The Smiley Smile Message Board

I realize that a 50th anniversary tour is gonna be pre-Pet Sounds dominated, especially if Mike is picking half the set, but let's suppose the band can eke out another tour after this. Any chance that they might take a shot at doing a full Pet Sounds or more Sunflower tracks, or will it be strictly 'Don't F*** With the Formula' from both Mike and Brian's management?

Given that this is the most adventurous set the band have done since about 1974, I doubt it. They might add in one or two more songs (I'm still hoping against hope for another Smile track and something from Love You), but the only way to add in many more is to drop some of the hits, which would disappoint too much of the audience (as it is, I imagine there will be more people disappointed that they don't do, say, I Can Hear Music or Darlin' as there are people who are happy with them doing I Just Wasn't Made For These Times).

What about the 1993 Setlist? Add Some Music, Vegetables, Wonderful, Hushabye, ...

And this tour has This Whole World, Sail On Sailor, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, Forever...
The two tours are pretty much equivalent in terms of number of rarities, as are Mike & Bruce's 2004 and 2008 tours. There are songs I'd like to swap in from both (I'd love to see both Wonderful and Til I Die) but whenever a group calling themselves "The Beach Boys" have gone out and done longer sets with rarities in the last 20+ years, the balance has been about the same.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see both Til I Die and Good Timin' added at some point, for example -- and they could add a couple more rarities without making the show too long, so I hope they do -- but we're never going to get anything massively better than this.

I don't care. It's great as it is.

Hey, Beach Boys!   Put "Darlin' back in the set!  Please!

No original Beach Boy can do it.

B-Pain can.

Cowsill can.  He does a great version.  Or let Darian or Totten give it a shot.  Does it hafta be an original Beach Boy?  Somebody's gotta do it!

Yeah, Darian also. But: No more leads to the backing band please. Enough with DWB.

I second that.

If they do another round of touring away from the 50th Anniversary hoopla...maybe yes we would see a bit more obscurer songs.  But for now...this current tour is as best as we're going to get.  And that's not a bad thing at all.  We all shouldn't deny that this tour is in fact equipped with some deep cuts.  Just because they're not your favorite deep cut doesn't deny the fact that they are still putting in some obscure songs in the set. 

I think Darian did it in the last solo tour.

I have to admit i'm actually quite surprised they aren't playing Surfs Up on this tour.

I third it.  Either drop it from the setlist or do it in C and let Brian sing his own damn song.

+1

as for the setlist, I think this week at the Beacon might be interesting to watch.  Maybe the Hollywood Bowl, being the only real hometown show and sold out with a 19,000 capacity. As for Darlin', I like Cowsil fine, but I don't really care for his version. I'd just as soon pass unless Brian does it

I think they need to cut Surfning USA, Fun Fun Fun, I Get Around and Help Me Rhonda with My Solution, Anna Lee the Healer, Here Comes the Night (disco) and Male Ego!!!   :rock

Why are the people behind Brian and seemingly the folks on this board not aware that you can change the key of a song? No rational being expects a 70 year old to do the fucking vocal acrobats going on in the original "Don't Worry Baby". Change that sh*t to a more comfortable key and have an actual Beach Boy sing it. I'll bet my eyeballs you could minimally change the key and have a 70 year old Al Jardine kill that sh*t, because he's still pretty darn good. Lower it a bit more and B-Pain could do a fine performance, too. The same would apply for a hypothetical "Darlin'", which deserves a spot in the set. Again I'll say that changing the key does far less damage to doing the original composition justice than having Jeff sing it.

I just couldn't imagine picking a setlist from their body of work. Having been to concerts since 67, I'm just glad that they are doing so many classics. Just make the concert 5 hours long and please everybody.

tetter totter love with Brian on lead. ;D

Well, I think the non-festival set is pretty adventurous if you wanna call it that way. But I see it this way: the Beach Boys for the bigger part of their carreer (probably starting around Endelss Sumemr) never were a live act for fans but for people who come to see them because they wanna have a party. There were only a couple of tours that gave the fans something. I'm talking about tours like the '93 boxset tour or this reunion tour. They don't try to please the hardcore fans with deep cuts but play the stuff the public wants to hear and in a way reduces the band to. Since there are more non fans in the world than fans, this seems to broaden their appeal and of course it means less work if you don't have to come up with a new show constantly. So I don't think there'll be tours with more adventurous setlists than the recent non-festival shows. Maybe if they'll live long enough for another special occasion but I doubt that will happen. I could be totally wrong of course
Which btw leads me to quote a question I asked in the tour-thread. Maybe someone can answer.

I want all 15 variations of With Me Tonight as the opener. Immediately followed by the SMiLE AD version of I Love To Say Dada.

Darian did the best version of "Darlin" I ever heard at the Surf Ballroom gig last summer. I hate to say it, but he nailed it in a way Carl never quite did, as far as I have heard.

 :lol

It's even funnier because that's YOUR mix!

If they need the multitracks to learn the parts, I'd be happy to provide em.

Foskett's gonna have to sit this one out.

Hey, a fan mixer can dream!

The stupid thing about these setlists, and I'm sure I've said this once or twice before, but: NO CASUAL FAN KNOWS SHUT DOWN. There are so many better songs it can be replaced with. It's not like anyone goes to a Beach Boys show wanting to hear Shut Down.

someone prove me wrong, I dare you!

Hm, to be honest: that's one of the songs I was looking forward to hear them doing. One of my very favorite early Beach Boys-songs

oh, well then.

One of my all-time favorite car songs; definitely the best one by the Beach Boys, I'd say. It was on the flip side of a double-sided hit single in '63.  Great vocals, great lyrics by Roger.  Just a fantastic song all around. It's on most Beach Boys greatest hits collections, so that must tell you something. Dave Marks kicks ass live on the lead guitar part!

Gotta be cool now, power shift here we gooooo!  ;D

Aegir, you should've said "Little deuce coupe" and I was on your side. But then a lot of people probably want to hear that.....   :-\

I'd love if they would add this to the setlist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwjN8tTwN6c&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwjN8tTwN6c&feature=related)

On the same tour Brian sang the lead with Jeff, only lower and it sounded great.

Shut Down is the ULTIMATE Beach Boys car song.

yeah, it's my favorite. I'd be happy with just that one and they can junk the others for the Beacon Theatre stint and bust out the beardy material for the ironic mustache set.

I gotta say, and I'm not the hugest fan of their car stuff, but the "car songs" section of the show was one of my favorite parts. My girlfriend and I were having a great time dancing to it, and the band played it great with a punky energy.

I'm dying for the fellas to play "Surf's Up," and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one here who's surprised that it hasn't been played.  To be perfectly honest, I thought it would be there almost every night of the tour - a nod to TSS, and a centerpiece of the set.  I suppose the thing I didn't factor in was that it's not Brian's band (who would know the number back and forth by now) that are backing the 'Boys.  I suppose it's entirely possible that the Love / Johnston band have never even given the song a walk-thru before.  I have no idea, but is this likely why we've not seen it happen?

Given the talent level of the group, there's no reason to think they couldn't pull it off with a little rehearsal, and even if they just do it just once, as long as it's captured on camera and we get it released at a later date, then I'll be happy.

That said (and I've mentioned this before), June 29th - Darien Lake, NY sure would be a good time to unveil it!

Oh, and I really dig "Shut Down."

Shut Down is on both Endless Summer and Sounds Of Summer, as well as a lot of lower-selling compilation so there are several million people who know it.

And Generation42 -- there are only two people in the backing band who aren't from Brian's band -- the others all are. However, Brian's not performed Surf's Up live since the Smile tour -- in fact, since late 2005, he's not performed any Smile music other than Our Prayer and Heroes & Villains live, not even Wonderful (which was a top 30 hit in the UK in 2004 for him).

Given that Al and Mike have both said in interviews before the tour that they'd like to do some Smile material, that suggests it's Brian or someone in his band who doesn't want to do those songs.

Could you imagine B-pain singing Surf's Up followed by 'Til I Die? ;D Now that would be the best thing ever in my opinion. Also Cool Cool Water with Al on lead would also be really nice to see.

I'd love to see them do those. I think Til I Die is far more likely than Surf's Up -- it was in Brian's setlist for much longer (though both songs have been dropped for many years now) and Mike & Bruce have done it on at least the 2004 and 2008 UK tours (and I think someone said they'd done it at a couple of indoor US shows, too).

But if people *are* reading this board and responding to it, I'd just like to say that I'm travelling to another country to see the band in July, and that if they want to make it really worth the plane fare for me, any or all of Til I Die, Surf's Up, The Night Was So Young or Airplane added to the current set would make me ecstatic ;)

The set is great as it is, of course. I'm sure they'll keep tweaking it here or there.

You know, one song the will probably add at some point? WONDERFUL. Brian can sing it, and it's Mike's favorite Smile song. Remember the episode Scott Toten related: Mike being offstage talking about the song and going teay-eyed.

"Wonderful" would be just that, and thank you, AndrewHickey for taking the time to respond to my questions.  You know, I could've sworn that I'd heard that most of the Love / Johnston band were to be playing and then sometime yesterday or last night (on Fallon, maybe?) I heard Mike mention something to the effect that it was mostly Brian's people.  After my surprise wore off, one of my next thoughts was of my post here. :)

Even if it has been a long time (or maybe because it has) since they've been performed, I still think it would be a real shame not to have some of these great numbers played.

So..........it seems like the consensus here is that "Darlin'" not be included in the set unless an original member sings it. Well, Carl isn't here. And a non-original member of the Mike & Bruce band sang it for them. And a non-original member of Brian's band sang it for them. And a non-original member of Al's band sang it for them.

I'm all for original band members singing the leads. But the song has been a staple of the Beach Boys/Brian/Al setlists for decades, even after Carl passed away. To me, Carl sang the song the best. But he ain't here, so I say give it to Darian or Cowsill to sing. It's OK. It fills a gap between Pet Sounds and the late 60's. It should be in there.

Unless you want to have Carl do it during the tribute to him and replace "God Only Knows".

Naaaaahhhh.  Bring on "Darlin'", baby!

I can't prove you wrong, but Shut Down was a big song.  I remember hearing it when I was a kid in the 80's all the time, just as much as some of the others. 

I don't think we'll get much other Smile songs. Most of them were finished with Brian's band in 2004 and I don't think Brian would want the boys to sing them now. I don't think "Surf's up" and "Cabinessence" will be played as - this is just my feeling - Mike probably wouldn't want to....and maybe Brian would neither. H&V and GV are performed at every show so far. Hm... maybe "Prayer" ? I doubt it.
That leaves "Vegetables" and "Wonderful". Both possible and hopefully they'll play them. I guess it's up to Brian though

I think Mike is a big fan of "Wonderful" so that one could very easily happen. 

Yeah. I believe Scott Totten wrote on this message board a story of Mike praising "Wondeful". I don't think the other guys have as much to say in terms of the setlist as Brian and Mike so I guess it's Brian's decision not to do it - at least as of yet.

I wouldn't have anything against some Love You-material. "The night was so young" would make a great addition. Those harmonies on that song !!

TBH, Love You-era songs are perfect for the vocal range of Brian & co

I can easily see them do 'The Night Was So Young', 'Honkin' or even 'Johnny Carson' (as an oddity for festivals or similar)