Brian Wilson 2016 Tour Thread (Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Tour)

[the captain]

I was surprised to see that Matt Jardine switches over to *electric guitar* in Probyn's spot for "Let's Go Away for Awhile" and does all of the electric guitar noodly bits as the sole electric guitar player during the song. It's a pretty prominent guitar part to hear a guy do who prior to 2015 I had never seen play guitar at all through all his years playing with the BBs and Al. I really dig that Matt's branching out and playing more guitar.

I was surprised to see that, too. All of my memories of Matt are of a guy awkwardly not holding an instrument as he stands among an assortment of multi-instrumentalist-vocalists. Yet he played acoustic, which was a little, "ok, it's buried in the mix." And then that lead bit. Good for him.

I said before, but I'll say again, he was phenomenal. Star of the Minneapolis show, without question, in terms of audience response and performance. The lack of Darian and Scott was worrisome to me, but Matt filled that void (in an entirely different way). What a voice.

[HeyJude]

I was surprised to see that Matt Jardine switches over to *electric guitar* in Probyn's spot for "Let's Go Away for Awhile" and does all of the electric guitar noodly bits as the sole electric guitar player during the song. It's a pretty prominent guitar part to hear a guy do who prior to 2015 I had never seen play guitar at all through all his years playing with the BBs and Al. I really dig that Matt's branching out and playing more guitar.

I was surprised to see that, too. All of my memories of Matt are of a guy awkwardly not holding an instrument as he stands among an assortment of multi-instrumentalist-vocalists. Yet he played acoustic, which was a little, "ok, it's buried in the mix." And then that lead bit. Good for him.

I said before, but I'll say again, he was phenomenal. Star of the Minneapolis show, without question, in terms of audience response and performance. The lack of Darian and Scott was worrisome to me, but Matt filled that void (in an entirely different way). What a voice.

Yeah, I think Matt has found a good balance in terms of stage position/presence. I thought it looked a little weird when they had him front-stage on his couple of 2014 shows just standing and singing. It only *looked* weird; he did a great job of course. But even when they had him up front when he played with Al's bands (and I think they also had him up front for the 1998 shows he did with Mike's Beach Boys after Al and Carl were gone), he usually had a few percussion things in front of him or something.

So I like how they have him stationed now, along the line with the rest of the band, and he is now adding some guitar to the mix as well. I have to say, while the little guitar noodly bits on "Let's Go Away for Awhile" aren't exactly Hendrix or anything, it would have to be nerve-wracking to be the sole electric guitar player during an instrumental on such an iconic track/album. Awesome to see Matt has the balls to do it and he did it well.

Woudn't mind hearing he and Al team up for an acoustic number together or something, maybe "Santa Ana Winds" or something.

[HeyJude]

A nice video of WIBN from 10/12 in San Francisco I found on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onRB0PZqRbQ

[HeyJude]

According to a posted setlist, "Please Let Me Wonder" replaced "California Saga" for the second SF show last night.

That one has only been done twice prior this year, and only three times last year (including last year at the SF show I caught).

Cool to see at least one change, though a bummer to lose an Al lead.

[chaki]

Last night's show:

Brian was animated, crowd was lethargic.
Blondie was drunk and funny.
Al called Wake The World "inconsequential"
Music is the best.

[thorgil]

If crowd was lethargic, of course Wake the World was "inconsequential"! Probably that's just what Al meant.

[HeyJude]

Last night's show:

Brian was animated, crowd was lethargic.
Blondie was drunk and funny.
Al called Wake The World "inconsequential"
Music is the best.

The previous night's crowd wasn't rowdy by any means, but they were pretty upbeat. Definitely wouldn't say lethargic. I dunno, maybe it's because the second show (10/13) went on sale first, and then the first show (10/12) was added later, so it was filled with more "whew, I'm grateful to have gotten a ticket!" sort of fans? Probably way too much of an overanalysis.

I did have to question if Blondie had had some drinky. He seemed to be enjoying himself and was a little looser on stage (and vocally) than usual. I still get the vibe he's a little bored only coming in for a few songs. I dunno if they need him up there through "Pet Sounds" or anything, but having a couple more Blondie-centric songs would be nice, and would give him more to do.

I would guess Al's comments about stuff like "Wake the World" and other deep cuts goes all the way back to his years touring with the BBs, where sometimes they seemed to nearly apologize ahead of time for playing any non-hit.

I *do* think the Brian touring has come around full circle again to where these PS shows are so popular that the concentration of hardcore fans is a little lower than some previous tours. I remember seeing him in 2000 and stuff like "'Til I Die" and even "Let It Shine" was getting various "noises" of recognition. I think some of the more casual fans may know the hits and PS on this current tour, but not so much "Wake the World" and a few other deep cuts. It may be one of the reasons the band so quickly dropped "Honkin' Down the Highway", only performing it about nine or so times before dropping it.

[HeyJude]

Updated some setlists on the top post. There still are no setlists for Arcata and Stateline on setlist.fm.

If the final show in Sacramento has an accurate setlist, it looks like they did a slightly truncated show for the final night in the US.

[Misterlou]

Updated some setlists on the top post. There still are no setlists for Arcata and Stateline on setlist.fm.

If the final show in Sacramento has an accurate setlist, it looks like they did a slightly truncated show for the final night in the US.

I was at the Sacramento show on a very rainy night and it was fantastic! It looks like the setlist was basically the same as the first Masonic show in San Francisco with the exception of Little Honda, with Salt Lake City, inexplicably, being played instead... which Brian introduced as a "rocker." I am a California native but lived in Salt Lake City for a number of years, and saw the Beach Boys in Utah at least four times, and never once did they play Salt Lake City. They did play California Saga and Add some Music in Sacramento which are missing from the setlist.

I thought it was funny that Brian told people at the start of the show that if they didn't like it, they were free to leave, or something to that effect, and that he got up and left the stage at the end of the first half and before the encore while the songs were still playing, but the man has earned the right to do whatever he wants. It looked like his back was giving him problems as he had to be helped on to the stage at the beginning.

One thing I noticed that was way cool is that the band played that awesome missing melody line that's found on "Hang On To Your Ego - Highlights from tracking session" that doesn't appear on I Know There's An Answer... I've always wondered why that part was left out of the final version of the song. Does anyone know?

Anyway, the band sounded great and had a lot of energy. Blondie was rocking on his numbers as usual. Great night!

[HeyJude]

They've had "Salt Lake City" pretty regularly in the setlist since mid-September. Not quite as random and obscure as early tour performances this year of "Monster Mash" (which ironically Brian *didn't* perform this month at all), but a cool random one. I've always dug when Brian digs out mid-60s relative obscurities, like "Good to my Baby" and "Girl Don't Tell Me."

But yeah, the BBs almost never did "Salt Lake City." Setlist.fm only shows one pre-1998 performance, and I've heard the recording of that show from 1981, and even in that case they only did a quick two lines from the song to open a gig in Utah.

I think they did something similar on the C50 tour in 2012, just doing a little snippet of the song.

Mike's band has done it, though rarely.

Brian has actually been doing it on and off for a number of years, most often on tours in 2009, 2011, and this year. Brian has notched more performances than any other BB-related band, doing it around 80 times over the years.

[RubberSoul13]

They've had "Salt Lake City" pretty regularly in the setlist since mid-September. Not quite as random and obscure as early tour performances this year of "Monster Mash" (which ironically Brian *didn't* perform this month at all), but a cool random one. I've always dug when Brian digs out mid-60s relative obscurities, like "Good to my Baby" and "Girl Don't Tell Me."

But yeah, the BBs almost never did "Salt Lake City." Setlist.fm only shows one pre-1998 performance, and I've heard the recording of that show from 1981, and even in that case they only did a quick two lines from the song to open a gig in Utah.

I think they did something similar on the C50 tour in 2012, just doing a little snippet of the song.

Mike's band has done it, though rarely.

Brian has actually been doing it on and off for a number of years, most often on tours in 2009, 2011, and this year. Brian has notched more performances than any other BB-related band, doing it around 80 times over the years.

Maybe I've just been ignorant of this, but Brian's done "Good To My Baby"?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I know he did in 2004, because I saw him do it!

[Sam_BFC]

I love Salt Lake City
They did it during the original run of TLOS shows at the Royal Festival Hall
I hope it makes the set list at the Royal Albert Hall next Friday
It would be great to hear it done live again

[HeyJude]

Added the December 1 show in Mexico to the schedule on the top post, as that was previously posted on Brian's site seemingly as a 2017 date.

[Emdeeh]

That Dec. 1 show is listed on Brian's site as in Monterey, Indiana. Can anyone confirm which date and location is accurate?

[HeyJude]

Given that it's "Monterrey" with two R's, that the venue is "Auditorio Pabellon" (a venue in Monterrey, Mexico), and that the timing lines up perfectly with the other show Brian is doing in Mexico, I think it's more than likely the Mexico venue. Not sure where the "IN" reference came from on Brian's website, but Brian's website does have a track record of being late to post dates, spelling things wrong, etc. It wouldn't make sense for one random show to happen in Indiana, whether December of this year or next year.

Also, I believe Pollstar is the industry standard, sort of the concert industry equivalent of what Billboard is for the record industry, and I'm guessing they only take tour dates from promoters, venues, artists, agencies, etc.

[Theydon Bois]

Three brief notes after seeing my favourite songwriter in my favourite city:

1.  Thanks so much to acrossthesea for sorting me out for such a wonderful seat.  Really, really appreciated.

2.  Darian's back!

3.  Brian, before the title track of Pet Sounds: "When you hear these drums, you guys are gonna sh*t."

[Sam_BFC]

Very very good tonight.  Particularly the first set which was close to flawless and as good as I can remember of a Brian Wilson gig.

Darian giving Brian a shoulder massage during the encore was a cute moment.😍

Immeasurably better than the show I saw at the Palladium back in May, which was "just" OK to good for me, though I gather the night or two after were a lot better than the Friday.

Real pleased I got to see Sail Away performed live I love the warmth in Blondie's voice on that one.

Can anyone remind me of the little song snippets they do for each member during the band intros?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Brian, before the title track of Pet Sounds: "When you hear these drums, you guys are gonna sh*t."

LOVE it!

[Theydon Bois]

Can anyone remind me of the little song snippets they do for each member during the band intros?

Not comprehensively, but definitely "Smoke On The Water", "The James Bond Theme" and "Hey Bulldog" were in there.  And Nelson Bragg comes on to "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", complete with more cowbell.

How long have they been sticking a bit of "Rhapsody In Blue" at the end of "Fun Fun Fun"?  If they did that in the summer then I must have missed it.

[Theydon Bois]

And whether it's Carli Munoz on "Leaving This Town" on In Concert, Charles Lloyd stretching out on "All This Is That" in the late '70s or Blondie doing his intense open-ended noise assaults in 2016, I don't seem to ever object to the heavenly marriage of glorious Beach Boy music and ridiculous wig-out solos.

[Robbie Mac]

Can anyone remind me of the little song snippets they do for each member during the band intros?

Not comprehensively, but definitely "Smoke On The Water", "The James Bond Theme" and "Hey Bulldog" were in there.  And Nelson Bragg comes on to "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", complete with more cowbell.

How long have they been sticking a bit of "Rhapsody In Blue" at the end of "Fun Fun Fun"?  If they did that in the summer then I must have missed it.

On the previous leg of the tour.
Mike D'Amico: no song
Bob Lizik: no song
Nick Walusko: bass and drum hook to Walk On The Wild Side
Nelson Bragg: Dirty Water
Probyn: can't remember right off hand.
Matthew: Carry On Wayward Son
Darian/Billy/Debbie: I Feel Fine
Gary: Tighten Up
Paul: Hey Bulldog
Blondie: Brown Sugar
Al: Miserlou

[Sam_BFC]

Great thanks both

[RiC]

My thoughts of the RAH show. Brian seemed really into it in the first half, but on Pet Sounds he lost interest and didn't sing as good, excluding couple higlights like Sloop John B and God Only Knows. He sang very well those two and really put effort into it. Funny moments: couple good "jokes" by Brian, like the one about drums on Pet Sounds (title track), as described above. And his built up to Salt Lake City was kinda funny too (I don't remember the exact words, but something like this: "this one is gonna rock. It's really great rocking song")  

Then on the encore Brian checked his watch about five times. The best timing was during Love & Mercy when he stopped singing after "and" in the "looooove and mercy that's what you need tonight"-part to check his wrist watch. LOL   Blondie stole show as usual! And Alan did amazing job with Help Me Rhonda, as usual   I was sitting at the upper circle, and was disappointed with the acoustics. Sounded pretty bad up there, but what can you do. In some ways the shows in May in Palladium were better. In my opinion Brian sang better then, and I got the feeling that the audience was better (more hc, more applause).

I bought an extremely cool litograph poster made especially for the gig. It cost 30 pounds, but it's pretty large and cool as hell! Oh and I got to meet Nelson Bragg before the show and bought his solo LP. What a great guy!

[HeyJude]

Looks like the third variant on the poster: