Brian Wilson - 2022 Tour Thread (Plus Archived 2021)

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

It’s worse on Facebook…Awesomeman stated his point, I stated mine, I hope it’s cool. It is on my end for sure. On FB though, these people are saying it directly , no hinting or insinuating or anything. Facebook is a cesspool to begin with but throw in the usual BB related drama and it’s a powder keg of disaster.  That very day I’d read some of the same accusations but those folks unlike Awsomeman didn’t have good intentions.

It’s one thing to have concern; abject cruelty is another

Yeah I'm not holding any grudges.  It's okay to disagree.  :-)

Now misspelling my screen name is a whole other story.  🤣

Lol my phone’s autocarrot really didn’t like me trying to type your name !

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

It’s worse on Facebook…Awesomeman stated his point, I stated mine, I hope it’s cool. It is on my end for sure. On FB though, these people are saying it directly , no hinting or insinuating or anything. Facebook is a cesspool to begin with but throw in the usual BB related drama and it’s a powder keg of disaster.  That very day I’d read some of the same accusations but those folks unlike Awsomeman didn’t have good intentions.

It’s one thing to have concern; abject cruelty is another

Yeah I'm not holding any grudges.  It's okay to disagree.  :-)

Now misspelling my screen name is a whole other story.  🤣

Yeah my phone’s autocorrect really didn’t like it lmfao

[All Summer Long]

Brian's performances have become increasingly challenged in the last several years, including everything from the actual quality of his vocal delivery, to his overall demeanor. It *is* more low energy than even in like the 2012-2015 era, and his demeanor on stage when he's not singing is even more still and blank than in the past. I don't think it's out of line for someone to find that off-putting or concerning, even compared to 7 to 10 years ago.

I personally ended up stopping seeing the live show after 2016 after having seem him tons of times since 1999. It wasn't a big dramatic decision; I'm not even saying I'd never go again. But the performance of PS in 2016 wasn't great enough to justify keeping doing it for me, and while they do delegate leads to others, I've had a continual slight confusion/frustration with not giving Al more leads when his voice is so strong. So *that* level of Brian performance, coupled with having Al standing there the whole time but not singing a ton of leads, left me feeling I didn't need to go out of my way to see the next several tours.

This is kind of how I feel too, HeyJude. I want to see Brian and Al (and Blondie) again and I also don’t understand why they don’t give Al more leads, especially now. I felt he sang a good amount when I saw them in 2017 doing PS (and almost half of Wild Honey too) but I definitely agree Al has been underutilized at least since the return to live music.

[HeyJude]

Updated the top post with more setlists, and also a specific date for the August Canada date.

[Lonely Summer]

Brian's performances have become increasingly challenged in the last several years, including everything from the actual quality of his vocal delivery, to his overall demeanor. It *is* more low energy than even in like the 2012-2015 era, and his demeanor on stage when he's not singing is even more still and blank than in the past. I don't think it's out of line for someone to find that off-putting or concerning, even compared to 7 to 10 years ago.

I personally ended up stopping seeing the live show after 2016 after having seem him tons of times since 1999. It wasn't a big dramatic decision; I'm not even saying I'd never go again. But the performance of PS in 2016 wasn't great enough to justify keeping doing it for me, and while they do delegate leads to others, I've had a continual slight confusion/frustration with not giving Al more leads when his voice is so strong. So *that* level of Brian performance, coupled with having Al standing there the whole time but not singing a ton of leads, left me feeling I didn't need to go out of my way to see the next several tours.

This is kind of how I feel too, HeyJude. I want to see Brian and Al (and Blondie) again and I also don’t understand why they don’t give Al more leads, especially now. I felt he sang a good amount when I saw them in 2017 doing PS (and almost half of Wild Honey too) but I definitely agree Al has been underutilized at least since the return to live music.

Nobody makes Al do anything. He is doing all the singing he wants to do on the current tour.

[HeyJude]

Nobody makes Al do anything. He is doing all the singing he wants to do on the current tour.

I don't believe Al is a musical director on the tour, and there has never been any indication he has any strong input into the setlist or lead vocal assignments.

But my position is that the issue of "not giving Al more leads" falls on whomever makes that decision. My issue mentioned previously was simply that Al isn't singing more leads, whether that's someone else not assigning him more leads, someone not "letting" him sing more leads, Al not "asserting" himself more to take more leads, or Al actively turning down leads. Whatever the reason, Al's lead vocals are pretty much the biggest asset Brian's touring band has. It's an "original" voice, and it's stunningly still in tact.

And, even trying to parse such things as far as leads and setlist selections only can really be done when they're doing full-length gigs. This Chicago tour has them doing the same thing they did back on that Paul Simon tour in 2001, which is around 20-ish songs and probably around 75 minutes. There's little room to maneuver with that amount of time. A few deep cuts get sprinkled in, and they spread the leads around as much as they can.

And, I will say in the past that they've gone farther to take the load off Brian and have Al sing more, having Al take over stuff like "Here Today" on the PS tours, etc.

But I think, especially considering how forgiving and understanding Brian's audiences still are, I think it would be fine if they had Al singing like 50% of the leads at Brian shows. If they're going to keep doing them.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I’ll be honest…Al’s voice hasn’t been sounding as good as even just a few years ago. It’s to be expected at these guys’s age . Matt’s been a real star to the point where I’d go see a tour with him as the main dude. It wouldn’t be that much different than what we’re getting now if I’m being 100% honest.

[HeyJude]

I’ll be honest…Al’s voice hasn’t been sounding as good as even just a few years ago. It’s to be expected at these guys’s age . Matt’s been a real star to the point where I’d go see a tour with him as the main dude. It wouldn’t be that much different than what we’re getting now if I’m being 100% honest.

The most recent Brian shows I've heard on YouTube do feature Al in slightly compromised voice. I think all of these guys, Mike and Al included, have the McCartney issue of having trouble sort of getting enough air going out to get longer lines out when singing. Surely some of that is age.

That being said, Al as recently as this year at his solo gigs, and certainly in the last few years, still has a far, far more intact voice than any of the other BBs, and pretty much any other contemporary that was singing in the 60s and is now hitting 80+ years old.

Whatever state their voice was in even 3-5 years ago, I think Al a bit and even more so Mike is hitting an additional wall in the last year or two, roughly in the "post-shutdown/reopening" era of 2021-ish.

For that matter, on top of whatever else is going on, I think this is happening for Brian as well, which is not helping his already challenged singing on stage.

They're all 80 or older now. It's to be expected of course to some degree.

[Awesoman]

I’ll be honest…Al’s voice hasn’t been sounding as good as even just a few years ago. It’s to be expected at these guys’s age . Matt’s been a real star to the point where I’d go see a tour with him as the main dude. It wouldn’t be that much different than what we’re getting now if I’m being 100% honest.

I could be mistaken but I think they've even taken "Help Me, Rhonda" to a lower key for this tour.  Age catches up with everyone, including Al. 

[All Summer Long]

I’ll update later with better phrased thoughts.

I had never seen Brian, Al, and Blondie perform H&V so I was shocked when Matt sang Cantina.

I echo earlier posters that there was kind of a confused ‘who takes lead vocal’ if Brian doesn’t - Matt stepped in fairly quickly to fill the void though.

Brian occasionally moved down to bass vocals when it appeared he felt he couldn’t hit the high notes, such as GOK and one or two other songs, I think GV was one of them.

Unfortunately time is catching up with Al, as Awesoman put it.

Most popular songs were SJB, GOK (with standing ovation), and the rock and roll ending few (HMR, SUSA, FFF, etc).

Chicago’s horns no longer play on Darlin’.

No L&M.

Matt talks a lot with the sound guy off the side of the stage about the mic levels.

Darian and the band kicked ass as usual.

I got to thank Darian and Paul and fistbump Darian, who may have smiled at my PS 2017 shirt.

EDIT: Brian didn’t sing a ton, and Matt sang all of IGA. Brian did appear to give everything for Be My Baby, though.
If anyone else has any questions, I can see what else I can remember.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Brian’s been doing that a lot this tour (re:singing low) . I think it’s hard for him to be able to take a deep enough breath to be able to hit certain notes , or rather certain transitions. I wouldn’t be surprised if that has a lot to do with what’s going on…me personally that would have a negative effect mentally.

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

Not yet noted has been the addition of the black “privacy cloth” under the piano, concealing Brian’s hands and legs from the audience.

[Lonely Summer]

Not yet noted has been the addition of the black “privacy cloth” under the piano, concealing Brian’s hands and legs from the audience.

Somebody mentioned it on You Tube.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Not yet noted has been the addition of the black “privacy cloth” under the piano, concealing Brian’s hands and legs from the audience.

Wtf?!

I have some …questions… but at this point in time I’m not sure the best way to phrase anything

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

Wtf?!

I have some …questions… but at this point in time I’m not sure the best way to phrase anything
[/quote]
Right. I think we don’t know the whole picture. His posture has deteriorated and he is no longer playing the piano in concert, as far as I know.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

 Going to choose what I say carefully, as this type of speculation makes me extremely uncomfortable but …

I’ve noticed a huge decline just from October. And hell, even from early last month (and that was a giant drop off from last fall). On a 4th of July photo I saw Brian looked alright but his hands didn’t look quite right, like due to paralysis. But…I have also seen him use his hands to adjust himself in his seat , and seen footage of him leaving with a walker. So…yeah I don’t know what this is about.  I’m starting to have an idea based on certain things I’ve noticed but I hope I’m wrong

Feel like I’m going to be sick

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

Going to choose what I say carefully, as this type of speculation makes me extremely uncomfortable but …

I’ve noticed a huge decline just from October. And hell, even from early last month (and that was a giant drop off from last fall). On a 4th of July photo I saw Brian looked alright but his hands didn’t look quite right, like due to paralysis. But…I have also seen him use his hands to adjust himself in his seat , and seen footage of him leaving with a walker. So…yeah I don’t know what this is about.  I’m starting to have an idea based on certain things I’ve noticed but I hope I’m wrong

Feel like I’m going to be sick

It’s been a few years since he’s given an interview, besides the occasional appearance with Brett Wilson on a zoom screen for a few minutes.

Has he been on camera extensively since the LPR footage, which I think was from 2017/2018? Only appearance I can think of is Love and Mercy/Do It Again in 2020, which was actually pretty good. He played the piano pretty well and I thought he looked good, having lost some weight.

[Wirestone]

I suspect there’s too much being made of this. If there was some embarrassing or terrible secret to be hidden about Brian, they certainly wouldn’t have him enter and exit with a walker and a handler every show.

You can watch the entry here on Al’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/100001449127373/posts/pfbid02D6KopwuEhsQ8LNgzK43oB5oCpdFS9CYXLM1MCgAqCcgKNz32ahDoqPvcPPVqeTw7l/?d=n

Brian moves fairly quickly and is using his hands to grasp the walker. He wipes his face.

My conjecture, based on photos posted by the band on Facebook, is that the curtain covers up the contraption that now attaches Brian’s chair to the piano. It’s not the prettiest looking thing but means he doesn’t have to get into position, etc., when sitting down.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Going to choose what I say carefully, as this type of speculation makes me extremely uncomfortable but …

I’ve noticed a huge decline just from October. And hell, even from early last month (and that was a giant drop off from last fall). On a 4th of July photo I saw Brian looked alright but his hands didn’t look quite right, like due to paralysis. But…I have also seen him use his hands to adjust himself in his seat , and seen footage of him leaving with a walker. So…yeah I don’t know what this is about.  I’m starting to have an idea based on certain things I’ve noticed but I hope I’m wrong

Feel like I’m going to be sick

It’s been a few years since he’s given an interview, besides the occasional appearance with Brett Wilson on a zoom screen for a few minutes.

Has he been on camera extensively since the LPR footage, which I think was from 2017/2018? Only appearance I can think of is Love and Mercy/Do It Again in 2020, which was actually pretty good. He played the piano pretty well and I thought he looked good, having lost some weight.

Yeah, on Stephen Colbert months later and did even better including some higher singing .

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

I forgot about the Colbert appearance. Brian at peak concentration in his comfort zone.

[roffels]

Not yet noted has been the addition of the black “privacy cloth” under the piano, concealing Brian’s hands and legs from the audience.

He had the privacy cloth on last fall's tour as well, I took this photo in Waukegan.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Ahh…gotcha. I was thinking something completely different

[marcella27]

I’ll update later with better phrased thoughts.

I had never seen Brian, Al, and Blondie perform H&V so I was shocked when Matt sang Cantina.

I echo earlier posters that there was kind of a confused ‘who takes lead vocal’ if Brian doesn’t - Matt stepped in fairly quickly to fill the void though.

Brian occasionally moved down to bass vocals when it appeared he felt he couldn’t hit the high notes, such as GOK and GV.

Unfortunately time is catching up with Al, as Awesoman put it.

Most popular songs were SJB, GOK, and the rock and roll ending few.

Chicago’s horns no longer play on Darlin’.

No L&M.

Matt talks a lot with the sound guy off the side of the stage about the mic levels.

Darian and the band kicked ass as usual.

I got to thank Darian and Paul and fistbump Darian, who may have smiled at my PS 2017 shirt.

Very sorry to read that the Chicago horn section didn’t join for Darlin’. I’m seeing them tomorrow and as a huge fan of both bands, the “cross pollination” aspect is what I’ve been most looking forward to. Perhaps it’s because Jimmy Pankow has been absent?  Was there any mixing of the bands at all?

[All Summer Long]

I’ll update later with better phrased thoughts.

I had never seen Brian, Al, and Blondie perform H&V so I was shocked when Matt sang Cantina.

I echo earlier posters that there was kind of a confused ‘who takes lead vocal’ if Brian doesn’t - Matt stepped in fairly quickly to fill the void though.

Brian occasionally moved down to bass vocals when it appeared he felt he couldn’t hit the high notes, such as GOK and GV.

Unfortunately time is catching up with Al, as Awesoman put it.

Most popular songs were SJB, GOK, and the rock and roll ending few.

Chicago’s horns no longer play on Darlin’.

No L&M.

Matt talks a lot with the sound guy off the side of the stage about the mic levels.

Darian and the band kicked ass as usual.

I got to thank Darian and Paul and fistbump Darian, who may have smiled at my PS 2017 shirt.

Very sorry to read that the Chicago horn section didn’t join for Darlin’. I’m seeing them tomorrow and as a huge fan of both bands, the “cross pollination” aspect is what I’ve been most looking forward to. Perhaps it’s because Jimmy Pankow has been absent?  Was there any mixing of the bands at all?

Unfortunately no. I’m still slowly moving my way into Chicago so I couldn’t tell you if Jimmy Pankow has been absent though I heard that from someone a few seats away from me. He’s the trombone player right? Whoever was his substitute looked to he about the same age and was in great shape.

[marcella27]

Yes, Jimmy is the trombone player and an original member of Chicago. He has been there for most of the tour but disappeared sometime shortly after July 4. I’ve read on Facebook that it may be related to shoulder surgery.

That’s really too bad that they aren’t mixing things up a bit. I’m too young to have gone to the previous Beachago tours, and thought this would be the next best thing. The band members are obviously all talented and flexible enough that I’d think it would be easy for, for instance, Al to come out and do backing vocals or a verse on one or two Chicago songs, or vice versa with Robert Lamm doing a BB song. Like they did during Beachago shows. Seems a big shame to me not to take advantage of the fact that you have arguably the two greatest American rock/pop bands touring together! 

I’m seeing them tomorrow night and am still looking forward to it, but feel like I miscalculated. I thought about going to one of the very early shows, but then figured that they'd be more likely to loosen up as the tour went on and there’d be a greater chance of them doing some interesting stuff. Guess I was made the wrong call. I saw the last show of the Something Great tour with the Zombies, and for the encore everyone from both bands was out on stage together!