BBs Setlist For Monterey Pop

[Menace Wilson]

Just a thread for speculation and "what-if"ing...

Imagine the BBs had gone through with Monterey.  What would have been a good setlist for that show? I'm not sure how many of the tunes from Smiley Smile the BBs were prepared to do live, but I can't imagine it would've been hard to pull together something like "With Me Tonight".  I do think the Lei'd In Hawaii approach would have worked very well (organ, quiet vibe, etc).  Maybe something like the following:

Heroes And Villains
Getting Hungry
The Letter
California Girls
God Only Knows
Sloop John B
With Me Tonight
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Surfer Girl
Good Vibrations 

Thoughts?

[Jason]

I wouldn't be surprised if the setlist was similar to their sets that they played on the small European tour in May of '67. As Heroes and Villains wasn't out at the time of Monterey, I doubt it would have been played.

Honestly, the set might have looked like this. In no particular order -

Help Me Rhonda
I Get Around
Good Vibrations
Sloop John B.
Wouldn't It Be Nice
God Only Knows
California Girls
Surfer Girl
The Letter
Surfin' Safari/Fun Fun Fun/Little Deuce Coupe/Shut Down/Surfin' USA
You're So Good To Me

Keep in mind, major guessing is going on here. Up to and including Surfer Girl, I'd say those were givens. After that it's mere speculation. Unless there was a finished Smile at the time of Monterey, I don't believe any of the songs would have been played, if only for the mere fact that they were all incomplete.

[Mikie]

Seems to me I saw "Vegetables" included on some Monterey setlist. Dunno if it was in an article I read or what, but I did think it woulda been weird for them to do that one.

[Menace Wilson]

Monterey Pop was June 16-18th...Smiley Smile was recorded in June/July(?). 

[Mikie]

Well, remember a version of Vegetables was written & recorded earlier, during the Smile sessions. Plus, just because it wasn't released yet doesn't mean they couldn't have played it prior to release. The Beach Boys did that a few times, you know.

Maybe I dreamt it, I don't know.

[guitarfool2002]

"The Letter" by the Box Tops wasn't appearing on the surveys or radio playlists until August 1967, maybe appearing only as a "HitBound" new showing as early as the last week in July 1967 - and Monterey Pop happened in mid-June 1967, so I don't think that tune could be included. The reason why I think the BB's did it in Hawaii is because the timing of those shows the last week of August '67 coincided with "The Letter" becoming the number one record on LA radio. They were playing the current number one hit record in their show...as their own current single Heroes was hovering between #30 and #10, depending on the market. I think its best showing overall was in the Boston area, if I remember...

I'm guessing whatever setlist they had performed on the tour most current to June 1967 would have been done at Monterey. However...my own opinion...if they would have done anything as laid-back as they would soon do in Hawaii, i think Brian was right in thinking they would have gotten blown off the stage that weekend. I also don't think Heroes would have been performed as it had not been released, and the most current song they'd be able to pull off would have been Good Vibrations. Nothing else was ready.

It was the Beach Boys' touring sound system which was used at Monterey, yet Wally Heider himself can be seen in the film trying to rescue his microphones as chaos is happening on the stage.

[Menace Wilson]

After a little snooping, found a set list from May 2, 67':

1. Help Me Rhonda
2. I Get Around
3. Surfer Girl
4. You're So Good To Me
5. God Only Knows
6. Sloop John B
7. Do You Wanna Dance
8. Then I Kissed Her
9. California Girls
10. Wouldn't It Be Nice
11. Good Vibrations
12. Barbara Ann

[Menace Wilson]

Well, remember a version of Vegetables was written & recorded earlier, during the Smile sessions. Plus, just because it wasn't released yet doesn't mean they couldn't have played it prior to release. The Beach Boys did that a few times, you know.

Maybe I dreamt it, I don't know.

I agree, if they were self conscious about some of the older stuff they could have dipped into the newest material.  Better to play something unfamiliar and "edgy" than something familiar and "square". 

I wonder if the grungier sound of Smiley is in some ways a reaction to Monterey?       

[Mikie]

They coulda played "Heroes & Villains" at that point too, Menace. Some of those songs in that list would not have attracted the "hip" crowd in '67, eh?

[punkinhead]

i think a simple/Smiley approach would be best...imagine being at that concert, high on whatever and just hearing those voices...that would be the most astonishing thing, the vocals.

[guitarfool2002]

It might be overstating the immediate influence of the Monterey festival *at that time in history* to suggest it had that much of an influence on Smiley Smile or too much of anything else, except among those who were in the audience. The concert itself was only heard by the audience that was there in person, and it would remain that way until at least the film and other recordings would circulate. Everything else was word-of-mouth, or partial news and fanzine reports which gave the public their impressions of what actually happened at the festival, short of any broadcast, simulcast, or recording of the show. Jimi Hendrix probably won more non-musician fans in the immediate sense from touring with The Monkees than he had from his Monterey performance, which again only those who were there (like Micky Dolenz) had seen until the film was released in late 1968.

I think the wider influence of the show was from the film, and sometimes the festival itself gets credited with more influence than it actually had on a wide audience at the time it happened. Only the people there heard it firsthand until the film and soundtrack - it reminds me of the millions of folks who claim to have been at Woodstock when in reality they probably confused seeing the movie with being there.

[Menace Wilson]

They coulda played "Heroes & Villains" at that point too, Menace. Some of those songs in that list would not have attracted the "hip" crowd in '67, eh?

That was the concern, from what I understand.  Then again, The Association performed at Monterey Pop (even did "Windy" I think!) and there were no hipster riots. 

[Newguy562]

good vibrations
wouldnt it be nice
god only knows
vege-tables
wind chimes
cabin essence
surf's up
heroes and villains
sloop john b

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Who cares if those hipster merdaholes would have dug the boys or not?

If Mamma's & The Pappas were considered hip, The Beach Boys had nothing to worry about.

I personally wish they'd played it just so we'd have some great footage of the performance!

Also, we might have gotten to see oldsurferdude get tackled by security while trying to get at Mike onstage!

[Cam Mott]

The Boys were invited because they did what they did and so what they did was what was expected. They weren't invited because they were unhip.

[mammy blue]

This is what they should have done:

Heroes and Villains
California Girls
Do You Like Worms
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Sloop John B
God Only Knows
I Get Around
Child is Father of the Man
Surf's Up

Encore:
Help Me Rhonda
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
Good Vibrations

[Dunderhead]

They should have just done all covers, just some classics with GV and/or Heroes as an encore

[NHC]

Third time I've made this observation over the years:  Walk out on stage like you own the place, which by rights you do, rip off a fired-up intro to Fun Fun Fun and blast the crowd out of the park with an all-hit set and a couple of newbies tossed in. To heck with the hipsters.

[Rocker]

A "clean" Lei'd in Hawaii would've been cool. Maybe add I Get Around or something from SmileySmile, Vegetables for example

[willy]

Third time I've made this observation over the years:  Walk out on stage like you own the place, which by rights you do, rip off a fired-up intro to Fun Fun Fun and blast the crowd out of the park with an all-hit set and a couple of newbies tossed in. To heck with the hipsters.

Works for me 

[SMiLE Brian]

Third time I've made this observation over the years:  Walk out on stage like you own the place, which by rights you do, rip off a fired-up intro to Fun Fun Fun and blast the crowd out of the park with an all-hit set and a couple of newbies tossed in. To heck with the hipsters.

With Brian on bass, they could rock hard like they did in 1964 in Sacramento.

[guitarfool2002]

And remember they had at Monterey some of the core Wrecking Crew members as the house band. How great to have the Beach Boys self-contained band augmented by Hal Blaine, Joe Osborn, Larry Knechtel, etc. The best of both worlds, several incarnations of Brian's studio bands on one stage. Consider the possibilities of that.

[joshferrell]

I can see why Brian Dropped out of Montery,just think about it,most of the bands who played it were Hard rock guitar bands and Folk singers who played either loud or songs with messages (politics etc) i think that the Beach boys would have been considered to "pop rock" for hte crowd if they sung songs like "fun fun fun" or whatever,maybe a couple songs off of "pet sounds" ,if it had been a year or two later and they done songs from "wild honey" or "friends" then I can picture a setlist that may have gone over with the crowd also notice I left off "the letter" just because it may have been considered "ripping off" another recent artists of that time but I put in the "older" folky remakes from people of the past ..something like this
1.Good Vibrations (of course,but the weird version they did on the tv)
2.Heroes and villians
3.wonderful or surfs up (because of the psychodelic lyrics)
4.cottenfieds (their "folk song")
5.sloop john b (another "Folk song")
6.I'm getting hungry (r&b sounding)
7.caroline no or wouldn't it be nice
8.Blue birds over the mountain
9.the welfare song
10.riot in cell block #9

No surfing or car songs ..

[KittyKat]

Too bad they didn't get invited to Woodstock.  They might have done well even with a surf set list.  Didn't the campy fifties style act Sha Na Na play Woodstock and people seemed to like them?  Grateful Dead fans also liked the Beach Boys when they did some shows together.

[Phoenix]

In the alternate reality where Smile was realeased in early '67 they played the following:   
 
Our Prayer
Heroes And Villains
California Girls
Wouldn't It Be Nice
God Only Knows
Surfer Girl
Sloop John B
Help Me Rhonda
I Get Around
Good Vibrations
Barbara Ann