Recollections by the bass player in Simon Dupree & the Big Sound, Peter O'Flaherty.
Four of their members - this guy not included - moved on to form Gentle Giant in the 70s.
The Beach Boys 1967 UK tour never got off to a good start , 50% of The Beach Boys were missing.
Namely the 'Genius' of - Brian Wilson.
He stayed at home, probably taking illegal substances, and went to go to bed for a few years to
write 'Smile' or something equally brilliant .......
The Beach Boys first show at the Dublin Adelphi was a disaster, Carl Wilson was still half way across the Atlantic.
So there was only 25% of The Beach Boys for their first performance in the UK.
This was only made worse when Bruce Johnston attempted to fill out their programme by attempting
to sing God Only Knows, ( Carl Wilson's song ) and didn't know the words .. !
The Beach Boys evening performance was slightly better. Carl Wilson had been rushed through Irish customs,
got to the Adelphi, picked up a guitar and shot onto the stage for half of their performance.
Now they were something more like 50% of The Beach Boys ... !
Simon Dupree and The Big Sound joined the tour along with Helen Shapiro, The Nite People,
The Marionettes and Terry Reid with Peter Jay's Jaywalkers from London's
Hammersmith Odeon onwards.
One revue of The Beach Boys show at Hammersmith Odeon said ,
( Quote )
The Beach Boys were better than I anticipated , but not as good as I expected.
I couldn't help feeling that up there onstage , veritable gods of sound and song , they seemed
to give the impression they were doing us all one big favour by playing.
( Unquote )
Helen Shapiro received a very good review, and good revues also went to
Terry Reid and the Jaywalkers, and The Marionettes.
Unfortunately Simon Dupree and the Big Sound's revue was - Not a strong part of the show.
Strong in sound maybe, but not in quality. Well it was our first major tour guv !! ... promise ....
The Beach Boys didn't travel with the rest of us Plebs on the tour coach , or stay at the same hotel.
Their transport was a large black Austin Princess.
They were welcome to their own company because what I saw of them I didn't want it.
The Beach Boys never mixed with the rest of us at all , and were very much a closed shop.
Granted The Beach Boys were under a lot of stress at the time with touring , recording , interviews ,
accepting awards and bypassing the U.S. draft.
This was The Beach Boys loss, we could have taught them a thing or two about unwinding,
and being less a/retentive.
Most nights I would watch The Beach Boys performance.
Two of my favourite numbers were Good Vibrations and God Only Knows.
Arguably two of the best pop songs written in the sixties ....... will I get it in the neck
from Beatles fans now ? !!
Other songs The Beach Boys did were , Your So Good To Me , Sloop John B , Help Me Rhonda ,
I Get Around , Do You Want To Dance, California Girls , Surfer Girl , Wouldn't It Be Nice,
Graduation Day , Barbara Ann , John and Paul's You've Got To Hide Your Love Away ,
and an unaccompanied version of Hearts Full Of Spring.
We did an afternoon matinee plus a evening show.
The time in between it was either across to the local pub, or stay in our dressing room.
For a complete change once I stayed in our dressing room.
Things were all quite on the western front, as I was alone, feet up on the table, reading the
latest Beano or was it Tolstoy's War And Peace. I've forgotten in my dotage.
Anyway's Mr. Al Jardine walks into our dressing room. He had a .... er lady on his arm.
He obviously wanted a quite place to teach her the finer points of the four part harmony
to Good Vibrations or something ......
Mr. Jardine glared at me , I glared back . He glared even harder, so I glared back harder still.
( was this the new way Superstars communicated ? ).
Finally he said in a demanding voice, 'Are you going then ?'....
A red mist descended , I mean , it was our dressing room.
If he'd asked pleasantly , with a Nod nod , wink wink I would've been only too happy to oblige
and leave our dressing room for half an hour. Or perhaps three minutes in his case.
I got out of my chair , and walking towards him I said " I think you better p**s off "
He saw the look on my face and beat a hasty retreat saying , OK , OK .
Now I'm 5'6" and only 58kgs , but I'm descended from a ferocious Irish clan from Galway.
The original "Ó flaithbheartaig".... Family motto ....fortuna favet fortibus ...
The Galway citizens once walled off their city, and above the main gate, carved in the stone
was inscribed ........From the Ferocious O'Flaherty's O Lord deliver us .... Good eh !
But my barks a lot worse than my bite !! At 58kgs it has to be......
So I've said six words to one of The Beach Boys ...... cor blimey guv ....!
This is what made the Gene Pitney tour so pleasant to be part of.
Gene Pitney was the complete opposite.
He joined us on the tour coach , played poker , told jokes , and generally made an ass of
himself along with the rest of us.
This restored my faith a bit in Superstars....
© P. O'Flaherty , 2004.
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~peterkin/beach_boys_uk_tour_1967.htm
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