The Smiley Smile Message Board

I don't know if this was posted elsewhere but I thought Brain, Al, and David deserved a new thread now that the shows are about to start. Brian's site has a recent update regarding the tour:

Summer 2013 Tour
UPDATE: July 11, 2013
Fans are asking what they can expect from Brian's upcoming shows. Well, we got the inside word from Paul Mertens, Brian's fantastic arranger and muli-instrumentalist:
"The shows are featuring all the hits that fans, both casual and serious, would expect, but we're also delving into some rare cuts as well, adding some songs that have rarely, if ever, been performed live.

We also have the opportunity to highlight Al and David's contribution to the Beach Boys music, particularly Al's vocal power and David's seminal surf guitar style.

Having had an extended break, Brian and the band are really stoked to get out and play!"

***********************************************************************************************

 :pirate :thumbsup :woot

Looks like we'll hear a lot from Al and David!

'Some songs that rarely, if ever, been performed live' ??!! Wow!!!

So what rare songs do you expect to hear? I can't wait for this show!! Anyone else?

Damn, I wish I could go to one of these shows.  North Chicago is only 3 hours away, and I'm free on the 26th, but I'm seeing Paul McCartney tomorrow night, and I just can't afford another concert right now.   :shrug 

A good time to try 'Surf's Up' ? I think Brian, Al and Jeff could handle the vocals.

Looks like we'll get 'Honkin' Down the Highway'.  :)

I can see Jeff Beck closing his miniset with "Surf's Up" for that October show.

"Honkin'" has to be done. BW band members reading this, I am implanting a subliminal suggestion as you read this. When a man shouts "keep it clean," this will be your cue to begin playing "Honkin' Down the Highway." You will not remember reading this post, but you will remember the chords to the song. You will awake refreshed and smelling of pine on the count of 3... 2... 1...

(http://www.whistlingshade.com/0901/mesmerist.jpg)

You awake refreshed.

‍

I found this link posted on Facebook from The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary tour -

 http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/07/14/were-the-heart-and-soul-of-this-thing-anyway-al-jardine-on-touring-with-brian-wilson-after-beach-boys-snub/

Its an interview with Al and he talks about the new tour.

Was trying to post a photo. Didn't work.

Al at center stage ...

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/992837_10151727473922241_1181192444_n.jpg)

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/72619_10151727472322241_1613689579_n.jpg)

Bob is back!

Who is that playing bass?

Bob Lizik.

Good to see Lizik back in the band.
Wonder why Probyn and Paul have swapped sides?

That's who I thought. Great to see him back.

So that newbies don't mistake Probyn for Al... ;-)

(http://personales.ya.com/thebeachboys/imatges/probyngregory.jpg)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B5QREwvzEJw/T4RlOxpdu4I/AAAAAAAADHQ/HcV0NmNxRdQ/s320/Al%252BJardine.jpg)

Good gracious he could be his son!  That is just uncanny!

Glad to see Brian will still be at the grand piano like he was for the Beach Boys tour.  I think it has more dignity than the little keyboard he would sit in front of (and barely, if ever play) at his solo shows.  Also it's nice to see Nicky Wonder and Bob Lizik back in the band.

But it is the little keyboard! Inside a piano shaped shell. Kids love the white candy coating, moms love the nutritious synthy center.

(http://www.catsafterme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/h5.jpg)

Fig. 54354. Rich synthesizer filling served piping hot.

Probyn Gregory is actually the result of a mad science experiment to cross Al Jardine with Michael McKean just because they kinda rhyme. They tampered in God's domain!

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B5QREwvzEJw/T4RlOxpdu4I/AAAAAAAADHQ/HcV0NmNxRdQ/s320/Al%252BJardine.jpg)
(https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQCm2ZqugAbjDhGD&w=471&h=399&url=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F7%2F74%2FMichaelMcKeanApr09.jpg)
(http://personales.ya.com/thebeachboys/imatges/probyngregory.jpg)

Seeing Al at a distance after the Perth show I kept shouting "happy birthday Al!" thinking I'd impress the fans with my knowledge of his birthday. It turns out I did the exact opposite as "Al" eventually stepped into better lighting and revealed himself as Probyn. I made a complete fool of myself  ;D

Somebody threw a beach ball at the Irvine gig that had "Probin" scrawled on it, in Serial Killer Sans Serif font.

Probin. Ask your doctor for it by name. Some side effects may occur.

(http://www.totaaladvieskampen.nl/userfiles/image/referenties/probin.jpg)

He's played keys pretty consistently in his live shows since 2009.

Oh okay.  I had never seen him live until the Beach Boys tour so I was only judging from the Pet Sounds/Smile/On Tour DVDs.

Hey, one half of the Tasty Brothers is back, eh?  Now, where's Jimmy Hines?  And Taylor Mills would sure be a nice addition.....

5 guitarists
3 keyboardists
2 percussionists
1 bassist
1 Mertens

Can we get a full list? Is it just the same as Brian's lineup pre-reunion?

From the picture it looks like

Keyboards:
Brian, Scott Bennett, Darian Sahanaja

Guitars:
Al, David, Probyn Gregory, Jeff Foskett, Nicky Wonder

Drums/Percussion:
Nelson Bragg, Mike D'Amico

Then Bob Lizik on Bass and Paul Mertens on everything else.

Brian's pre-reunion line-up had two fewer guitars...

I kinda understand what Mike was complaining about, with too many guitars.

I don't think Mike ever complained about the number of guitars, per se. Only the number of people. Regardless, it's a red herring. Of those "five guitars" --

-- Probyn plays horns and tannerin on a decent part of the set. He also played bass for half of the C50 sets, although it looks like he won't need to do that this time.

-- Jeff doesn't play for large sections of the show, and sometimes just strums an acoustic. He's there for vocals 99.9 percent of the time.

-- Likewise, Al is there for vocals. His guitar is just something to keep his hands busy.

-- That leaves Nicky, who handles most of the guitar duties, and Dave, who will likely play most of the leads.

And of those "three keyboardists," one is Brian, who is largely playing rhythm keys that are mixed way down (if there at all), leaving Darian and Scott, who switch between keyboards and vibes all the time.

A more accurate breakdown would be --

2 guitarists
1 winds / harmonica player
1 guitarist / horn player
2 keyboard / vibes players
1 bassist
1 drummer
1 percussionist
1 falsettist
2 lead vocalists with instruments and occasionally throw in a riff or two.

Which is of course ridiculous given the amount of people who played on their most famous songs in the 60s.  There were at least 15 session musicians on the Pet Sounds album.  That's the classic Brian Wilson sound and that's why the band is so great.  While you probably don't need a huge band to play "Fun, Fun, Fun," there's no doubt that songs like "Good Vibrations" and "California Girls" are better suited to a big band.

It's a huge, huge payroll, though. I can't believe Brian makes too much money touring due to the size of the band he carries, especially given the size of the venues and the ticket prices. He may even lose money.

No Taylor Mills?

 ;D Thread for this already!

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15725.0.html

Brian has indeed lost a lot of money on some tours.

From a business perspective ut certainly makes sense to tour with a smaller backing band.

Someone should get ahold of Brian and/or his management right away about how people on this board can triple the amount of money he should have. What's a couple of guitar players have anything to do with his sound anyway? And besides, after the shows, we can all complain about how "thin" it sounded. ::)

Now there`s a rational response if ever I saw one...  :lol

It's almost like he's not ENTIRELY motivated by money or something!

"Arty type, no principles." - Naked Lunch

Of course not. But it does give another indication why people should be thankful that the C50 tour happened at all as both touring groups are so different.

The added guitars during the C50 shows gave it some "balls". It was the first time the group had that since about 1983. The 80s and 90s were drowned in keyboards and Mike and Bruce go for a lighter  sound altogether (that's the group's choice and it sounds fine) but in the heyday of the BB touring band there were lots of guitars and horns on stage. It was nice to hear that last year and hopefully from B,A, and D,

oldsurferdude - I saw Brian in 2008 -with a seven guy group.  IIRC they did Southern California and some other Brian-specific stuff, alongside the "BB hits" and they sounded just fine.  I took one of my sons to see him and he could not take his eyes off Brian, whose work he had listened to all his life.

And, I'm a union girl, so I like seeing people working.  

Taylor was not on this tour.  

Good Take!

Then I would content first and foremost, Brian is an artist - opposed to the um, "Business Boys".

Brian has income coming in from all different directions and can afford to break even or absorb a loss on a small tour. The fact that he does such a thing for his fans is a very nice thing to do for us. :)

It's still ridiculous. If Al Jardine and David Marks are prominent guitarists (which they SHOULD be after fifty friggin years) then there is no need for any other guitarists. The Beach Boys music never calls for more than two. The lineup should be something more like this...

Brian Wilson- Vocals, Grand Piano (I get it, he needs something to hide behind. I wouldn't even bother putting the keyboard in that thing.)
Daivd Marks- Vocals, Lead Guitar
Al Jardine- Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Jeffrey Foskett- Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Bob Lizik- Vocals, Bass
Darian S.- Vocals, Keyboards
Probyn Gregory- Vocals, Horns
Paul Von Mertens- Woodwinds, Etc., Percussion
Drummer

Even that is pushing it...there is no real need for live horns or woodwinds, it's sort of a bonus in this day and age. I only kept foskett in there because of his falsetto and I didn't know the drummers name...

In this day and age? That's nuts. I want a french horn in "God Only Knows" where a french horn should be, not some shitty synth pad. It's fantastic being able to hear these songs sound like... these songs.

The London Philharmonic really needs to cut the dead weight as well.

(http://images04.olx.com.ph/ui/11/68/52/1295984714_161056652_1-Pictures-of--FOR-SALE-YAMAHA-DX7-FOR-ONLY-6500-LOOK-FOR-TATA-CONTACT-2542804.jpg)

He's built a great band over the years that are fanatically loyal. I know Mike's cost-cutting ways have helped keep the flame alive in John Q. Public's set end date heart, but the coupon-clipping doesn't really have to extend to Brian's Extended Musical Therapy Project and Traveling Roadshow.

We aren't talking about the philharmonic. We're talking about a rock show. And not everything is "some shitty synth pad"

Paul McCartney- For No One (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bltVvdWTbzQ

Sounds pretty damn well like a french horn to me...and that was eight years ago.

No thanks. I'll take the music of Brian Wilson live as close as it can get to the music of Brian Wilson. I want them to sound as close to the Wrecking Crew as possible when doing the 60s material, not a bar band. People here are still bitching about the sampled harpsichords, and you want to sample the horns too?

I still don't get the "in this day and age" thing. Horns and woodwinds are kind of needed when you write parts for horns and woodwinds.  If they restricted their set to the first few records, I could see your point. But they don't.

I don't understand how the audience would benefit from sampled instruments and less accurate versions of the songs. Samples are wonderful, I use them all the time. But I want to see somebody blowing into a piece of metal when I'm spending the money for good seats at the Greek.

If Brian (or his management) choose for him to have loads of musicians on stage for his solo career then I cannot see any problem with that. When it was with The Beach Boys then it was much more of an issue perhaps as Brian was not the only decision maker.

Nelson Bragg does percussion - indispensable - does the "special effects" stuff. Amazing musician.
I think Michael D'Amico did drums and some guitar during C50.  

C50 made money, plenty of money. They could have made more with a smaller band. If that fact really helped end the tour, then that indeed is sad. Some of the songs can be done with a 5 piece band, some songs need more. So do we sacrifice "Wouldn't it be Nice" sounding appropriately lush because Mike is bent out of shape because "Shut Down" didn't need that many vocalists?

The music of Brian Wilson IS the music of the Beach Boys.  They are inextricably wound. 

I'm talking about his musical arrangements. I find it very enjoyable when they sound more like his original musical arrangements instead of more drastically downsized live renditions.

If you want to, we can pretend Mike was equally responsible for those and fought ferociously for more french horns.

It's just personal preference, I'm not claiming to speak for the common man or anything. I may be a rancid jerk and everything, but I quite prefer hearing "Wouldn't It Be Nice" the way Brian's band does it over Mike's. I understand this is possibly a flaw in my personality or at best a moral failing, as I know they both have the same exact act/setlist and everything done the same way with equally competent musicians that achieve Total Beach Boys Equivalency. But I rather like it when they have a guy with long hair racing around in the back scraping, plinking, and swatting at things to add the right percussive touches.

Admit it, Nelson is fun to watch! It's astonishing to watch such dedicated people try to recreate those sounds with every blarahonk and twang in place.

Absolutely agreed with this. Mike's band are very good, and do extremely good rock-band arrangements of the songs, as the Beach Boys did for almost all of their career, but Brian's band come much, much closer to the arrangements on the records for anything from 1965 on.

That McCartney clip actually proves the point. That doesn't sound like a French horn, but like a cheesy Casio keyboard. It's horrible. It's the one big problem I've had with the two McCartney shows I've seen, actually -- Wix is a great keyboard player, but he can't replace a full string and horn section.

As for RubberSoul's lineup...
Al isn't a very good guitarist. Never has been. He's not bad, but he's a singer, not an instrumentalist.
Both Al and Dave are only guesting with Brian's band. It's probably not a good idea to sack your only full-time guitarist (who's also a much more versatile player than Dave) because you're getting a couple of guests in for four shows, one of whom, last time he toured with a "Brian Wilson" show, dropped out of the tour half-way through.
Getting rid of Scott Bennett is also, frankly, stupid. He's the only one in Brian's band who can do a decent job on Mike's bass vocal parts (though those are usually mixed quite far down), and most post-65 songs have at least two keyboard parts. Get rid of him and you're stuck the minute you want to do, say, God Only Knows (with a piano part and a string pad played on keyboards).
As for "drummer" -- one of the great things about Brian's band has always been that they've been able to reproduce the actual drum and percussion parts that Brian wrote, which are nothing like normal rock drums, in that there's almost no cymbal or hi-hat on there, and all the high frequency information comes instead from tambourines, sleigh bells and so on. Get rid of Nelson and, even if you don't count that he's incredible fun to watch and *really* good with the fans, you have to revert to bog-standard rock drumming.

All of this is not to mention personal loyalties and so on -- RubberSoul just assumes that Darian, for example, would want to keep working in a band that had just fired Nick Walusko, who's been a friend and colleague of his for more than twenty years. I think that's far from a foregone conclusion.

Personally, I think Brian's band should be *bigger* -- he should have kept touring with the Stockholm Strings And Horns. But I think this band is a perfect compromise between what's economically possible and what's artistically perfect.

You know what would be even cheaper than RubberSoul's lineup? Get Brian a tape of "Karaoke hits of the Beach Boys" and send him on stage alone to sing along to it...

Just want to agree with that, really.

Although isn't Nicky back in this tour?

The thing is, having those extra musicians depends on the material you're playing. If you have like one or two songs in your setlist that require a sax solo or woodwinds, then I don't think it's a huge deal to use a synth or replace the part with something else. One of the only things I'm not a huge fan of in Brian's band is the overuse of the sax, sometimes used as a bass instrument. I'm sorry, "This Whole World" doesn't need saxophone. But with Brian's band, enough songs need extra voices if nothing else, which alone justifies the huge band in my mind. It's a plus that they can then also do ample instrumentation on mid 60's songs and whatnot.

Al actually is a better guitarist than many probably think; I've seen examples of it. That being said, it's totally unrealistic in the band's 51st year to all of a sudden expect Al's guitar to play a significant role in the live show. It hasn't since the 60's. That's the way it is, for whatever the reason is.

Macca is no stranger to woodwinds or strings or whatnot - he regularly plays The Long And Winding Road, My Love, Live And Let Die, Jet, Let It Be, For No One....

And plus, he's Paul McCartney, the man has more money than god, he can afford more than a bloody Casio accompaniment.

I would imagine Paul's band choices are not due to funds. He clearly likes just having a five-piece setup. It works surprisingly well, but there are moments where real strings or something would be nice.

Absolutely. The first time I saw McCartney in late 2001 was a month or two after I'd seen Brian playing the Manchester Apollo (a 3000-ish capacity venue) with his full band, and Arthur Lee playing the Manchester Academy (a 2000-capacity one) with twelve musicians (Baby Lemonade and the Stockholm Strings And Horns). McCartney was playing the 21,000-seat MEN Arena and charging twice as much as Brian (and five times as much as Arthur Lee) for tickets. If Brian and Arthur Lee could do it properly, there was no excuse in the world for McCartney not to -- especially since he'd spent money on fireworks, and on stilt-walkers, jugglers and so on to walk through the crowd prior to the show.

It's a matter of priorities, and for me the priority should always be doing the best possible justice to the music.

I'm not going to get into McCartney on here and jack the thread but, He's the best live show on the planet. None of the beach boys have ever held a candle to his performance at any point in either career. That isn't a shitty casio either, that sounds like a french horn.

ANYWAY...I think this will be a justifiable response to all the other comments too: Al Jardine and David Marks shouldn't be on the tour if they can't pull their weight. Contrary to what someone said, I think David is probably the best guitarist in Brian's band. Yeah, Al is doing much...can't say I've EVER heard his guitar come through in the mix. But I'd imagine they'll use his voice to cover all of Mike's leads and make him seem even less important to the legacy.

Another thing everyone is conveniently leaving out, is that having more musicians doesn't add up to the cost of the performer...it adds to the cost of the FANS......

He actually played some fairly decent higher neck riffs and barre chords during that book store performance he did before the big tour. I think it's on YouTube.


I was even somewhat taken aback. He wasn't bad at all.

Pull their weight? Al just needs to sing. He's got a great voice and stuff!

So what if he prefers to have something in his hands while singing? He'd look really silly standing there without any kind of dynamic stage presence and would indeed resemble a man waiting for a bus. It's how he's done it his entire life! It's comfortable. What sort of man would want an uncomfortable Alan Jardine? I say only a monster, or one using it for a cheap rhetorical point...


Ohhhh, that's what this is all about. Mike's legacy. Oh. Carry on then. Keyboards sound just like french horns and nobody needs woodwinds in this day and age.

"I was even somewhat taken aback. He wasn't bad at all."

I believe he's been honing his craft for a few years now.

I've said it in numerous old posts, but Al is a pretty solid guitar player; I witnessed him playing leads on some BB classics at a solo (non-"Beach Band") show in 2005. He played the little leads on stuff like "409" and "Sail on Sailor." He's not a virtuoso, but he's much better than he almost ever shows. Listen to his playing as well on stuff like his acoustic version of "California Saga" (released on an ESQ CD).

McCartney puts on a great show, especially for his age and pulling the entire show along himself with a small band. But having seen him numerous times on tour since he came back out in 2002, I'd say the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour was as good, and perhaps in many ways BETTER than any McCartney show I've ever seen, and this is coming from a fan who, while despising the "Beatles vs. Beach Boys" debate, would pick the Beatles if forced. McCartney's show was and is better than most typical BB tours, but not the 50th tour.  

The 50th tour easily had a more impressive show length and setlist selection than most McCartney tours. McCartney RARELY changes the setlist during a tour (he does change out several songs in between tours), while the BB's rotated in and out enough songs to amount to 61 by the end of the 50th tour. McCartney's tours are usually around 36-38 songs (yes, I know his songs are on average longer; he doesn't have as many 1:30 car songs like the BB's do).

McCartney has never done a 61 song setlist like the BB's did at Royal Albert Hall. I'd also say that at least Jardine's voice has held up better than McCartney's, although again Al isn't singing the entire show and the vocal range is more dynamic on many McCartney songs.

Well, yes, obviously...smartass.  :p

We just have precious few examples of his live craft where he's not just strumming along or playing an intro. Thus, it's a shock to hear it if one's not expecting it.

I'll take it one step further and say, even on live stuff like the "legendary" Strawberry Fest version of The Welfare Song. I actually wish we could sometimes get to hear him sit down and take a number, more often, by himself these days. Just him and acoustic guitar.

Big Al fan here.

McCartney is a fantastic live performer, but that doesn't make that keyboard sound any less fake.


Who said they can't pull their weight?


He's a good guitarist, but he'll play something different every night, and it doesn't always work. Brian's music needs musicians with little enough personal ego that they're prepared to play the same dull background part every time.


Yes, because he is, first and foremost, a singer, not a guitarist (though I *have* heard his guitar in the mix, on the three reunion shows I saw).


Not really. When I've seen Brian and Mike play, they've usually charged about the same for tickets.
A normal Brian show has nine people on stage (ten when Taylor was in the band) as opposed to Mike's "stripped-down" seven. I don't know what Brian pays his musicians, but I suspect it isn't a huge amount, and certainly not enough to make a noticeable difference when split between three thousand people's tickets.

Personally I'd *far* rather pay the extra, anyway, to see the best collection of live musicians I've ever heard (actually the *very* best was the reunion line-up, but that's largely the same people...). I've never once, at a Brian show or a reunion show, thought "damn, I wish he would sack one of those great musicians on stage, because their wage might have added as much as one whole pound to my ticket price. I might have been able to buy an extra half a glass of cola in the bar at the interview if Brian didn't keep Nick Walusko in a job..."

Really?

That may have been true at times but the ticket prices for Brian`s gigs have sometimes been very much in excess of Mike and Bruce`s. That may be as much down to them having higher travelling costs as well though.

The most recent Brian gig I saw was in 2011 at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester -- tickets cost £45.
The last time I saw Mike's band in a comparable venue (the Manchester Apollo -- both seated venues with around the same capacity, in the same city) was in 2008. Tickets were £44.50. (Though there was one extra musician on stage at that show -- David Marks).

Mike's band's show at Epsom in 2011 was cheaper -- £31.50 -- but that was in a venue with 20,000+ capacity, as opposed to a medium sized theatre or concert hall, so not really comparable.

Yes he is -- I was saying that if he was fired, as RubberSoul suggests, Darian et al might not be very happy...

As I said, that maybe true at times but some of the old threads about Brian`s tours struggling to sell tickets highlight the very high prices at certain venues (not all).

I think that's more down to the venues than anything else, though. Brian's band tend only to play one kind of venue (at least in the UK) -- 3000-5000 seat theatres and concert halls. When Mike's band play those kind of venues, they charge the same.

Mike's band also, though, play two other kinds of shows -- very big ones like Epsom, where they can charge less per head because there are far more people, and things like casino shows, where their cost is subsidised by the promoters as they're a loss-leader to get people to do other stuff.

Put it this way... I've been told in the past (but not allowed to say publicly) what Mike and Bruce charge for a show. I know for a fact that *whenever they play a gig where their appearance fee is fully covered by the ticket price* they charge as much as Brian...

I agree with the comments that Al is a better guitarist than he's given credit for. I have the acoustic version of California Saga, and assuming that is Al on guitar, he does a great job with it.

Now I remember why I kept my mouth shut after C50.....you aren't allowed to have an opinion on this board..... :smash

Nobody's stopping you from having an opinion. Unless you think that your stating your opinion means we must all immediately accept it, rather than discuss it?

You go onto a BB board and praise Macca while actually writing "None of the beach boys have ever held a candle to his performance at any point in either career" and expect people to just nod? Folks here (including myself) can be prickly at times, but your comment was pretty darn provocative. And I'm glad you said it! But you'll hear about it, too.

Nelson is fantastic to watch as is Cowsill.  Both have played in each respective band's seven player lineup.  And I don't think you are a rancid jerk. This is music discussion. People can have their viewpoints. So what. There is no equivalency rating and who really cares?

 But, have you heard the Touring Band's extended vocals on WIBN?  -"But, let's talk about it..." - They were doing that occasionally and with great audience response.

Each band has to figure out its own configuration and budget, and what works best for each.

The point of my comments weren't to bring McCartney into this, in retrospect it does reaed that way and I apologize. But, I'd like to do a comparison. My original beef was with the excess of band members. So we'll ignore WHO is in each clip and just LISTEN to them...

The Beach Boys (M&B) God Only Knows 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6GTO0unRs

Brian Wilson Band- God Only Knows 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txa69FSUG4g

---

Vocals: The lead vocals in the first clip are obviously much stronger and accurate than the second clip and I think it is a fair assessment to say that the first clip is the better sung version of the song.

Backups: The backup vox in the second clip are obviously much stronger but no more or less accurate than the first clip, it is just a fuller sound obviously due to the numbers at hand.

Guitars/Keys: These sound better in the second clip but the difference is not very large, it is again just a fuller sound obviously due to the numbers at hand.

Horn/Flute: The horns line does not sound that different between clips. However, the live flute is definitely better than the keyboarded flute.

Percussion: The percussion (except for someones distracting tambourine during verse one) in the first clip sounds just as good as the percussion in the second clip.

So my final thought? The first clip is the better of the two. The lead vocals make that much of a difference to me. The lead vocals in the second clip are slurred and distracting taking away from the beauty of the performance. But, it probably wouldn't hurt the first clip to consider one or two changes in their lineup.

You really can't hear the difference between a real French horn and a cheap synth plugin, can you?


Or count -- Nick on guitar, (presumably since we can't see them) Darian and Scott on keyboards, as opposed to Christian and Scott T on guitars and Bruce and Tim on keyboards.


No, it simply doesn't. Cowsill does a very good job, but Cowsill on drums plus Mike whacking a tambourine hopelessly out of time does not match to a proper performance of the percussion part by three people.

I was at the gig in the first clip. It was a fantastic performance and I enjoyed every second. I don't want to take *one iota* of the credit away from Mike & Bruce's wonderful band. But they simply do not -- *cannot* -- perform the music from the Pet Sounds era as faithfully as Brian's band, and just saying they can won't change that.

Before Brian's band came into existence, I never expected, nor wanted the live versions to sound like the record. Why bother to see them? I can save my money and just listen to the record or CD. Personally, I like live to sound live and different. Just like with In Concert, give me the live versions of Funky Pretty, Marcella and even Darlin' & Heroes and Villains. All are different and just as good in there own way as the studio versions. Different can be good.

Because they are really pretty good and a fun night out? You could also just eat a burger that's meat and a bun. Still a burger and they might even be a great quality burger and bun, but adding metaphorical condiments and onions and bacon like great burgers you've had in the past make it tastier. Or not, you could prefer low frills, manager's special, 70%, pink slime burgers. Your burger! But I like onions and chunks of garlic in mine, thanks. I know it's more expensive and everything, but if I'm going to get the grill out and go through all the trouble... might as well do it right!

"So you're saying that Darian is bacon and Nelson is a mess of grilled onions?"

Uh... yes?

(http://thepattyshack.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_5869.jpg)

Fig. 4345. The real reason for my mangy metaphor.

It's all just personal preference. Also, now I'm ravenous and it's time for an early lunch.

So you CAN tolerate Brian slurring his lazy way through "God Only Knows" just so you can hear the damn claves click at the right time?

You read the whole post, I hope? I am going to the Atlantic City show tomorrow night. Notice that  I said "Before Brian's band came into existence". I still prefer live to be different, but I can live with sounding like the record. My biggest complaint basically is that sometimes playing too close the record makes some songs lack that live energy. I guess it comes down to going to too many late 60's and 70's shows with all free-form going on.

Sure, I can agree with that. I'm a big fan of radically different interpretations of songs done live. I adore it when The Residents rip their back catalog apart.

But are you really going to claim the M&B band these days do amazing things with their rearrangements of the classics? Or anything like the 70s band rendition of H&V, say? If it's a choice between note perfect recreations of the records and exciting new versions with extra licks, crazy new instrumentation or entirely different feels... i'm all in! But that's not what we're talking about, is it? They aren't playing the songs like the 70s or doing new things with them. Are they? Someone post some vids, I don't see this as a titanic struggle between two camps where loyalty is required or I have to insist to be the voice of the common man or see Mike as the devil. I just like interesting music. So somebody post some!

Now, if there isn't any of that going on... then, yeah -- I like it when parts written for horns, woodwinds, and percussion are present. It's lush, gorgeous, and thrilling live. I'm glad you guys don't need such excessive fancy pants muso bullshit, but I just think it sounds richer. Not particularly a controversial opinion, I would think. Especially on a thread about Brian's tour.

(http://createdigitalmusic.com/files//2008/02/casio.jpg)


I agree with Andrew, too. They need a string player or two or three or four. One incredibly talented cellist would be fantastic.

I have only been to one M&B show, but have seen on TV and YouTube, etc. But yea, some of the faster tunes I like M&B better. On the whole though, I'd rather see BAD than M&B. This show will be a lot closer to last year's C50 shows than M&B shows will be. :)

Yep, that's definitely what I said when I was arguing that Brian shouldn't sack his backing musicians. It was definitely an argument that Brian is a better singer than Bruce, not at all an argument that French horns and flutes sound better than synth patches or that Brian should not sack his one permanent guitarist just because he's got Al Jardine playing with him for four shows. I was definitely arguing that Brian's vocals are always good...

Or at least my argument was as close to that as those synth patches are to the sound of real French horns, so obviously close enough for you...

Absolutely. But there's a difference between rearranging something inventively and just stripping it down to two guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. Going for the default option is the opposite of interesting. (And I know you're not arguing otherwise).

Well I just found it convenient for you that you didn't bring that point up. Probably because you know that part IS the most important point, but you'd rather bicker over a flute here and there.

I didn't bring it up because *your* whole argument, all along, has been that Brian should sack half his band, and I was responding to that. Unless you know some way that sacking his band will magically cure Brian's neurological problems and make him stop slurring his words, it has nothing to do with the discussion, does it?

While I might agree on other songs, Bruce doesn't hold a candle to Brian when it comes to singing "God Only Knows."  I mean, neither of the performances posted above can be called great performances but here's a clip from the same year of Brian singing "God Only Knows" on the Jools Holland show and I think he sings it beautifully. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC66SoqBv6M

Definitely, when Brian's on he's on and it's incredible. Plus having the fella who came up with that magic progression doing it has to count for something.

But to throw Mr Shorts a bone, god it was nice hearing him on the fade during the C50 shows. I never cared for "Disney Girls" and think mics should be adjusted a maximum of twice per song, but that was one hell of a fade. I got something in my eye like a big baby at the Hollywood Bowl show during that.

I tried to neutralize things and present two clips that we could analyze for a fair comparison of the groups. The lead vocalists play a large role in that. I even said I wasn't factoring in WHO was making the music just how it was being made.

And good Lord that Jools Holland clip was terrible. Not to mention there was NO percussion...

I agree, that fade with Bruce on it sounds the best. I'm not sure why he got the role of singing "God Only Knows" in their show...anybody shed some light?

What you said, actually, was:

"My original beef was with the excess of band members. So we'll ignore WHO is in each clip and just LISTEN to them..."

And you still haven't explained how Brian slurring a couple of words means he has an "excess of band members" -- or how getting rid of them would be any improvement to anything at all...

When did I EVER say the two had anything in common?

The first verse alone of that Jools Holland clip is far beyond cringeworthy. There are downright wrong notes, not even that much slurring. Now the second verse, is slur city. He can't hit about half of those notes anymore and even the rhythm gets a little spotty on the last verse. And I think that giant band of fantastic and fresh voices just makes his stick out even worse. How's that for tying things together! ::)

Bruce can't hit those notes either.

Actually, he can. This clip sounds better than either of the two I posted before. His voice is so strong, yet still sweet and there isn't a single flub. AND they gave Mike some sleigh bells instead of a tambourine and it sounds MUCH better. I'm actually a bit shocked at how nice this sounds.

Mike & Bruce- God Only Knows- 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh-8COzgDAs

Then don't watch Brian butcher the songs (which he doesn't, but whatever), and enjoy Mike and Bruce's thrilling live work. Actually, enjoy McCartney's, given his clear and ongoing superiority as a live performer to anyone else who has ever dared sing in public.

Speaking of hypothetical butchering of songs -- attention any other people going to the first gig tomorrow. You're going to post about it, right? Yes? You're not? I'll set your lawn on fire. Anybody splurging for VIP, I want juicy soundcheck details. What was Al pushing for that was politely rehearsed then rejected? I wanna know.

I can't believe there's even any kind of debate about which band sounds better on Pet Sounds material. Brian's band blows The Mikesters out of the water on that kind of material, and the number of people in his band is pretty much the single greatest reason why they do so.  If your talking about voices, Brian's, even with some flubs, is more enjoyable to my ears than Bruce's ANY day. Bruce has no personality in his voice. At all. It's a nice voice and he sings well mostly, but it's bland and boring, in my opinion. But the bands, yeah, Mike's doesn't hold a candle to Brian's, and I don't even think that's subjective, really.

Rubbersoul, you didn't study the art of debating or anything, did you?  You seem to be out of you element slightly (or not so slightly).

Yep, I particularly like the way he just keeps playing the same rhythm he plays throughout while all the rest of the band are playing the staccato section. Adds that touch of incompetence the song's always needed...

Oh, and that Jools Holland clip is FANTASTIC. That's one of the best non-Carl Wilson versions of that song I've ever heard. Brian's voice is so beautiful in that clip. Thanks for sharing.

Jools Holland can be portrayed just as effectively by a hand puppet and save quite a lot of money, you know.

Do I? Maybe it's because I'm the ONLY person in this thread looking at things logically and not being swooned over by the aging genius that wrote the material as he barely scrapes his way through his own back catalog.

The Beach Boys universe is a weird one...again, this is probably why I shouldn't speak up on here as often. There are so many standards already set it seems...likeignoring the fact that Bruce sang that song perfectly just because we don't like Bruce since he's still with Mike Love who fired the others and yadayadayada...and yeah Andrew Hickley before you jump on my ass, I KNOW nobody came right out and said that.

Rubber Soul should stick to Rubber Soul only. Yeah, he's entitled to his opinion, but that video of him singing GOK is incredible if you compare it to 15 BO and Love You. You've come a long, long way, Brian.

I'll give credit to Bruce on that 2011 performance. That was pretty excellent for someone singing at that age.
Also, I like how Brian has adapted to his weakenin voice by singing GOK with a softer voice like he did on Jools Holland. I thought that performance was beautiful despite some hickups (which I'm by far used to at this stage).

Assuming you are the only one who can appreciate Bruce' vocals in this thread is not a logical assumption  ;)

Well of course it isn't logical, but until you came along it sure seemed that way! Thank you for taking a kind approach with a reasonable rebuttle...that's a hard pairing to find on here! And oldsurferdude, I agree...it IS an improvement from that time period but I don't see the sense in "babying" Brian like that. Maybe it's because I've seen once already (not saying you fall into this category) and he was really ON that night, but I cannot justify a poor performance like that. He should not be touring if that is the case. There should be one off performances that are happening because HE wants them to happen. Unique things...like shows with a full orchestra! That would make EVERYBODY happy! :lol

Christ, you really are a complete fucking idiot, aren't you?
Just to take this drooling imbecility seriously for a second:

"being swooned over by the aging genius" -- you mean swooning over, unless Brian likes us all more than he's let us know.

You're the one who brought up the relative qualities of Brian and Bruce's performances -- and cherry-picked the worst possible Brian one -- to distract from the fact that your original supposed point, that Brian's band has too many people in it, is complete crap.

Nobody has said Bruce doesn't sing that song well. In fact nobody's said anything bad about Mike's band at all in this thread -- partly because almost everyone who's commented in this thread has a great deal of respect for them. You brought up the comparison as a way of attacking Brian's band, for reasons you've not yet made clear, and the response has been, in general, that Mike and Bruce do a good job of the song, but that French horns and flutes sound better than cheap synth patches attempting to sound like French horns and flutes.

(Again, I was at the gig you linked in the first video. I made a 400-mile round trip to go to it, and loved every second.)

You've completely derailed a thread that was originally about Brian, Al and David's tour because of your bizarre belief that Brian should sack half his musicians -- which is, even aside from the complete tin ear it shows, just nasty and disrespectful. Given that Brian employing those people does you no harm whatsoever, and that even if you accept your bizarre, ludicrous claim that cheap synth patches sound anything like real horns that still wouldn't make the band sound any *better*, wishing for people you don't know to lose their job is something only a complete arsehole would do, frankly. What is it about the idea of good musicians being employed that causes you such offence? Did a French horn traumatise you as a child?

When you say something so utterly ludicrous that both oldsurferdude and myself actually agree on how stupid you sound, maybe, just maybe, you should consider that you're in the wrong?

Oh, and it's Hickey, not Hickley. No l. But given that you have shown no ability to write a coherent sentence or to construct a logical argument, it's probably too much to ask that you know how to read...

It takes two to derail a thread. You've been keeping up your end by putting the notion out there that I have it out for Brian's band just because I said it was too big. I do not wish any harm on any of those men nor do I want them to lose their jobs, but if I think the band is too big I think I'm allowed to say that without implying I hate them because I certainly don't. I'm very greatly for all they did on C50 and if YOU were following you would have realized I shifted my suggestion to actually removing Al Jardine and David Marks from the tour. Then, none of Brian's band would really need to be removed as everybody would have a purpose.

I find it VERY amusing that when I was first considering seeing Mike and Bruce and took an attitude similiar to yours after C50 folded, you were one of the members I recall trying to talk me into seeing Mike and Bruce this year. Now I've actually come to understand why their band is relevant and you want to pull me aside and bash me for that? It's a shame there isn't a decent place on the internet to talk beach boys.

Somewhat harsh, Andrew.

If you think the band is too big you *do* want to lose their jobs. And the only justification you've given for thinking that is your frankly insane claim that a cheap synth patch sounds like a French horn. It's utterly fucking disrespectful to a very, very talented and decent group of people.


You actually said "Al Jardine and David Marks shouldn't be on the tour if they can't pull their weight."
In the very next sentence you then said that David Marks is the best guitarist in the band, and you went on to say that Al would cover Mike's leads -- which implies that you *don't* think they can't pull their weight -- and nobody else has said they think they can't pull their weight either, because they can.

Possibly you should try actually thinking about what you want to say before saying it, so that then the words you say actually mean what you intend them to mean?


No, I'm "bashing" you for your cretinous statements about *BRIAN'S* band. If someone was making equally stupid statements about Mike's band, I'd take the same attitude with them, too. I very much doubt you'll find anyone on this board with more respect for Mike's band than I have -- see my review of the show I saw two weeks ago at http://andrewhickey.info/2013/07/09/mike-loves-beach-boys-7th-july-2013/ -- I just don't have the frankly insane view that I have to take sides, and that if I like what Mike's band does that means I have to attack Brian's at every opportunity, or vice versa.

Harsh but fair, I think, given that he's been repeatedly making completely idiotic statements, as well as wilfully misinterpreting the arguments of others. He's either a complete idiot, or he's malicious -- I choose the former to be kind to him, as idiocy is more forgivable than malice.

As far consistency goes for that song, I'll go with Bruce. Shoot, one off here & there, sure Brian could pull that one off quite decent.

Bruce sings it wonderfully.  Still love hearing his voice. But there is something really moving about hearing the man who wrote it sing it. Could Mike sing it as well as Brian? Hell no!  The answer to this debate is that the BBs are better as a sum if their parts, not in pieces.

I love when Brian does it, but sometimes he doesn't do it justice. Like someone else said, when Brian is on he does an excellent job. Bruce always does a good job. Neither quite perform it like Carl.

There was no percussion because it was a stripped down band (which you seem to be advocating). I think that performance indicates that a smaller Brian Wilson band sounds a lot weaker than Mike and Bruce`s band so there we are...

Yeah Brian`s voice is poor but there is nothing to be done about that...

Whew...somebody here is way emotionally overinvested.

Timeout boys and girls!

It's only the Beach Boys!!!

Hey guys, what I miss today? ;)

Al did a great interview in Goldmine stirring the pot a bit more. Otherwise, the usual stuff that boils down to MINE IS BETTER THAN YOURS NYAH NYAH.

Reading the thread, I thought it was common knowledge that BW's band had a fuller sound and did the songs justice for the hardcore fans. While M&B is the Fun,Fun, Fun band for the everyman.

Turns out you're wrong and Casio conquered the brass section decades ago.

Damn Bruce Johnston and his magic Casio !

 :lol

Oh boy...I went for a swim and enjoyed the evening...Andrew, I'm sorry things got so ridiculous...I just didn't know when to stop! I stand by what I said, but I should've let it go at some point. Hope everyone enjoys the show tomorrow night...can't wait to hear about it, I KNOW it'll be great! I'll tell ya'll how Mike and Bruce do...

Also tantalizing setlist suggestions! Dave doing "Little Bird"!

Oh cool, "little bird" sure beats "goin to the beach" in my opinion.

Little Bird! Yeah, I can't wait to hear how that sounds. Should be a fun warmup for the fall leg of the tour with the new album material and Jeff Beckage. A shame they couldn't just do a greatest hits set, a few of you guys really wanted to be Mr I Told You So about that. Snicker. Break out your color coded setlists and deep cut breakdowns!

Wow! That sounds pretty fantastic...I'm excited to hear these fall dates. I've been holding off on buying John Fogerty tickets until the dates are announced for Brian in the fall...I've got a lot of shows this year, about half have passed...but anyway, yes- I'll most certainly go and see Brian and his band with the other boys even if I think it is too large. It's still an EPIC sound!

Very classy of you. (I mean that genuinely)

Or you have an agenda that's blinding you.

I'm definitely an outsider when it comes to the BB universe, but I'm going to jump in and say you're nuts if think those synths sound anything close to real instruments. I suppose you could fault them for trying to stick to the original arrangement too closely, but for me the arrangement of God Only Knows by Brian's band smoked those by Mike's band.

As for the vocals, well, both Brian and Bruce sounded pretty bad. And so did Sir Paul for that matter. Aging is a bitch. That isn't a flame, it's just the way it is. See also: Pete Townshend, Stephen Stills, Burton Cummings, Elton John, etc, etc.

Brian's goal in the '60s was creating teenage symphonies. Arguably his band does that, albeit nearly a half century on.

Also classy of the way you apologise to someone who is personally insulting and swearing at you.

And I apologise for the insults. That said, publicly calling for people to lose their jobs -- not because they've done anything wrong, but just because you think those jobs shouldn't exist -- is a pretty horrible thing to do, and you shouldn't be surprised when people get angry at it. I shouldn't have risen to the bait though.

I wonder if I have ever seen the persons in a quarrel make up afterwards on this board. Keep your faith in mankind! :)

It happens. I *think* that every time I've lost my temper (not often, but once or twice) on the board I've apologised, and I know others have apologised to me when they've behaved badly... people are usually not all that bad.

Exactly! Hey, sh*t happens, right? ;)

Just Back in from the Pittsburgh show. As good as if not better than BB50. I have some great photos from the front row to share but I keep getting a message that the upload folder is full. I've decreased the size and they still won't upload. any help?

Set list from the Pittsburgh show July 21, 2013:

Set 1

California Girls
Catch A Wave
Dance, Dance, Dance
Girl Don't Tell Me
Little Deuce Coupe (Al)
In My Room
Surfer Girl
Don't Worry Baby
Then I Kissed Her (Al)
Please Let Me Wonder
Darlin' (Darian)
Old Man River
Cotton Fields (Al)
Little Bird (David)
Our Prayer
Heroes and Villains
Do You Wanna Dance
I Get Around

Set 2

Do It Again
Hawaii
Summertime Blues (David)
Let Him Run Wild (Jeffrey)
Your Imagination
Goin' Home
That's Why God Made The Radio
California Saga
Sail On Sailor (Scott)
Marcella
Pet Sounds
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Sloop John B
God Only Knows (Brian)
Good Vibrations

Encore

All Summer Long
Help Me Rhonda (Al)
Barbara Ann
Surfin' USA
Fun, Fun, Fun
Summer's Gone

Dave burned it up on guitar. Al sounded great as did Brian. On stage banter was great. The rain came early but stopped before showtime. Nice large crowd I believe.

I'll post about the meet and great experience later.

I'll still try to upload some photos.

This is not the BAD Tour. This is the Brian Wilson 2013 Tour with special guest Al Jardine and David Marks. (They need to make this a permanent thing)

I think Al and David really made a difference. I thought I was watching the Beach Boys. Hey, wait, I WAS watching the Beach Boys. Mike and Bruce were 'no shows'.  ::)

Alan Jardine LITERALLY drowned in bras tonight, and will therefore be excused from the rest of the BAD tour.

SEE?!?! SEE?!?!?!

Sincerely,
Cassandra Complex

sluts.

Hello SloopJohnnyB. Attaching them doesn't really work on this board, but copy-pasting an url-link does. Try an upload service on the internet for those pictures.  For instance www.tinypic.com or www.photobucket.com

I Get Around from Atlantic City

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32srqWL4jHo

All Summer Long in Pittsburgh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPVOt0ceTVw

Summer`s Gone in Pittsburgh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3UuysDQAVs

Al would be a better choice for I Get Around imo.

The All Summer Long video is unforgiving.

Summer`s Gone sounds better but Brian is being very obviously doubled.

Al could be lost forever under a C-cup, sounds like he did well to survive the evening

mmm i feel sorry for Brian, looking at the video's off all summer long and summers gone. I think its time for Brian to say goodbye from touring and only make studio records. He seems really uncomfortable to me.

Well that settles it, then. No more touring for Brian -- and Mike can ascend to his rightful place in the hierarchy as the only touring BB. Whew. Thank God our long national nightmare of seeing Brian play life-changing concerts is over.

The people who went reckon it was great, the people who didn't reckon it's crap and Brian should stay home.

Sounds about right.

It's newsworthy and notable when Brian looks comfortable.

Surely other people are entitled to an opinion.

Who's claiming otherwise?

I think we should draw lots to find out who gets to take Brian home and look after him now we've decided he shouldn't tour any longer.  I have had a lovely room ready for several years, specifically for this day, full of china dolls, steaks and super big cuddles… ever since my days on the Blueboard. I know exactly what's right for him, even if he doesn't…

Gotta love the bloo "caring" for BW..... :lol :lol :lol :lol

I have been going to see Brian since since 1999 and except for the Smile Tour he always looks uncomfortable and stoic up on stage. That's just Brian being Brian. This is why I think it is great having Al and Dave taking some of the pressure off MC-ing the show.

i have seen brian 3 times and the first one in 2004 was the best. His band is great and Brian Always looks like he doesnt want to be there but....he Always could carry a tune for 80%.

Looking at the video's he sounds like he cant carry a tune for 40%. 

And yet he completely nailed, say, The Gershwin record  live when I saw him. And those aren't easy songs to sing!

When you're at the show you really don't hear the mistakes as much.

You do realize that we made up the BAD acronym? Shoot, my ticket says (w/ Al Tardine & David Mar). ;)

Delurking to offer a few random comments on the AC show. I haven't seen these specific points made elsewhere; apologies if I'm inadvertently duplicating other posts.

Overall, it was a terrific show. Things got the tiniest bit ragged, I thought, during the first half of the second set: it sounded as if the mix might not have been quite right, and it seemed that some first-show roughness might have been detectable. I'm confident that will smooth out quickly.

Brian, as others have remarked, was having a "stoic" night. He didn't smile much (some big smiles during Darian's performance of "Darlin'"), and he simply missed a bunch of lines - just didn't sing them. That said, once he started singing, he was in pretty good voice; and there were points in the show when he was much more animated and engaged with the audience.

"Summer's Gone" was really interesting. After "Fun, Fun, Fun" (Brian returned to the keyboard for that one, after his brief encore stint on bass), Jeff looked over at him inquiringly, as if asking: "Are you done? Do you want to leave?" Brian signaled that he wanted to continue, and Jeff gave a deferential little half-bow, as if to say "As you wish." (I had the sense that Jeff was surprised that Brian wanted to go on.) Brian then introduced the song as follows (not verbatim, but close): "Now that we've got the rock 'n' roll stuff out of the way, we'd like to do a little song called 'Summer's Gone.' In terms of audience reaction to the song: everybody was already standing after the other encore numbers, and so they remained standing - but everything went very quiet: not terribly different from the respectful silences during the SMiLE tour.

Al's "heart and soul" comment might read as being provocative or mean-spirited when transcribed, but it wasn't like that in person. When he mentioned the "heart and soul of the Beach Boys," he gestured toward Brian, as if to say: "We're the heart and soul of the band because Brian is here." Al was genial and amiable throughout. A very nice presence, I thought. He was funny and self-deprecating, admitting that he needed to keep checking the setlist. (At one point he actually held up the setlist, saying something like "Wow, Brian, you've really got a lot of songs here.") The white suit looked great.

"Our Prayer" was a welcome surprise, and it segued pretty much directly into "Heroes and Villains" - which was the Cantina version, by the way. At the end of "H&V," Brian said something - I couldn't quite catch it - about the preceding songs coming from an album called SMiLE. That line got a fair amount of applause.

David was marvelous: he spoke quite a bit, and played wonderfully. He told a nice Dennis anecdote before "Little Bird." When the song was over, somebody (Jeff?) gestured toward him and said "David Marks!" To which David responded, simply and graciously, "Dennis Wilson" - giving the credit to his former bandmate. "Summertime Blues" was quite good - certainly not a replication of the original Beach Boys version.

The spoken introduction to the "Ol' Man River/Cottonfields" medley was noteworthy. Jeff asked Al if he had anything to say about the next song, and Al, after a moment's thought, replied that it was a medley of two very traditional songs - a water song leading into a song about the earth (mini "Elements"?). Before the song began, Brian played a nice little run on the keyboard: a figure that recalled the descending/ascending figure in what is now the first part of "Mrs. O'Leary" (formerly known as "H&V Intro"?)

There was a non-trivial amount of anti-Mike Love feeling in the room (not spurred on by Al's comments, but starting on its own). Without quoting the specific comments, let me say that the audience members in question expressed themselves with the eloquence and class one might expect of a Jersey Shore contingent. Notwithstanding those unfortunate outbursts, the show was a very happy, positive experience.

Finally: based, admittedly, on a sample of one, I think John Q. Public's inability to enjoy the deeper cuts may be just a bit overstated. There was a charming elderly lady sitting next to me who was obviously not a dedicated fan, although she had attended one of the C50 shows last year. I think it would be fair to call her a casino-show-goer rather than a Beach Boys fan. She was more familiar with the hits, but, judging by her reaction, she really enjoyed songs like "Your Imagination," "Sail On Sailor," "Breakaway" and so forth. She didn't know the words, and couldn't have told you the names, but she obviously appreciated them.

Anyway: just my own personal impressions; I apologize if I've inadvertently described something (or quoted someone) inaccurately. As I said, it was a terrific show.

You saw Tardine & Mar live onstage with Brian Wilson?? :o I always said he should get together with some more obscure indie artists. 2013 is another great year for BBs fans. :)

Thanks for that - and welcome to the board! :-D

@Chalk n Numbers

A great review of the show. Just as I remember it too. I liked how David remembered both Dennis (Little Bird) and Carl (Summertime Blues) with antidotal stories of each.

I saw the first show of that tour, Brian nailed those songs from day one!

You guys are making me seriously jealous. I sold my tickets to the show at Ravinia on Friday like two weeks after I bought them because my husband has a show and pitched a fit about me being there. I was fine with it at first, but seeing the set list and reading these reviews...I'm seriously regretting this decision.

As your husband had already pitched the fit what did you have to lose? Y'know when you weigh it up Brian Wilson v husband v Brian Wilson: - )

I hope he appreciates the grand gesture you made for him and when he pays it back makes sure it is with interest.

I hope they bring this show to the UK.

Reward his fit with a POW zombie stare throughout his show and stiff, robot applause with an unchanging expression. If you can't go see Brian Wilson, act a bit Brian Wilson.

. . . and casually tell people at the gig that "he's good... but not as good as Brian Wilson".

These are great ideas. When the group has their post-show pow-wow, I'm going to be sure to say, "You were funny, but I really missed the lighter/cell phone bit"

:lol

Wonderful review Chalk n Numbers. Welcome to the board.  :)

I'm from Pittsburgh and I did the meet and great because these opportunities don't come around too often. Well worth it! I think all of the people sitting near me traveled in from other places.

I was talking to a 52 year old man and his 20 year old son who drove in from Philadelphia. The dad wasn't much of a music fan but the son was really into music. The dad told me that the son showed him a Brian Wilson documentary (Smile) and that he was really blown away. They traveled to Texas to see BB50 but found out when they got there that Mike and Bruce went out on their own. (Not everyone reads message boards and follows internet news, especially newer fans. I wonder what photo the promoters were using...no fault to Mike) Anyway, this was their first time seeing Brian in concert. Al and David were a huge benefit and bonus. You know what? It didn't matter that Brian didn't sing a few lines in a song or that he didn't smile too often. They were seeing Brian Wilson in concert! I could see that they were having a great time as we all were. The son will remember that night for the rest of his life. How cool is it to turn your dad on to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Making the trip across the state. Fantastic concert. Memorable night.

There were young and old people attending (as with Mike and Bruce). Parents brought their teenage children and everyone had a great time.

So when I read that Brian had an off night well, it just doesn't matter. It really, really doesn't. I paid my good money and I was just glad that Brian was there. Not good enough for some fans? I don't know what else to say. I think you're in a small minority of hard core fans and you do have every right to be critical. But after all of the documentaries, news and comments around the web I don't expect Brian to be 100%. I'll take what ever he can offer. I feel fortunate that I was able to be there. Really.

A few notes with more to come:

A nice moment at the sound check when Al said that "Dennis was here with us" when they performed 'Little Bird'. David was definitely channeling Dennis on that one.

Toward the end of the show I noticed that Jeffrey had a stick of incense burning at his microphone/guitar stands. Very funny and cool to see. I noticed it during Good Vibrations.

Pre-concert David was seen walking through the inside part of the venue (Bar and entrance area). He grew up in near- by New Castle, PA. which is west of Pittsburgh near the Ohio border.  He was bringing family and friends in from the public entrance. People that recognized him respected his presence which was nice to see.

I'll work on getting the photos posted here or on photo bucket.

A really nice review from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. I think we all feel the same way.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/music-reviews/concert-review-brian-wilson-concert-at-stage-ae-is-a-return-to-innocence-696412/

Here's my video from Sunday's Pittsburgh show - Old Man River / Cottonfields.

Shot on a Samsung digital camera, so the sound veers tinny. I think you'll like it though - the medley was beautifully done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hGq8YOhD-I&feature=youtu.be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hGq8YOhD-I&feature=youtu.be)

Ah, I've been waiting for that! Thanks so much.

I like it when Peter Boyle does a jig when Cottonfields starts. What a great idea to combine the two.

Great stuff. Thank you so much.

Gotta love the old guy getting up and dancing around in a circle at the start of "Cottonfields". :-D

Back to Al as a guitarist for a moment........

Someone posted a youtube link to Al's recent performance at the Henry Miller Library.  I watched as he played the only guitar on GOK on a small stage in the courtyard of the library, and was very impressed with the solid chord progression he put down as the basis of the song while a scant few other musicians accompanied.
Al is quite talented in a number of ways and has contributed significantly to the overall ambience of the Beachboys over many years.  If there are too many guitarists, I don't think Al is one of them.

I've posted some pictures and video from the Golden Nugget show this past Saturday.

I'm not sure if this is the place or the other thread, but I posted in the other one so I'll link to it here:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15725.200.html

Summer's Gone - Pittsburgh show.

(starts @ 2nd verse)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FaAI4BTLe4&feature=youtu.be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FaAI4BTLe4&feature=youtu.be)

Thanks for that video! Al is a great singer and one of those "anchor" BB voices.  

What I miss is Love and Mercy, which has the essence, I think, of Til I Die, or God Only Knows in the context of the combination of both "wisdom and forgiveness." Sort of an "Advanced Pet Sounds" in concept and GOK in simplicity.  

 In a way it reminds me of Disney Girls, which was never a hit, and yet "required fare" on either a Touring Band setup or C50. Not a hit, but something which has evolved into a classic.  And, oddly enough, I think of Love and Mercy, as a song that Dennis could have written as well.  Just a simple soulfulness.  And Brian's parting gift, to the audience and his fans.  And a far better song than Summer's Gone to close the show. JMHO

And, Al rocked that ponytail! So there!   :lol

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2689_zpse762659e.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2689_zpse762659e.jpg.html)

Got it!!

All from Pittsburgh, PA

Christ, this one makes me sad.

These are from the Sound Check at Pittsburgh

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2690_zpsa75396fe.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2690_zpsa75396fe.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2698_zpsda293572.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2698_zpsda293572.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2706_zps41cc5c26.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2706_zps41cc5c26.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2707_zpsf9c8be34.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2707_zpsf9c8be34.jpg.html)

Nice that they allowed pictures at the soundcheck.  The soundchecks at the C50 shows felt as if they were run by the CIA.  No pics, videos, escorted in, big hoopla.

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2709_zps28749e86.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2709_zps28749e86.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2713_zpsbffba4fa.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2713_zpsbffba4fa.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2723_zpsdc51c65b.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2723_zpsdc51c65b.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2727_zps9e4799dc.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2727_zps9e4799dc.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2729_zpsbc11d488.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2729_zpsbc11d488.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2737_zpsd12dd78d.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2737_zpsd12dd78d.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2747_zps11cadfb2.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2747_zps11cadfb2.jpg.html)

Yeah he looks pretty glum--even misses a line (see Al look over).  By the way, has Brian lost some weight?  He looks a bit slimmer--looks good on him!  But the beginning of a tour seems to be the worst time to see Brian.  His first 5 shows on the C50 Tour were very tough. 

No doubt Brian will perk up towards the end of the tour if not the final run of shows when he realizes the tour is just around the corner of being over!

Photos from the concert. Pittsburgh, PA

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2753_zps60ec5278.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2753_zps60ec5278.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2754_zps3dc631ed.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2754_zps3dc631ed.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2757_zps295e5ee4.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2757_zps295e5ee4.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2759_zps1f5eef67.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2759_zps1f5eef67.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2762_zps5e0bc2ab.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2762_zps5e0bc2ab.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2764_zpsdf088b7d.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2764_zpsdf088b7d.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2766_zpseeb56797.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2766_zpseeb56797.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2771_zps0677672f.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2771_zps0677672f.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2777_zps2e549edf.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2777_zps2e549edf.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2785_zps2bc27134.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2785_zps2bc27134.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2786_zpsa7f2e17f.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2786_zpsa7f2e17f.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2788_zps83b33226.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2788_zps83b33226.jpg.html)

Is it just me or did Al turn out to be a most dapper-looking old chap? :)

Great, awesome. Might be the camera mic emphasizing the high freq but Jeff is way too loud in the mix on River. A treat to see them do it. Thanks for posting it.

'Pet Sounds' performed in Pittsburgh. Dave twangs it and the drummers bring it home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlxCHJMIi0M&feature=youtu.be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlxCHJMIi0M&feature=youtu.be)

Great example of a lead Al should be taking. Not to say Brian can't do it.

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2797_zps2bbb0229.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2797_zps2bbb0229.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2806_zpsa19c6564.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2806_zpsa19c6564.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2807_zpsfbdabf74.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2807_zpsfbdabf74.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2823_zps437e8708.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2823_zps437e8708.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2829_zpsb07ff482.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2829_zpsb07ff482.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2832_zps9b57e1e1.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2832_zps9b57e1e1.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2834_zps679c3ec1.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2834_zps679c3ec1.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2898_zps6845f74c.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2898_zps6845f74c.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2903_zps874a3c73.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2903_zps874a3c73.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2906_zps825edb24.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2906_zps825edb24.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2919_zpsb90e01e6.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2919_zpsb90e01e6.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2925_zps8f258393.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2925_zps8f258393.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2938_zps905c4b09.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2938_zps905c4b09.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2946_zps346db66b.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2946_zps346db66b.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2972_zps3041d70d.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2972_zps3041d70d.jpg.html)

Pittsburgh, Sunday night

(http://i40.tinypic.com/2elqra0.jpg)

(http://i43.tinypic.com/qqab10.jpg)

(http://i41.tinypic.com/mhzi9h.jpg)

(http://i39.tinypic.com/p0yfd.jpg)

more:

Our Prayer -
(http://i43.tinypic.com/w9tmz8.jpg)

(http://i42.tinypic.com/15xsn5e.jpg)

(http://i39.tinypic.com/29lzn08.jpg)

(http://i42.tinypic.com/2z4err4.jpg)

(http://i44.tinypic.com/ws4ety.jpg)

The Beach Boys...kinda...
(http://i42.tinypic.com/2lmmn0k.jpg)

More from Pittsburgh, PA

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2736_zpsabdc1473.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2736_zpsabdc1473.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2985_zps6434b362.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2985_zps6434b362.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2995_zps4c66e8d1.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2995_zps4c66e8d1.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3031_zps3ece1645.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3031_zps3ece1645.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3032_zps40a3ff9c.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3032_zps40a3ff9c.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3064_zps9e00b10e.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3064_zps9e00b10e.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3069_zps16735f7b.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3069_zps16735f7b.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3071_zpsb11038ca.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_3071_zpsb11038ca.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2806_zpsa19c6564.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Brian%20Wilson%20with%20Al%20Jardine%20and%20David%20Marks/IMG_2806_zpsa19c6564.jpg.html)


All good reading and thanks for the info.

Just my 2c. Not sure with Mike and Bruce gone that the huge piano works. It looks like the proverbial white elephant in a lot of the shots and for many of the audience it hides Brian. Its only a keyboard so go for the small version he has used in the past IMO.

Wowow wow, great pics -- Thanks guys!

Thanks for responding! Photos posted!

I just did LOTS of video from Atlantic City and Pittsburgh...

Atlantic City I watched "That's Why God Made The Radio" "I Get Around" "Dance, Dance, Dance"...Brian sounds so weird singing Mike's leads...I don't like it. As someone else said, I think they'd be best treated by Al Jardine. 'radio' was all around rough...especially foskett, good Lord.

Pittsburgh I watched "All Summer Long" "Surfin' USA" "Fun, Fun, Fun"...same issues as the first batch, maybe worse. BUT...I'd like to see some of the stuff Brian SHOULD be singing lead on...can't find any of the cool cliips I want like "Break Away" and "Marcella" and "Good Vibrations"

He's been doing it for 14 years.

And it's been weird for 14 years! :lol

As an fyi, Dave sings Mike's classic part on GV - I'm pickin' up good vibrations... That was very cool and it sounded good. Sooner or later we'll have some video of that.

Thought I'd relate my own review of the Pittsburgh show.

Stage AE is a completely open seating venue, and while driving down to the show (circa 6:00pm) the skies literally opened up - waves of rain comin' down. It settled down a bit around 6:30 only to return to steady rain until 7:30. I was imaging 2 plus hours of sitting in a downpour...the things we do for Love! (I mean, WILSON)  :-D

Thankfully, God turned off the faucet and the show was dry. This prompted a comment by BW during the first set - "Sure glad it stopped raining...if it kept raining you guys wouldn't be able to see the stage!"

Cali Girls started off, and imo it took about 3 tunes for the vocal blend and the band to lock in. First thing I noticed was how this was NOT just another Brian solo show; Alan and Dave (along with Paul) made a most entertaining three man front that was clearly grooving to the sound and providing a great visual. Of course, this contrasted with Brian (as is his nature) being somewhat subdued for the first half of the 1st set. We've been down this road before, and it is what it is, but I'm not particularly miffed by Brian missing the odd line or intonation. What does sadden me is when entire lines drop off, or get entirely clipped off. This is where trading off leads is not only unexpected but necessary. Believe me when I say it, the stretch of Don't Worry Baby (Jeff) to Little Bird (Dave) was solid and built a momentum that was nothing short of a revelation (I saw some old timers totally dig it - there was none of the gimme nothin' but the hits dynamic going on at Stage AE Sunday night.

Great dialogue by Al and David. A few highlights - Al: "Anyone wanna hear a car song? (Little Deuce Coupe) Okay...I'll do my Mike Love impression right now". Dave told a story how he was invited by Brian to the studio for a tracking session of Don't Worry Baby (Beach Boys were on tour at the time). Even though he had left the band at that point, Brian had him do the 'chop' guitar part on the instrumental section prior to the last verse. After the session, Brian took Dave to a Jan and Dean session in town, where he witnessed the session for Surf City. Cool story - if anyone there remembers it differently, feel free to interject.

As has been mentioned in the PG review, the 2nd set was dedicated to the deep cuts. TWGMTR sounded good to my ears - the band carried it off well. Darian of course nailed Darlin' and Scott did a soulful rendition of Sail On Sailor. Again this is me - I felt it a little too slick, but I can't knock the dude's pipes. He owned it last night.

This is the dynamic I'm talking about though; this felt to me like a permeation of C50 as opposed to a standard Brian solo show, and I'm absolutely fine with that. God bless Brian, but his vocals have always been a highwire act to me; when he's into it and completely in the moment, the mothership lifts off and there's nothing like it. Last night was not one of his best vocal nights imo, but this too in time shall come. It took several shows of C50 until we saw it happen (circa NYC, Chicago and Pittsburgh onward), but it does happen. Why it seems to take so long is still a mystery.

Having seen him nail Gershwin in Toronto, he really locks in when he's doing fresh material (which bodes well for later at the Greek when he'll appear with Beck and share some new material live). When it comes to standards such as All Summer Long, I just think that this stubborn genius just doesn't have the fire for some of the old stuff. All said and done, even though he may be unengaged, he's still driving a Lamborghini of a band - and that trumps all.

By all means, check out these shows if you can - there's much to ponder and much to enjoy. With Al and David, this truly is a BAND, and the closest we'll get to our warm memories from the summer of 2012.

Thanks to all for sharing the great footage as well as the personal reviews. Alan looks great and it's a treat to see them perform a real gem like "Little Bird".

That said, Brian doesn't seem to be in a good place. How's it possible he forgot the name of David Marks at one of the shows? Was that an actual put-on? I absolutely hope so! Also, he didn't even bother to really sing on "All Summer Long"? This all seems a bit wrong even by usual latter-day BW standards, at least to me.

Are you kiddin'? My daughter has lived with me all her life I've used her name more than any other apart from my Mother's and the times I look at her and go through half a dozen other family members names before I hit on hers is scary, it's called getting old!

Al's voice would fit Mike's leads pretty good, I agree. Just listen to Al's livealbum.







Wasn't "Surf city" done before "Don't worry baby" was tracked?

"Surf City" was released in early summer 1963 (recorded a couple of months earlier), whereas "Don't Worry Baby" happened roughly a year later - so, yeah.

You're welcome, and thanks a lot for posting these pictures.

To me, judging from the video footage, it seemed as though he didn't really recognize David Marks at all or at least had trouble remembering who he was. Maybe I'm wrong. It's just something that made me feel uncomfortable in conjunction with his non-singing on "All Summer Long". I don't know, it's just a personal observation, probably no big deal.

I largely zapped through that clip and did not come across that 'incident' - could you point me to a minute mark? ;)

Anyway, it's common with 'older' people (Brian's 71 and had a rough life) to momentarily forget names of people, even close family. My mother is only in her 50s and quite a lucid person but keeps calling me by the names of my uncles. (I usually respond by calling her some random name myself. ;D)

http://youtu.be/dCG1Ja-G5zA (http://youtu.be/dCG1Ja-G5zA)

It's at about 6:40. The "All Summer Long" thing is in yet another video I think.

Maybe the two of you are right and it's just his aging...

Here is Do it Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aploH7iO54w

Another song which really does not suit Brian`s voice.

I wonder if Brian is singing all of these leads simply because it is being billed as a Brian Wilson gig. I think these guys need to come up with a band name and spread the responsibility so there is less pressure on Brian. I think everyone (on stage and off) would benefit from this greatly.

I'm sure they'll get right on it.

No, they wouldn't. "Brian Wilson" sells the tickets. :P ;)

True.

It is odd (to me at least) that several of the rarer songs in the setlist are being sung by Al, David and even Jeff. Having Brian singing more of the non-hits that suit his voice might work better and maybe would give him more interest.

I think all of Brian's songs should be sung by Scott Totten in a room because people want to hear the hits or something.

Sooo! Anybody going to Interlochen tonight? Be sure to give mean-spirited advice to the band before they go on, I'm told they appreciate it.

It's my impression that he's having the lead on a lot of the deeper cuts. On the other hand he may not be interested in working up the sweat to learn and rehearse really 'new' stuff? If he was he would have announced that he wants to sing lead on a couple more and they would have done it. It's Brian. ;) Also, stuff like "Little Bird" has to be sung by Denny Marks. :)

It's the disinterest that bothers me. It goes beyond missing a cue or losing a line in the tele. More like, ahh whatever. As I said, the band adequately makes up for it - but at this point of the game (after a decade plus on the road), Brian should be into these shows and if he's not, then don't do the shows.

An in between reaction doesn't cut it, and this is coming from a dedicated fan

Mean spirited? Is that what you think this is? Why would anyone be on here if I had ANY mean spirits towards any of the beach boys?

Geez, what's it gonna be, Brian doing all the leads whether he can do them justice or not, or spread out the leads to people who can handle them adequately? I know the ticket says "Brian Wilson", but it is also the Brian Wilson Band performing. In AC, Jeff, Scott and Darian received pretty nice applause for songs that they sang.

Having seen Brian numerous times since 1999, I have to say that 99 percent of the criticisms I see about his shows now could apply to most any show or tour. I think the question of how "into" the shows Brian is is a legitimate question. But those questions applied in 1999, and most years post-1965. Brian had good and bad nights clearly. The best performance I saw Brian give was 2000 on the PS tour in Saratoga, CA. He sat, didn't touch the keyboard, and closed his eyes and sang as if he was in a studio. It also helped that he was in a great mood, yelping out "how loud can you f***in' yell?" at one point.

No, I am afraid I'd get lost in the woods.  ;D

Its in South Canada right? Nobody lives up there but Moose anyway.

Wilson-Phillips are going to be at tonight's show!

Why, I'm dancing on aaaaaaaair!

Wait, was that a good thing or a bad thing?

Let's hear some FRIENDS tonight, BW band! That'd be a good one for guest vocalists on. Bust out TILL I DIE if you're feeling frisky.

Then Al Jardine can have a shuddering, all too real "Beach Boys Family and Friends" flashback and start foaming at the mouth and counter-suing people left and right until he has to be subdued with a tranquilizing dart carried for just that purpose by a solemn-faced David Marks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3UuysDQAVs&feature=share

Huh?

Who am us, anyway?

Verily, for all are brothers in the Land Without Kokomo.

From Brian's Facebook page:

Joe 'Auto tune' Thomas.

 :p

Never trust a man with two first names.

Would that include Brian Wilson?

I knew Joe Thomas had to be lurking somewhere. "Your Imagination" is not that great of a song and it's not one of Brian's favorites or he would have performed it more often. Joe is another weird figure who seems to exert some kind of strange pull on Brian. Brian has strange taste.

Ugh...not a fan. Any man that resembles an aging oompa-loompa, is not to be trusted.

I think I'm officially losing my mind...because...


To me, Joe Thomas looks like some weird hybrid of Murry Wilson and Beethoven in that shot.

My first thought was Billy Hinsche. Sorry Billy! :-[

Yea, me too.

I hope this doesn't mean the return of B-Pain! :o

I thought that was Billy H. as well.  And I wish it was...

So that's Joe Thomas.  I guess that answers the question of whether he is involved in the BW solo album.

a few thoughts on my Pittsburgh experience...

Old Folks At Home/Old Man River was a total surprise. One of my all-time favorites, I recently learned it on guitar... I only wish they had played the entire arrangement, with the key changes and harmonica solo. Still, what a treat!

Little Bird was a wonderful treat as well. Dave told the story about falling out of a tree in the neighborhood and breaking his arm I think, and Dennis said, "Which tree was it?" and chopped it down! He said Dennis always had his back. When the song was over Al said, "That's dedicated to that poor tree."  :lol Too bad they didn't follow it up with A Day in the Life of a Tree!

Brian seemed quite engaged for the most part, most of the between-song banter came from him, as awkward and offbeat as you'd expect from the man. It's disappointing when Brian misses his parts but I think he is so used to Jeff covering him that he's just come to expect it which allows him to be a bit lazy or less on-the-ball than we'd like him to be. Brian is Brian, he's never going to be a great showman but he was definitely trying his best, at least most of the time.

Al is such a wonderful presence to have on that stage. He seems so invested in the material and in Brian's welfare. His little remarks after certain songs like, "I love that one, Brian!" or "One of my favorites, Brian." just come off completely genuine and warm. I just love the guy! Dave also really has a warm and easy-going manner that just puts things at ease. These guys really are the heart and soul of the Beach Boys, and seeing them WITHOUT Mike and Bruce is so nice, I've got to say.

My understanding of the Don't Worry Baby/Surf City story is that Dave actually played on both sessions, thanks to a call from Brian. He said he had already quit the band, and came to the studio after school one day. The way he told the story, it sounded as if both sessions took place in one day, but that obviously wasn't the case.

Interesting that Brian didn't play any bass. I wonder why... his back didn't seem to be giving him any problems. At the end of both sets, Brian was off his piano banch and heading for stage right in a flash. But after Summer's Gone most of the band was just leaving the stage, including Al and Dave, but Brian headed to center stage and just waited for everyone to join him in the final bow, which took a minute. That was a cool moment.

All in all, a wonderful show. Highlights for me were Catch A Wave, Girl Don't Tell Me, the aforementioned Old Man River/Cottonfields medley and Little Bird, Our Prayer, Marcella, Pet Sounds and Summer's Gone. Disappointed that they dropped Breakaway from the setlist... one of my favorites. But the others made up for it. So glad I made the trip.

Disappointed I will not be able to make any of Brian's dates!  :( They are just too far away, and work schedule makes it impossible. I really hope he adds a few more dates, especially near me on Rochester.. I will be seeing Mike and Bruce the beginning of August.

That is the strongest focus I have ever seen coming from any living being. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CouYoLm68WM

I never knew what Joe Thomas looked like. In this photo he looks pretty creepy. But you can't really judge somebody from just one accidental photo.

"Accidental"? I'd wager the guys knew they were being photographed. :p
But yeah, I've always thought he looks like the typical music biz / manager type. He might actually be a nice guy and decent human being (Brian likes him..), that I obviously can't judge, it's just his actual professional influence on Brian's music I don't like. I think many of us feel that way.

P.S. Joe Thomas being in that particular photo doesn't have to mean he's in any way connected to this particular tour. He's probably just visiting.

Of course by "accidental" I meant "the one photo I accidentally happened to see of him which may be not the most flattering". ::) He doesn't look that creepy here:

(http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Joe+Thomas+Kenny+Chesney+Kenny+Chesney+Films+ikCOCcVZy3gl.jpg)


I don't know if I can really judge that. I don't know what the last BB album would sound like without his influence. I like the 90s Paley influence better, I can say that.

How much influence Thomas has is an interesting topic. But I somehow doubt he's dictating adding that song. Brian has occasionally resurrected the song post-1999. Brian's opinions of songs can change as well. He was rumored to rather dislike "Let It Shine" when it came out, yet it was supposedly his idea to add the song to his setlist in 2000.

At least I wasn't the only one.  :-\

Is there a setlist from last night's show anywhere?

According to BW.com the setlist was:

Set List

 Wilson Phillips
 Impulsive
 The Dream is Still Alive
 You're In Love
 Already Gone
 California Dreamin'
 Dedicated
 Release Me
 Hold On

 Brian Wilson w Jardine/Marks/ and Band
 California Girls
 Catch a Wave
 Dance, Dance, Dance
 Girl Don't Tell
 Little Deuce Coup
 Surfer Girl
 Please Let Me Wonder
 Then I Kissed Her
 Don't Worry Baby
 In My Room / Brian and Wilson Phillips only
 Darlin'
 Old Man River / Cottonfields
 Little Bird
 Our Prayer/ H&V
 Do You Wanna Dance
 I Get Around
 Do It Again
 Summertime Blues
 That's Why God Made the Radio
 Cal Saga
 Sail On Sailor
 Marcella
 Wouldn't It Be Nice
 Sloop John B.
 God Only Know
 Good Vibrations
 Encores
 All Summer Long
 Rhonda
 Barbara Ann
 Surfin' USA
 Fun, Fun, Fun

If accurate then a shorter main show and several rarities like Your Imagination, Goin Home and Summer`s Gone cut (along with the previously omitted Breakaway).

Great impressions from last night's show (featuring a guest spot for Wilson Phillips) via Brian's Facebook page:

Well that's a huge bummer. 

Hoping/guessing it's because of Wilson Phillips opening and/or venue curfews. I want my rarities tomorrow, plz.
First time seeing Brian.

A more important question re the sound check photo...is that he beginnings of a next generation ponytail creeping over jardine's shoulder?

Brian's the last person I would trust.

Me: So Bri? We having session for that new song at the studio tomorrow?
Brian: Yups


Guess what happened next day? :'(

While they shouldn't have needed to, I suppose they may have cut a few sings due to the opening act.

Yes, a very valid point about the opening acts.   I didn't notice they had already cut "Breakaway" before so it struck me that they'd cut more rarities.  "Summer's Gone" should be a staple in the show.

Goin' to the Illinois show this Saturday. I'm Amanda Lear so ya'll should recognize me.

Amanda Lear as in 'Dalí'? :-D Cool.

No I'm actually not but I will be at the show anyway!

Too late. :lol

 The set sheets on the stage at the Interlochen show had "Summers Gone" on them as the final encore following "Fun, Fun, Fun".  For whatever reason, the band left immediately after "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Summer's Gone" was not performed.

Pittsburgh, PA. July 21, 2013 2nd set and final:

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/brisonglist_zps17161062.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/brisonglist_zps17161062.jpg.html)

Brian Wilson Tour Summer 2013 with Al Jardine and David Marks:

Merchandise! Nice stuff. The mug is a little out of focus.

This is the free t-shirt given away with the purchase of the meet and greet:

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3076_zpsb2c8d415.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3076_zpsb2c8d415.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3099_zpsec2f0a52.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3099_zpsec2f0a52.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3088_zpsb9618b26.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3088_zpsb9618b26.jpg.html)

Free T-Shirt given away with the meet and greet puchase:


(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3075_zps60e1b48c.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3075_zps60e1b48c.jpg.html)

Nice!

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3077_zps0cc9bf76.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3077_zps0cc9bf76.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3078_zps021695b5.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3078_zps021695b5.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3079_zpsc9cce0c1.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3079_zpsc9cce0c1.jpg.html)

(http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w605/SloopJohnnyB/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3081_zpsf36600c9.jpg) (http://s1332.photobucket.com/user/SloopJohnnyB/media/Other%20Stuff/IMG_3081_zpsf36600c9.jpg.html)

Damn, that's a nice shirt! :3d