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Yep. Would be interesting to see them do it live now. It's one of their coolest, weirdest, funkiest sounding tracks. I feel like it gets forgotten at times but it's a track that deserves further appreciation and analysis. More importantly though they better play it at the Chicago show.

So since Carl is gone, who would you like to hear sing lead?

I agree. And, oh, let Brian sing it. I suppose it's only fair.

... maybe just the once, at the Stainforth gig...

No, they shouldn't play it 'just the once' - they should get it part of their set! It's a terrific song, and it has one of my two all-time favorite fades to a BB song (the other being Celebrate the News, another song it'd be good to here 'em play...) If after all this time, if after the success of SMiLE and the Pet Sounds box, if after the ever-increasing critical reappreciation of the group that has been building more and more with each passing year... if after all that they're then just going to get up and play safe 'hits-only' sets... well, i'd rather they didn't bother... Here is a chance for them to regain some of the glory of their awesome '70's live-peak, when they weren't afraid to mix things up a little; these shows could be an opportunity to reaffirm, in the words of Bob Dylan, that 'they're f**kin' good, man'. Come on Brian, come on Al, come on (dare i say it) Mike...

Uh, it wasn't strictly a Carl lead - Mike was in there, Blondie...yeah, here's their excuse to bring Blondie in for at least one gig. That said, this was a song that didn't immediately jump out at me when  I first heard Holland circa 1993 - and this was after seeing it cited as a highlight in several articles. But it has grown on me, like the album itself. Really not a bad song on there, although Leaving This Town and Steamboat took me a long time to "get into". I'd love to see the guys do the full California Saga, and the two main guys on that song, Mike and Al, will both be on stage....which is probably why they won't do it  :lol

Yes please.

Most of the numbers will be by the book, as they should, but it would be great to hear the band rock out on something other than encores of "Barbara Ann' and 'Fun Fun Fun'.


edit

This guy also demands it! :o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbSirtYv8ck

Check Blondie's Facebook page – he's got his own tour to keep him busy!


It was a kind of joke…:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,11899.msg257031.html#msg257031

I wish they would just put Brian center stage and give him a huge console of synthesizers, have all the analog components stacked up in a huge wall behind him like other bands would have amps, put a half dozen key boards with different fart synths at his fingers and tell him to just go for it. Have Mike, Bruce, and Al standing around a single mic on the side of the stage doing vocals under a single spotlight, while all types of foreboding lighting cues go off around Brian. No other accompaniment, no one else on stage, no guitars or drums, just Brian running through Ding Dang, Funky Pretty, and Mona for 2 hours.  Also Brian would be dressed in a bathrobe the whole show, with the rest of the guys in tailored suits.

That's my dream.

That's my nightmare.

Bowl o' coke? Basket o' burgers in reserve? Birthday cake rewards?

The encore would be a stage version of Mt. Vernon with the guys in homemade gradeschool play costumes.

Not forgetting the huge, inflatable Murry head that pops up during "Help Me Rhonda"

I demand that Funky Pretty be played during the tour...but let's face it, it probably won't be !

(btw, I'd love to see them attempt it)

I too insist FP.   And I also must insist that Barbara Ann be banned from the tour.  And any related product.

Barbara Ann - Play

Related product - Play

Funky Pretty - No play

Related Product - No play

I know.  Curmudgeon, spoil-sport (I prefer "purist").  Just applied for early social security benefits this morning. Any more questions?

they should have THIS dude sing it..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbSirtYv8ck

That is SUPERB!

he has other cool cover tunes as well..

Like just about everybody else here, I feel they have to make it different from the recent Beach Boys and Brian Wilson shows in terms of setlist, but "Funky Pretty"? There are many others I'd sooner hear first, like "This Whole World," "Wild Honey," or how about "Aren't You Glad"? It doesn't hurt to dream... 

I doubt there is anyone in the current band that can do justice to
"Wild Honey" - unless Blondie joins them. Yeah, I'd love this, Deborah Harry guesting on a BB's song  ;D  But seriously, the other two are great choices.

Three hours of Ding Dang and Shortening Bread!

You might just be my new favourite person!  :hat

If you look on youtube for Al's recent concert, Matt Jardine does a phenomenal. Makes me REALLY wish Matt was going to be in the band!!! If he joins for the band for a song or two at a California concert, this would be a treat!

This. Wasn't it on the Live in Las Vegas CD? Maybe I just heard the F&F do it live.  Was also at the Roxy last week, Matt wailed on it.

So guys....I uh, I wrote something today at work....
yeah, well, here ya go:

Just imagine it, the crowd is nearly writhing with anticipation. On stage, like the towering Marshall stacks of a heavy metal band, the distinctive beige switchboards of several Moogs buzz with electricity. Arranged in a semicircle tiers of keyboards sit waiting, eager for the return of their master's heavy touch. Suddenly, Bruce, Mike, Al, and David appear from off stage, girded in matching tailored suits. They wave to the cheering spectators as they take their positions flanking the conspicuous display of equipment on the platform's center.  Bruce, alone on the left, the other three singers on the opposite side, crowded around a single microphone. A hush falls over the audience as Bruce signals the celebrations' opening with a motion from his hand. He begins relating the story of three young princes who once lived in a magical kingdom, and Mike, David, and Al join in, assuming the charmingly naive characters of the three boys described in Bruce's monologue. The fairy tale soon spirits the three brothers away to a magical land where they comically banter with one another as they try to ascertain the cause of such a supernatural turn. Suddenly, over the PA, a familiar music begins to sound.

"Hey, you guys hear that?", Al questions.

"Hey, didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to interrupt somebody while they're talking to ya?", Mike follows bitterly.

"What are you talking about? We're brothers, we share the same mom!", David says, mugging it up for the crowd.

"Guys, I'm serious, listen!", Al says, reprising his note of concern.

The music wafting out of the PA grows in volume as Bruce describes the boy passing through the enchanted forest in search of the music's source. "Passing many strange animals and whispering trees they come into a clearing, and see a strange figure, amusing himself with an ornate pipe," goes Bruce's narration. Upon this invocation, a rumbling sound is heard emanating from the stage, thick smoke begins to billow around the various keyboards of the center display and bristling red lights paint the quickly walling vapors with ominous hues. From below the stage Brian ascends to his musical throne, clothed in a glistening sequenced bathrobe. The entire audience erupts in an explosion of joyous cheers as his face shows beneath the smoky shroud of effects.

"W-W-Who are you?", Al says, his voice melodramatically trembling with fear.

"Who Am I!?", Brian shouts theatrically.

"What are you deaf?", Mike responds with a sneer.

"We didn't mean to interrupt you sir, it's just that we're not from around here and we're trying to find our way home.", David says, attempting to clarify their predicament for the eerie stranger.

"Well, maybe I can help you boys, this is my kingdom and I know every inch of it by heart.", Brian says reassuringly.

"Well thanks Mister....Mister...say what are we supposed to call you?", Al responds politely.

"Me? Why, I'M THE PIED PIPER.", Brian yells in his most manic voice.

At these simple words the audience lets out a great collective cheer, stunned by what they've come to witness. None of them, even in their wildest fantasies, predicted the reunion show would be so spectacular a celebration.

"The Pied Piper? Never heard of ya!", Mike says dismissively with a wave of his hand.

"You've never heard of the Pied Piper? I am the source of all music in the world, and using my magic flute, I can create any sound I wish.", Brian responds, annoyed with his guest's show of disrespect.

"Oh yeah! Well prove it!", Mike demands.

"Very well, how shall I prove it? Would you boys like me to play some Bach?", Brian asks

The three boys each offer the protests, and the crowd joins in with a loud "no!".

"Then how about some Handel?", Brian asks

Again, Mike, Al, and David respond negatively.

"Then what would you like me to play for you?", Brian asks finally.

Mike, Al, and David fake murmurings, as if their characters were conducting some secret deliberation as to what they wished to hear. After a few seconds, Mike speaks up:

"Well, Mister Piper...", here he makes a long pause, growing the dramatic effect as the crowd hangs on his word.

"JUST LET ME HEAR SOME OF THAT-", Mike sings, tearing into the opening of "Rock N' Roll Music" with Brian quickly joining in with the bubbling sounds of his keyboards. The crowd goes absolutely ballistic, some fainting, others weeping openly at the beauty unfolding for them on stage. For the next two hours the group performs a delirious high octane workout of classic Beach Boys songs, eclectic album cuts, and joyous rock covers, as the story continues in between songs with the aid of Bruce's narration. The boys journey through the kingdom of the Pied Piper, partaking in an incredible adventure to save the enchanted land from an evil wizard seeking to permanently silence all music in the world. Throughout, Brian, assuming his finest Pied Piper voice, attempts to use his magic song to solve various problems encountered by himself and his young retinue, beginning the first unmistakable notes of "Ding Dang", and becoming disappointed each time by the interruption of his cohorts. Finally when the Evil Wizard is confronted and the battle to save music commences, Mike, Al, and David plead with The Pied Piper to use his magic song then and there to defeat their dangerous foe. "Now?", Brian asks the crowd. "NOW!", they cheer triumphantly. On this note the show climaxes in a jubilant rendition of the peculiar song. The audience can barely contain themselves as they clap along. Using his magical powers the Pied Piper defeats the evil wizard which threatened his kingdom and he thanks his young friends as he sends them home following an exchange of teary farewells. At this the band leaves the stage, the crowd thundering in their wake, demanding still more. After several minutes, the five musicians reappear for their encore:

"I, I love the colorful clothes she wears...", these lyrics eliciting a deluge of screams which washed over the whole theater, began the night's final song. A stunning ten minute performance of Good Vibrations that lifted everyone in the place to their feet and had them all singing along as loud as they were able to.

As the final echoes of music faded into the cheers of the crowd, the band members took their leave, and the rapturous cries of the audience slowly faded away as the theater gradually emptied.