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Hi people, I'm a relative newbie to the board (so I apologise if this has been discussed on previous occasions) but when exactly were the live Beach Boys at their best?

Is there a tour or even a single show that is well recognised as being the zenith of The Beach Boys live performances?

If so where and when and why?

Cheers folks...

1971-74. No contest.

Interesting, so I'm taking it that The Beach Boys In Concert is the best live album?

Yes.

Live In London is good too.

Anything from the early - mid 70's is the best. You're not gonna go wrong there.

It's gotta be the span from Sunflower to Holland right? So like 1970-mid 1974 or at least up until Endless Summer

I really like the stripped down approach of the 1967 tour and the (slightly) beefed up sound of Live in London, so that stretch of time would be the sweet spot for me.

They were really never bad as a live band (as long as Carl was in the lineup), so it depends on the sound and approach you like. They had several phases over the years, although they basically sounded the same from the mid-80s to Carl's death.

I've never been a breathless fan of their live incarnations, as it was largely done sans Brian, and they were not the kind of band that tried things out on the road. (Or varied interpretations that much.) But yes, the early 70s group hit a sweet spot of eclectic set lists, jammy playing and lots of Carl and Al leads. On the other hand, the early 90s box set theater shows are a must listen as well. Carl really gave his all for those.

Even the 60s stuff can't be dismissed -- they were a rockin small band, rushed tempos and all.

My first concerts were in 1967 so I'm partial to your mention.  There is a YouTube I found with the second performance in 1966 of GV (on the GV box set) which sounds like just the 5, and the UNICEF 1967, in Paris, which is spectacular, and showcases Carl's lead on GOK.  During that Paris show, in the shadows is a back-up group, and in late 1967, they started adding back-up guys to supplement their sound.

Love Live in London!  And Mikie and TRBB mention 73-4.  You cannot go wrong with that! Great DWB with Carl, Leaving this Town, You Still Believe in Me, Funky Pretty, The Trader, really Holland - Carl and the Passions heavy material, alongside the GH.  Love it!

But, I'd be hard put to say they ever had bad live shows.   ;)

The Flame era without a doubt.

71-74 with Blondie & Ricky.  Some of the best live stuff ever from anyone...but completely overlooked.

Anytime while Carl Wilson was still alive and touring.

Except 1978.

1964 TAMI show

Similar discussion here, in case you're interested:
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,16012.0.html (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,16012.0.html)

It would be nice to get an official live album from the GV box set tour. 

Maybe in 2043 when the copyright is about to expire? :)

They peaked during the era when Mike was the dominant creative force in the group....and the tallest...and the smartest with the brightest future...and most often the girl's favourite...and the best looking...with the fullest head of hair.

No wait.  Not the "hair" part.

'coz THEN they NEVER would have reached their peak.  [but the rest is kosher...just like my keester]
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I'm gonna stretch the '71-'74 point a bit...say from about late 1971 'til 1977.  From when the Rieley influence took over and really became front and centre evident and instilled until his direct influence had worn off.  Primarily, as it turns out, while they were a man down.

71-75 were great years, probably their best as a live act. Middle 70's were good too, started to get more sloppy towards the late 70's/early 80's. The early 80's w/o Carl were bad....sometimes really bad. Once Carl returned, mid 80's until he passed, they sounded much better  and were pretty much on cruise control.

The fans who really know the best concert eras are the fans who were there. People who went to the concerts post 1967 – 70 (Live In London album) may think those years were the best. Fans who were there for concerts in the early 70’s (BB In Concert album) might think those were the best. Many who were there for the post 1974 through 1980 (Endless Summer and Knebworth albums) may think those were the best.

I was there for the early 70’s through the mid-90’s Beach Boys concerts.  I’ll say the best years for concerts, not only vocally but musicianship wise, were the early to mid 1970’s years (1971 to 1976). I had to include the 1975 Beachago and 1976 (Brian’s Back) tours. In addition to Carl, Al, Blondie, and Ricky, they had great sidemen in Dragon, Hinsche, Carter, Munoz, Figueroa, Peeler, and Guercio in the early 70’s that gave them a stellar, full band sound. And they were doing really good artsy-fartsy material back then. Dennis was standing up front with his head cocked and a finger in his ear, causing the women in the audience to get worked up. Mike Love did his Mick Jaggar imitation, strutting like a rooster across the stage. The guitar players were cookin' with gas and the rhythm section boogied like there was no tomorrow. Vocally, they were on the money.

Just a great, great time to be a fan back then.  Great times.  Well, I guess ya had to be there.

Funnily enough, I was listening to the Paramount 1993 show along with the rehearsals just last week. Why this hasn't been officially released outside of the the 2 tracks on MIC is anyone's guess? The sound quality is great. Does anyone know if multi-tracks for this show exist? Carl is simply brilliant at this show and the setlist is out of this world.... "Take A Load Off Your Feet", "Vegetables"..amazing!  

..and for my money, The Beach Boys ended as an entity with Carl's death. I'm glad I saw them when he was alive.

Yup.

In terms of audience frenzy (and I can't speak to the 60s, having never seen them then), the highlight years for me were 1976-1977.  Huge, great band on stage, horns, Dennis in rare form starting the home stretch up front on Heroes & Villains and piano for Rhonda... from the audience it was out of control.  From the moment that Help Me Rhonda brass section intro peaked, followed by the full band kick into the song, the audience seemed to be one massive organism in a kind of (barely) controlled hysteria.  I've never seen or experienced anything quite like it since, except for the 2012 Hollywood Bowl reunion show.

Haha. I read that as 'massive orgasm'...

Everything I've heard from those early 70s gigs leaves me in no doubt that that was the very peak of their frequently stunning live incarnations.

Why we don't yet have some multi-disc set of complete live shows from that era I don't really know. Other bands of that era - Allman Bros, The Who, Delaney and Bonnie etc etc etc - have released all manner of stuff which would arguably appeal to a much smaller audience. We have the (superb) In Concert and a smattering of (superb) live tracks scattered across various box sets and rarities comps.

Let Carnegie be the start of the flow!

Bruce has said that they have the tapes for this tour (and I think specifically this show) and that a release is certainly possible.

Why '78 ? I saw them in Milwaukee in '78 and they were good. Denny was in great form. Have a cassette from that show but the quality is bad.

Also, someone said something about Carl being gone in the early '80's. It was only 81. He was back in 82 and the 82 tour was pretty good because Carl wanted to do blocks of hits without breaks resulting in a lot of tunes in 90 minutes. Brian and Denny were obviously not on top of their game. '82 state fair in Milwaukee had all of the guys plus Jeff on stage for a few songs. I have a few pics somewhere.

Never saw them until '75 and was only 12 but trust those that were there....the in concert album kicks it!

71 - 74

Australia '78, not a high point in Carl's career.

Why what was up with Carl in 1978 Australia?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLWdQo-nTsw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLWdQo-nTsw)

Just watch this concert and see... especially during God Only Knows, and the intros to Country Pie and Surfer Girl... let's just say that when Dennis is the most lucid Wilson brother on stage, it's very concerning.

It was specifically the 3/14/78 Perth show. Carl had a little too much to drink and keeled over in the middle of the show (possibly at the beginning of Do It Again as loud guitar feedback can be heard; presumably Ed Carter jumped in to cover him while he was removed from the stage). He made a public apology the following day and performed the entire second show in Perth.

The guy had a bad day at work.  A REALLY bad day at work.  OVER ALL THOSE DECADES...one really bad flippin' day.  Wish I could make that claim.  Not bad considering who he had to hang around with while trying to do his job.

Dude, what the f***? What the hell does that have to do with his company on tour at the time? Carl's marriage was failing. He also had a coke and heroin habit around the same time. Personal demons are a bitch. Glass houses. Enjoy your stay. Mind the stones.

It all adds up doesn't it?  No place to run.  No place to hide.  No refuge.  And through all of that...he slipped up once.

It adds up if you're doing psuedomathematics. I highly doubt current company on that tour drove the man to get smashed to that extent.

You do do ya? :lol

Why are giving Add Some a bunch of sh*t? He was giving Carl PROPS for really only "messing up" badly that one time. And also basically saying he wishes that he (Add Some) had only screwed up once in his years.

Instead you somehow took that as a diss to Carl. I can't see how you read it that way.

And about his company on the tour, well maybe it affected his decisions and maybe it didn't. But we do know that there was a meditators plane and a "Wilsons" plane on tour....so yeah. I'm sure his buddies and brothers presence may have ratcheted up his drug use (along with other factors).

Regardless, I think you owe Add Some an apology. Thank God you're no longer a moderator.

sdj...No apology required.  There is no misunderstanding. 

 :lol THAT guy was a moderator?  :lol

 :lol Oh my fucking belly!!! :lol

I think he, quite rightly, took it as a diss towards someone else who was being blamed for Carl`s problems...Ron Altbach presumably.  ;)

Well...it wasn't a diss toward someONE else.  It WAS a diss toward the ongoing situation that ran the group...almost into the ground...the situation that had them entering the stage through separate doors from opposite sides...hell...driving out to the stage in separate stretch limos when the stage was set up in the middle of a football field.

Coming in different planes CAN be explained simply by saying that the boys came from different parts of the country which was sometimes the case.  But when a man is going through personal hell and has to try to make it go away with drugs...'cause it's seemingly the only 'option'...there's something VERY wrong happening.  So we blame the result instead of the cause?

Not me.  People know what was going on.

Dennis was awesome, and very much "in charge" in this video.  Love the POB plug from Carl...and YASB...would love to see that in the setlist.  Or even the "Rhonda" (or one of the other's) in the setlists. They are just fiery and golden moments for Dennis.  ;)

I take that as having both that disruptive Dennis out there and the not ready for prime time Brian on that tour?

Do you?  And you would limit it to just that?  Just Dennis?  And Brian?   Remember I was never referring to someONE.  Man!!!  Gotta make sure he isn't talking about Mike!!!  Hell no!!!   It can't be Mike's fault.  Never let that sh*t go down here.

Mike, Dennis...ALL of them.  Nobody had Carl's back.  It was a f*** show.  Oars crossed.  Nobody pulling together.  Everybody out for themselves.  The fact that Carl was drowning?  Carl who?

Whoops!!!  Sorry.   Missed THAT.

Oh well.

And it all came down to 'that' why?  Maybe for some of the reasons why it is what it is today?  Maybe?  

Definitely.

I knew who you were talking about. He wasn't hanging with a Teddy Bear. Carl had his hands full, that is for sure. At least back then even though they could play sloppy and such, while on tour I doubt that he had to worry about Mike, Al and Bruce as much as Brian & Dennis.

I think he had to worry about a stagnant pool of greed and vendettas and pay-backs and votes to gain control and a bunch of dinks who wanted to run the good ship no matter what the cost or who died while getting to that point and doing it.

I think Carl got stuck out in a leaky boat and no one noticed OR CARED that he was drowning.  I think that it was deemed that the Wilsons were no longer necessary nor needed.  Brian and Dennis were casualties and of little able-bodied ability to assist.  That Brian has somehow floated to the surface only to be re-recognized as the TRUE and ONLY dominant force that has ANYTHING to do with the creative end of anything relating to the Beach Boys is simply just.

No one in the Beach Boys helped Brian get back to dry land.  Just like they didn't help Carl when he needed them most. 

Or maybe I'm wrong.

Yeah, it's good to see. But there are other things behind the energy. He's enjoying himself, but if you look at his face it's obvious he's already begun his downward spiral. Damn sad.

Anybody know what Beach Boys were onstage at Milwaukee's Summerfest July 3rd 1975. That was my first Beach Boys show and I had only just discovered them through endless summer the year before so I really was not aware of who all the guys were. Mike was there for sure and I think Dennis and Carl. I've seen professional shots of Mike from that show that match the terrible pocket 110 Kodak pics my brother took. Mike is the only one you can make out cause of the silver jacket thing.

Also they had an afternoon and an evening set and during the evening set the sound blew out during the encore. Heavy rain between sets and I'm sure stuff got wet.

Probably would have been Carl, Dennis, Michael, and Al only.

That's what I'm thinking but am not sure. I think Denny was sitting stage front on the speakers between shows waiting for the green light after the rain. I remember thinking the guy on the speakers looked like the guy named Dennis Wilson on the back of the In Concert album. Blondie and Rickey would not have been there correct?

Mikie - my video quality was not good but Dennis was dressed in an outfit similar to the POB cover. Looked like cotton voile, dress shirt with white slacks.  He looked neat, all put together. 

We know Carl was high or drunk. My mother used to say that if you "can't say something nice, say nothing."  I've read where he had an addiction problem that he resolved.   Bravo to him.   But he sang his butt off (Carl) whether he was impaired or not. 

And I didn't notice Dennis looking badly.  And better and more confident than ever.   I was impressed that Dennis was at the top of his game, with a new solo album.

And C50 would be a good peak performance...