Bad Review of Brian Show

[Shady]

Deleted all the comments huh, ah well, screw em.

[donald]

The review was downright silly.     And provincial in terms of knmowledge of pop culture.     This was the same Brian (sober and minus many pounds) about whom Rock journalists have written volumes for several decades.  Eccentric, lovable, odd, unpredictable, wearing Sunday afternoon football watching lounge attire, and demonstrating asperger level interpersonal skills with the audience.  And the same man who WROTE, arranged, and produced most of these classic songs in their original form.

I would have disappointed to see him dressed any other way.  And confused if he had behaved differently.

This review would be comparable to someone reviewing Bob Dylan and observing that he plays as if to an empty room and that his outfit was odd...that his band was better than he deserved, that he didn't sound like the record...and that his version of Blowin in the Wind sounded nothing like the Peter Paul and Mary version.  And assuming that the entire audience felt the same.

Once again, I'm embarrassed to be associated with this state.

[Surfer Joe]

Brain's- excuse me, I mean "Brian's"- shows are based on a unique relationship among him and the band and the audience.  He's not there to dazzle you with his stage-presence.  What flows back from the audience is at least as important as what flows forth from the stage.  You're there to celebrate something with thousands of anonymous friends- something that meant more to you than you could really express any other way.  You're all there to say "Thank you" to Brian Wilson and share an evening of his music with him and his band, and to help keep him moving forward in his strange and difficult life. If you really don't get that, and you're focused on his sweat pants, then yeah, you should have stayed home.

Best moment for me at any Brian show was at the Roxy in 2000.  It was right around the time the last TV movie debacle came out- not too long after, and a lot of people were still talking about that.  Hoping I'm recounting all this correctly. I think Brian was setting up "Be My Baby" and he asked if people in the audience had ever had a "really favorite, favorite song"- one that was above all the others.  Someone yelled "Good Vibrations!" and everyone cheered. Brian said " Wow, thank you." and someone yelled "No, THANK YOU" and the whole place went up. A really touching moment that captured the feelings of everyone there.  Then in the lull that followed someone else yelled "MIKE LOVE SUCKS!" and everyone started laughing, including Brian, who really spontaneously just totally cracked up, which was really, really great to see. He looked startled as he busted up.  Then he made a "tsk, tsk" type gesture- he wasn't having it- but he was still smiling.  Great moment to be there.

Yep, I was there and remember that as well. Also remember someone shouting out "we love you, Carl" after Brian's introduction to God Only Knows, and Brian again saying "Thank you."

That's so cool, Southbay- what a night. Wonder who else here was in the room with us?  I stood over next to Melinda, who was sitting at a table with her friend- Brian would have been a little to my left.  Who was that guy who warmed up?  Didn't he have Pete Buck from R.E.M. playing with him? I remember the bright red jacket...

One thing no one has mentioned- this was just a college kid. She was probably sent by the school paper to cover it and was clearly clueless about Brian- probably read an article about Brian being in bed for years and the collapse of SMiLE, listened to  Pet Sounds, and thought (reasonably enough) that she had done her homework. And face it- Brian's not destined to have many people "get" him or his work. Hard as we were on her, I was hoping the comments would be helpful to her, give her a little insight, in case she wants a career as a writer.

[SG7]

I don't know what I find worse. That the article is so poorly written or the person writing couldn't handle taking the heat for how bad it was. 

[Jason]

Youth is wasted on the young. They must have mercury or asbestos in the water at the school she's in.

[Aegir]

College newspapers (unless it's a really big/respected school) have no standards.