The Smiley Smile Message Board

It seems to me Dennis was not the type to sit behind his drum set and go over "Little Deuce Coupe" and "409" ,in his later years did he rehearse with the band or kind of wing it on stage for the last years?

Good question , there is certainly footage of the band rehearsing ( for the Love You Tour ) with DW in 1977 - On the basis that he was fired from the Band for a period of time in 1979 through to him be installed for the 1980 Euro Tour ( Carl would have insisted on full band rehearsals ) - But when left for a period in 1981 , Carl stated that band weren't hungry enough and didn't rehearse hence him quitting ( Long Beach 1981 says it all ) and considering when Carl came back in 1982 Mike and Bobby took over the main core of the Drum/Perc section of the Band as DW was now a very sporadic performer ( ie sadly didn't/couldn't do many shows )

I've been wondering about this - how thoroughly was the show and the band structured to be able to fill in for people who weren't always there?  I guess Brian did a few full tours in the 70s-early 80s, but my impression is a lot of the time he was a "drop-in" - he might miss shows, and when he was there he might only be onstage for a portion of the show, and the band worked around him.  And then ditto with Dennis after 1981 - he might show up for a few numbers, but the show could and did go on without him.

With Brian, I suppose the problem is minimal - it's not like the band lacked keyboardists or competent bassmen.

I think with Dennis, he absolutely loved being a rock star, and a Beach Boy.  So he probably rehearsed most of the time others rehearsed, just because he liked being around it all (the stage, the show, etc.).

Just my assumption though... and you know what that means. 

In the sixties all of them were sticklers for rehearsal including Dennis according to those I have spoken to who they toured with at the times. I think in the seventies it probably depended on how much they had recently been touring. I am sure when he had to learn a new song, or had to update an arrangement, Dennis was present through 1975-76. From 1977 on I bet it depended on how he was getting along with the others at the time and also if he was somewhat together 

A point should be made also that in 1965-67 Brian still ran them through the new songs for tours. Brian probably continued to offer his opinion once in a while through the Whiskey gigs in 1970 if not after.

There's evidence on the KNEBWORTH video and other late period concerts that Dennis didn't know where certain songs ended, or expected some transitions to be in one place when they were in another place.  I personally witnessed them completely fall apart at a concert when Dennis blew through a segueway on a medley.  Granted, the guy was altered a lot of the time, but the impression I get is of a guy that's played the songs a certain way for a long time, and knows those arrangements, and showed up and played them.  Note, too, that Dennis left the stage for a lot of numbers a la "Lady Lynda" or "Keepin' The Summer Alive."  I'm aware that some of that is because he may not have cared for the songs, but there's a factor that he probably didn't know the live arrangements and didn't want to be bothered to learn, either.

Another factor is the sheer endurance of playing a Beach Boys set the way Dennis plays it, but in his physcial state towards the end - There's some 4th of July footage in American Band (maybe 82 - he's clean shaved and shorthaired, and I don't think he played in '83?) where he looks like he's going to sweat out his vital organs. Most of the time he looks like he's keeping time just to save his life. Fills optional, y'know?

Well put, Adam!

I also can't help noticing on that video that, unless Carl turned and keyed Dennis in on the fact that he (Carl) wanted the song to end or to signal a change, the others (other than Mike Meros) seemed to act like Dennis wasn't even there. So, I can see how it might have been more of a challenge for a drummer to keep clued in on whatever was happening with such little input from the guys he was playing with. It's not like these guys handed Dennis charts with exactly how many measures they were going to play a song out before ending it.

Not knowing when to stop playing was a problem of Dennis' since the early days.
Even on the first album there's a song where he missed a break and stopped too late.
Same thing even with rehearsals, for example in Michigan 1966, was it on the released medley (?).
But that was Dennis, he just wanted to go on and on and on...

That's the 1983 7/4 show. Wasn't in good shape and got a whole lot worse.

Yeah, he does look like he's about to keel over in a big sweaty heap.

I thought hypehat meant the '80 Washington footage which looked far worse than it was because they didn't use the fitting audio to the video. And wasn't at least part of the footage for the '83 show also wrongly synchronized (Barbara Ann) ? Can't remember

You can hear Dennis on the Knebworth rehearsals.

Knebworth rehearsals????

meaning HOW CAN I GET MY HANDS ON THIS???

In the Seattle 1983 concert footage, Dennis rushes through each song at a million miles an hour.  ;D But he goes through each song without really paying attention to his performance. He often speeds up and slows down during songs.

Dennis was always an energetic performer, even in the early days. But I think that by mid 1983, his sweating probably had as much, and maybe more, to do with the condition he was in. I don't mean to be mean by focusing on Dennis's bad side, so I hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way. By mid to late 1983, if Dennis tried to cut back on his drinking, even for a two hour concert, it probably caused him to sweat profusely. He probably even started to experience DT's.

Man, this is so sad to read. I mean, I love watching those concert vids where Dennis is just pouring it all out on those drums, pure animal passion, and then to see him such a mess in 1983...just breaks my heart.

Just keep in mind how happy he seems to be there at those shows and how much the audiences loved him.

He's obviously giving it his all and was still pretty rocking, giving the band an edge

As rough as the band was back then, it's a miracle ANY of them lived through it.  When you're living like that, you're just one bad night away from gone.  I guess Al, Mike, and Bruce weren't into it anywhere near as heavy as Dennis & Brian though. 

That's a nice way of looking at it. Dennis appeared to be giving it his all on stage, right up till the end.

No doubt the Beach Boys lost an edge and energy to the live performances  when they lost Dennis. It actually started after 1980, 81-82 were disastrous shows without Carl and in '83 the energy was almost like a flickering candle as Dennis was in bad shape. Starting after 80 and definitely after 83 they sounded like a different band. They went from rock band to oldies act, the tempos were slowed down and in my mind the 80's and 90's sound had the keyboards too high in the mix.  You can say the performances were tighter etc. but there was an edge gone they never recovered. The sound got a little too slick. Even their highlight tours of 88, 93 etc. had great performances and singing, but none of that edge.  That died with Dennis.

I've seen footage from a tour in '78 where Brian was THE bass player.  He played just about everything, and was totally integrated with the band...in fact, he seemed much more of a backing band member than a principal...he kind of ran around in the stage backfield, not singing very much.  He seemed to be really into it.  He played decently.  Dumbed down but, for example, he nailed the difficult bass run on the breakdown of WIBN.  It was fascinating and shocking to see him in that position.  It didn't last long, obviously.

I think that was in Melbourne. I was also surprised to see him playing bass right up front with the group. That WIBN clip used to be on YouTube. He messes up the words, but he nails that bass part you mentioned. Another interesting part in WIBN is that Dennis takes his time coming back in on the drum beat right after "...but let's talk about it". Everything comes to a stop, but Dennis doesn't come back in until somebody turns around and gives Dennis a WTF? look.

I think the concert clips I saw were in the U.S.  Same time frame, though.