every post-99 live BW tour. There are a lot of soundboards of the PS shows, and the Smile shows were also well documented. Everything else at least has audience recordings of varying quality. Not really a live show collector here, but they have been spotted in the wilds of the web.

[RangeRoverA1]

Do bootlegs survive? (plz don't ban me)

Don't worry, nobody's going to ban you. It wasn't a dangerous question. There's a big difference between "do" & "what". If you've asked "What bootlegs survived?", then yes, by law you'll have to be banned.

[Quzi]

What bootlegs survived?

[AndrewHickey]

Best BW setlists ever were from 2002 -- about three years into the regular touring.

Absolutely -- I saw them do that setlist (and You're Welcome) in Manchester that year, and it was the best show I've ever seen. The June 2002 tour was the peak of Brian's touring career, and the sets have gone downhill since (except when they did the full album tours of Smile and That Lucky Old Sun, obviously).

I would distinguish between setlists and performances, myself. The '04 shows (Smile as the second half) had adventuresome first sets too, but somewhat more focused on 60s material.

In terms of good  live performances, though, Brian's '06 shows with Al were excellent. And his fall 2009 American tour was the best live work of his entire career (decent setlists there, too, with the Darian Darlin' making its debut). That was also the tour when he actually started playing piano live onstage again (well, for more than one or two songs). A watershed.

But that being said, you've had years (like 07) where both the BW setlists and performances were so-so. Brian was always a pro, but you can tell that he gets pretty bored with GH shows.

I didn't see either of those tours. In my experience there is a definite correlation between the amount of interesting material in the set and the quality of the performance, but I can believe that's not always the case.

[AndrewHickey]

Do bootlegs survive? (plz don't ban me)

Recordings circulate of pretty much every post-99 live BW tour. There are a lot of soundboards of the PS shows, and the Smile shows were also well documented. Everything else at least has audience recordings of varying quality. Not really a live show collector here, but they have been spotted in the wilds of the web.

Unfortunately, the June 2002 shows I've heard only circulate in fairly poor quality -- the Manchester one (the one I saw) has a couple of dropouts and is very quietly recorded. There are some very good quality recordings of the January 2002 shows, though (*slightly* shorter setlists -- no Wonderful, Cabinessence or The Night Was So Young, but otherwise near-identical).

[RangeRoverA1]

What bootlegs survived?

I remember that SMiLE-Holland once stated that the mods are going to be strict & thoroughly observe what people post here. So be careful, Quzi.
Generally, I don't like when someone's banned.

[Wirestone]

Do bootlegs survive? (plz don't ban me)

Don't worry, nobody's going to ban you. It wasn't a dangerous question. There's a big difference between "do" & "what". If you've asked "What bootlegs survived?", then yes, by law you'll have to be banned.

That's nonsense. Nothing wrong with talking about boots or their contents here, as long as you're not trading links or downloads on the board itself.

[oldsurferdude]

Best BW setlists ever were from 2002 -- about three years into the regular touring.

Absolutely -- I saw them do that setlist (and You're Welcome) in Manchester that year, and it was the best show I've ever seen. The June 2002 tour was the peak of Brian's touring career, and the sets have gone downhill since (except when they did the full album tours of Smile and That Lucky Old Sun, obviously).

I would distinguish between setlists and performances, myself. The '04 shows (Smile as the second half) had adventuresome first sets too, but somewhat more focused on 60s material.

In terms of good  live performances, though, Brian's '06 shows with Al were excellent. And his fall 2009 American tour was the best live work of his entire career (decent setlists there, too, with the Darian Darlin' making its debut). That was also the tour when he actually started playing piano live onstage again (well, for more than one or two songs). A watershed.

But that being said, you've had years (like 07) where both the BW setlists and performances were so-so. Brian was always a pro, but you can tell that he gets pretty bored with GH shows.

Brian and I both. A hitless show would be ideal and refreshing. Well, maybe a couple of hits would be ok.

[Quzi]

Best BW setlists ever were from 2002 -- about three years into the regular touring.

Absolutely -- I saw them do that setlist (and You're Welcome) in Manchester that year, and it was the best show I've ever seen. The June 2002 tour was the peak of Brian's touring career, and the sets have gone downhill since (except when they did the full album tours of Smile and That Lucky Old Sun, obviously).

I would distinguish between setlists and performances, myself. The '04 shows (Smile as the second half) had adventuresome first sets too, but somewhat more focused on 60s material.

In terms of good  live performances, though, Brian's '06 shows with Al were excellent. And his fall 2009 American tour was the best live work of his entire career (decent setlists there, too, with the Darian Darlin' making its debut). That was also the tour when he actually started playing piano live onstage again (well, for more than one or two songs). A watershed.

But that being said, you've had years (like 07) where both the BW setlists and performances were so-so. Brian was always a pro, but you can tell that he gets pretty bored with GH shows.

Brian and I both. A hitless show would be ideal and refreshing. Well, maybe a couple of hits would be ok.

Agreed. Something like the following would truly excite both the casual festival goer as well as the hardcore fan, dontcha think?

1. Do it Again
2. I'm Waiting for the Day
3. All I Wanna Do
4. Darlin'
5. I Get Around
6. Let Us Go On This Way
7. The Warmth of the Sun
8. Let Him Run Wild
9. Surfin' Safari
10. Aren't You Glad?
11. Kiss Me, Baby
12. Cool, Cool Water

13. Meant For You
14. California Girls
15. Wild Honey
16. Had to Phone Ya
17. The Girl from New York City
18. She Knows Me too Well
19. Goin' On
20. Please Let Me Wonder
21. Let the Wind Blow
22. Here Comes the Night
23. Fun, Fun, Fun
24. Good Vibrations

 

[Lowbacca]

I'm sad about the fact they're probably not coming to Europe. I bet it's going to be a BADass tour.

[Yorick]

Why exactly did they start playing more Greatest Hits like setlists during recent years?

[Letsgoawayforawhile]

Can't wait for the show in Ohio to see what they play!
I've had my tickets for months!