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These clips are in the media section but have not been mentioned in the General section here. They are from a camcorder I believe, and filmed beside the piano being played mainly by Brian during the 1980 Europe tour. His playing is loud and clear unlike the muted playing at Knebworth a few days later. 'God Only Knows' is very good IMO. (clip 2) Bad light but I hope its him rather than Mike Meros anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYL3eGCMZS0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMc3KcaUtnM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWa6D1wrRJI&feature=related

The reason is this year it seems he may be behind a piano again rather than his untouched keyboard. We know he can play pretty well so I hope the mix has him loud and clear. If he can sound pretty damn good in his poor state of 1980 lets have him featured in his reasonably healthy state of 2012 please.

...reasonably healthy and OLDER 2012 state.  He might be in better shape today but that can't dismiss him from the effects of being thirty-two years older than what we find in that clip.  I don't expect Brian to be taking any spotlights with the piano but he will be more engaged this time around, since most of the lead vocal work he's been used to is now being shared with Mike.

OK, little BW 101 - back in summer 1980, Landy hadn't pumped Brian so full of thorazine and uppers that he damn near killed him and left him with serious neurological damage. The Brian of 1980 is long gone.

My point of this thread is in 1980 he was barely a sideman on stage but played some pretty cool audible piano. His solo career he has been the lead vocalist. The 'reasonably healthy state' line is relative for, and used in the context of him, as I thought most here would understand but it seems not.

I don't need reminding of what has gone on during the years 1980-2012 thanks. Thats not what this thread is about.

As has been discussed on various threads over the years, Brian can still play some good piano if he wants to as we have seen on various interviews including 'Endless Harmony'. Since his solo career started many have commented on him sitting behind a keyboard that he barely plays. My hope in 2012 is he has the confidence to tickle the ivory a little on the road.

Depending on the tour, he has played a reasonable amount of keys during his solo shows over the last three or four years (he played earlier than that too, but usually only on a couple of numbers each show). They're not too prominent in the mix, but they are audible.

If his piano playing discernable in the mix when I see them, fine. If not, whatever. There will be plenty of back up chuggers on stage. The rhythm piano parts are mostly quarter note or eighth note chordal plunks and bass note with occasional basic melodic lines. I think he can execute those parts without too much trouble. What I hope to see is a decent level of general engagement from him. I have no desire to see him hold a bass guitar, though.

You know I haven't found YT videos showing Brian playing substantial piano during recent tours... although it is known that he did. Do you know if there is any example of that?

Every time I think about this it makes me feel very sad.

The last time I saw him was the SMiLE tour and he played the keys once during the applause at the end of one song. That was it.

That concert started with a group sing-a-long with a few guitars. Unlikely but Brian on piano with Dave and Al on guitar with Mike and Bruce, would be a bitching way to start the concerts this year. Just the 5 of them doing 'Surfin' would be great.

If they're gonna do Surfin' it needs to be the version with the Baldwin.

There are a few, but I can also speak from personal experience seeing him during the fall of 2009 (which is considered by most BW watchers to be his best solo tour -- for no discernible reason). In the two shows I watched he played piano during about 75 percent of the songs. Not necessarily for the entirety of each song -- sometimes he'd just play during the chorus, let's say. But it was remarkable, because I'd seen him live five times before, and had never seen him do that.

Neither of the shows has been taped or booted, as far as I know. A few songs from other shows on that tour were on YT for awhile, but they don't seem to be there anymore. Anyway, here are a few recent samples.

Salt Lake City (2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG-kKxcGUy4
All Summer Long (2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dFGb88GDSY
Love and Mercy (2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHqZ81Jqf78 (he plays for the first verse and chorus, but is kind of out-of-sync so gives it up)
Fun, Fun, Fun (2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KiptyKbTUY


Finally --

This is what Brian playing piano DOES NOT look like ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8ST3EIbog

I think it was the2010 greatest hits tour, he stopped the band after a song started,,,,,Marcella maybe, and played a few bars solo with Taylor doing a little wordless vocal part......

It was pretty cool.....

To look at Brian is morphing into Jerry Lee Lewis. ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi9MU8IftLU

Honestly? I think Brian should concentrate on his singing.

Did that in 2009 too, if I remember correctly. Pretty cool, yeah.

I guess he won't have a grand piano on stage for every reunion gig, mostly his good ol' keyboard. Stage is gonna be crowded, anyway.

Actually, in the 2009 shows I saw he was so into playing the piano that he would forget to sing at certain places. He also kept playing through a brief drum solo, IIC.

He did that for several tours. I'm pretty sure I saw it during the 2004 Smile show, actually.

He was doing that in the UK several years earlier - 2007, maybe.

Yeah, I recall two Brian piano moments from 2004 - the intro to Marcella, and the piano breakdown in "Wind Chimes", where he played the high chords.

You know what ? I see a lot of similarities between these two in their way of talking and behaving nowadays. I wonder if they take the same kind of medicine or something like that.

At the Festival Hall shows last year, he was playing keys pretty much all the way through the 'greatest hits' segment (Not the Gershwin set, mind). I reckon if he's got a keyboard in front of him at the reunion shows he'll be plugging away.

The Morgantown 2009 L&M clip-- he was wearing the same outfit that he wore in Munhall, PA, around the same time.  For that show, he played the keyboard for almost the entire first set, and his singing was really good.  However, that was the beginning of the Brian-is-so-relaxed-he-looks-like-he-fell-asleep phase.

He was NOT playing a grand piano at the Grammys, btw.  It was one of those digital keyboards that's only about 3 feet deep, and looks like a grand.  When I saw a shot of him at the keyboard, with the cockpit of buttons above the keys, I was getting that Baldwin organ vibe.  That thing might be his own instrument, and easy enough to set up on stage for a tour-- probably weighs a couple hundred pounds, max.

I'm with Marcellahasdirtyfeet here.  Though I have always appreciated the boys' instrumental contributions, it is far more important that their live vocal work be the focus IMHO.  Having said that, the last few Brian shows I have seen in the past three years have included more of his quite audible piano work and that has been enjoyable.  But I would rather the complete focus be on their harmonies as that is, for me, what makes the Beach Boys so unique.  Nobody sings and sounds like the Beach Boys, and even with the huge loss of Carl and Dennis, I am still hoping to hear a bit of that magic in the vocal blend.  Only exception being Mr. Marks.  I want to see David tear it up on the guitar as he really has the chops.  Bruce is very skilled on the keys too, but he hasn't shown much interest in showing off those skills in the last couple of decades.  

Hmmm, I am rambling...

Really, with that gigantic band of killer players, let the Brian, Al, Bruce and Mike do what they do best - deliver harmonies that make grown men cry.  I can't wait!

Ironic isn't it. The day I ask for some Brian keyboard work and get 101'd by AGD for suggesting it, he requests this on the BW board!

Ask Brian to play it on the piano and we can both be happy Andrew.

(Tongue in cheek BTW before you reply. :P)


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Medley suggestion for the C50 shows. ;-)

(posted by Andrew G. Doe on March 16, 2012 at 2:30 pm)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaXOHCNgYrc&feature=share

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What the hell did I just watch?

What is this thread about then?  You posted some clips from 1980 in your first post and said that "if he can sound pretty damn good in his poor state of 1980 lets have him featured in his reasonably healthy state of 2012 please."  You seem to fail to realize that even if Brian was highlighted in the mix on the new tour there is a possibility that he won't be playing "better" than he did in those 1980 videos simply because he is much, much older now.  He may not be attacking the piano as energetically as a 38 year old would.  I would love to hear more piano from Brian but I foresee him picking and choosing what songs to play on...whichever ones that strikes his mood at the moment and not necessarily playing on every song.

Thats fine by me!

I expect he will be singing quite a few leads this time around and I doubt he will touch the keys during those. However during other songs I would love to hear him playing.

The only time I have seen him live with the Beach Boys was during the infamous NZ/ Aust 1978 tour. He was not unlike as he appears in those 1980 clips. Today with instant personal media we can see an artist on youtube within minutes and nit-pick every last note. That was not  the case in 1980 and to hear a fan recording warts and all from that period is rare. The instrument that stands out on those clips to me is the piano of Brian and Mike Meros. It is beside the camera.

Brian had  issues 78-80 as well yet at least in that 1980 show his playing was strong. Sure he is not the 38 year old in those clips yet he is stronger in other ways IMO plus he has support onstage with Jeff and co and I would hope the other Beach Boys. He should also realise by now he has the support of the audience. (as was obvious during the grammies) 

In countless interviews he shows he can still play pretty well and I am hoping some of that is evident this year. Lead keyboards...not at all!

It would be awsome if Brian played the piano and sang The Night Was Still Young during the shows, like he did in the Endless Harmony documentary.

Why not up the ante and just play the whole Love You album? Jah. knee. car. son. CAN YOU PICTURE 71 YEAR OLD MIKE LOVE SINGING THAT SONG IN 2012?! Seeing that song live would make me so happy.

This.

Copyright Infringement Central.  ;D

Brian playing the keys would be nice, but as a tribute to Dennis, what about if he would climb the piano and sing "You're So Beautiful". That would be unexpected and bring the house down.

Brian can still play piano/keys but the damage has left him such that sometimes his timing is off. Its like his brain is telling his fingers what to do but sometimes they're a fraction too early or late. It reminds me of an experience I had once while high on pot...trying to sing. There are several interview type videos out there where he plays piano, clearly he can still do it. The extras on the SMiLE DVD for example, where he bashes out some Gerhswin and Heroes & Villains.

When I saw him at the RFH last September I guessed he played keys on at least 7 songs, possibly more. I wasn't counting. Generally when he wasn't singing much, so instead of being static when someone else took the lead (for example Sail On Sailor) he'd play some keys. Also during instrumental/chorus sections. And he was geniunely playing, it was audible. I didn't shoot any video but I posted lots of photos a while back, some of which show him playing keys.

So it wouldn't surprise me if he plays some piano or keyboards during the BB tour. He seemed to enjoy it. Maybe some of those neural pathways are slightly less blocked than 10 years ago.

However, he is still far from a great or even 'really good' piano player. So generally on his albums Darian handles the keyboards because Darian is better. But really, Brian can play some nice fill-in on tour.