The Smiley Smile Message Board

Soundcheck in Oslo July 31 was amazing, but didn't want to raise any hopes or spoil anything so I waited til the last show was done :)

Band + Bruce present at onstage for soundcheck, empty indoor venue, no VIP-guest. Brian was sitting next to the stage.

After they've soundchecked 'Warmth of the sun' (!) the band + Bruce does Surf's Up
with Scott on lead. Sounded amazing. After they're finished, Al arrives onstage saying:
"play the coda again, i think i remember my parts"

So they start playing the tag again and then Al joins in with his powerful voice in perfection:
"A children's song have you listened as they played"

sh*t, that was amazing. Not a dry eye in sight.
Those 2 minutes was worth the trip alone.

//RD

I remember hearing about this. Anybody have audio?

Was just thinking the same thing. Damn, if somebody had just caught it on video, even a cell phone.....

Surf's Up.  That's one song I wish they woulda included on the tour.

Damn!

Oh...which Scott?

Scott Swanson.

F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Scott T sang lead

Don't think anyone taped it.
Soundcheck incl Warmth, Surf's up and I Can Hear

//Rd

You mean to say that SU was played on Norwegian soil? I feel overly privileged, yet somehow saddened that it wasn't performed in the concert I attended just a few hours later....

This may sound crazy, but I'd be willing to pay good money for that recording. I know that's wrong, but maybe BRI will see this and put it on the box?

Seriously, i'm talking real stuff here guys, Surf's Up is the song that kept me alive last year.

Ugh I could totally splice in the al parts too... UGH... :(

Listening to the recordings of that show make me cry, fucking amazing. I need the sound check!

Hearing it was stunning.

The soundcheck in general was cool to hear, as they did Warmth and I can hear music. Me and Fallbreaks knew the setlists from the tour by heart
and new it was something special. Suddenly  Jeff went to Brian who was sitting next to the stage saying "they're gonna do Surf's up now. you wanna sit in front and listen?". Brian
was happy were he sat but I can tell you that my pulse went up 2000%.

The venue was empty, so guess no one recorded it.

//RD

See, where I come from, "they're gonna do Surf's up now. you wanna sit in front and listen?" means TAKE OUT ANY DEVICE THAT CAN RECORD AND RECORD. I guess these things aren't universal.

 :-D

There are situations when it's just not "good manners" to do so..

I don't see how this was particularly special. It was the backing band performing it at soundcheck. There's plenty of recordings of the bulk of that band playing Surf's Up, for example the recording on a little 2004 album called Brian Wilson Presents Smile.

But not in the presence of the reunited Beach Boys, and Al goes over to sing it for the first time since what 1973?

Sure he remembers his part on Surf's Up after nearly 40 years, but still blows WIBN from time to time. Only Alan Jardine....

Looks like Scott, Probyn and Nelson are always ready to perform "Surf's Up"...here they are in London on 9/24 at a small gig (?):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzv-Ed_e4Lg&feature=related

Hearing the band performing it was great. The magic begun when Al asked them to do the coda again and nailed it.
//RD

oh, that is pretty cool!

I guess I initially misread it or misunderstood it or something, I was under the impression that all just sang his lines acapella into the microphone after the band had already stopped playing.

Why would they do Warmth Of The Sun, I Can Hear Music, and Surf's Up during the soundcheck, but not the actual performance? Why would they need to practice those songs? Hmm.

Sometimes songs might be rehearsed just to see how they could sound and if they would qualify for "official" rehearsal.
Songs might be rehearsed but they don't get to be in the shape needed to be performed in concert.
Or they could just be rehearsed for fun.

While a band or performer can use a soundcheck to rehearse songs, a soundcheck is basically what the title implies.  Getting house levels set and eq'd, getting monitor levels set and eq'd, etc.  In this case, it appears the band just played these tunes for fun.  Beats running through the same old songs that you've already played 50 times on the tour. 

No offense to Mr.Totten, but I'm not interested in hearing anyone other than Brian or Carl sing "Surf's Up" at a Beach Boys show. If it had to happen, I'm glad it didn't happen like that, although obviously the chance exists they were just dicking around and Scott was singing lead for the rehearsal.

Also interesting that Scott Bennett called it the "My Gods". So now, from official sources, we have "My God", "Bygone", and "Michael". JEEZ.

IIRC, they also played a Who song (Won't Get Fooled Again?) during soundcheck, and no-one's seriously suggesting they were going to drop that in the set.



So who do we believe?! The man with the lyric sheet who recorded the first instance (Desper, in the Michael corner), the men who wrote it (Brian & Van Dyke, in the  By Gone corner) and the man they told to sing it (Scott Bennett, in the 'My God' corner)..... Argzhvfvcbx

I've always heard it as "My God", myself. 

Or we can believe Carl's isolated vocal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc5GSsdMPuM

Bygone. :D

that's definitely bygone.

I used to think it was "like a, like a".

Lyric sheet says "Michael"

Which is interesting because Michael means "with god" so "My God" also makes sense there.

By gone... what could it mean?

Holy hell - how have I never heard this?  That was extremely cool, I had no idea such a mix existed.  Thanks!

Noun   1.   bygone - past events to be put aside; "let bygones be bygones"
water under the bridge
past, past times, yesteryear - the time that has elapsed; "forget the past"
Adj.   1.   bygone - well in the past; former; "bygone days"; "dreams of foregone times"; "sweet memories of gone summers"; "relics of a departed era"
bypast, departed, foregone, gone
past - earlier than the present time; no longer current; "time past"; "his youth is past"; "this past Thursday"; "the past year"

Sure seems to mesh with the rest of the lyrics.

Haha, i used to think it was "By gun, by gun.."

And for awhile i thought it was "baigon, baigon" and i figured "baigon" was some asian word

I'm pretty sure it's "Mike Love Mike Love"

It really sounds like Jeff is singing "Bacon, bacon" on the 2004 version. I can't listen to it with a straight face anymore.

I'm hungry.