The Smiley Smile Message Board

September 27th, Vina Robles Ampitheatre in Paso Robles CA.

Concert venues are moving closer and closer to the Bay Area.......

Willie Makeit?  Betty Won't.

Tired of the greatest hits and the greatest hits with one or two new songs thrown in. He should do an entire album like he did Pet Sounds. Fogerty's playing an entire Creedence album from '69 this Fall. Brian should do the same if he wants to fill seats. Wild Honey, Friends, or even Love You would work for me.

Otherwise, even if Al tags along, this hardcore Beach Boys/Brian fan will save his money for The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

"Greatest hits"?? Even the shows I've seen him do that were billed as "greatest hits" had stuff that would satisfy the people who are sick of "hits." (Last I checked "Girl Don't Tell Me" wasn't a hit, for example.)

I very much doubt that playing the entirety of Wild Honey, Friends or Love You would sell additional tickets. These are albums that charted at 24, 126 and 53 respectively.

Folks here continually overestimate the number of BW superfans in the world.

Brian Wilson Setlist - 7/2014   Highlights of the show = Some lead & background vocals by Al & Matt Jardine

1. California Girls  - Greatest Hit
2. Dance, Dance, Dance  - Greatest Hit
3. Catch a Wave  - Album cut - Minor Hit
4. Hawaii - Album cut - Minor Hit
5. Shut Down - Greatest Hit  
6. Little Deuce Coupe - Greatest Hit  
7. Cotton Fields - Greatest Hit in UK 
8. In My Room  - Greatest Hit
9. Surfer Girl - Greatest Hit  
10. Please Let Me Wonder - Album cut - Minor Hit
11. Then He Kissed Her - Album Cut - Greatest Hit in UK  
12. Heroes and Villains - Greatest Hit  
13. Darlin'  - Greatest Hit
14. Do You Wanna Dance? - Greatest Hit
15. Don't Worry Baby - Greatest Hit  
16. Do It Again - Greatest Hit  
17. Wild Honey - Minor Hit
18. Marcella - Minor Hit
19. Sail On, Sailor - Greatest Hit
20. Wouldn't It Be Nice - Greatest Hit  
21. Sloop John B  - Greatest Hit
22. God Only Knows - Greatest Hit
23. Good Vibrations - Greatest Hit  
24. Help Me, Rhonda - Greatest Hit
25. I Get Around - Greatest Hit
26. Barbara Ann - Greatest Hit
27. Fun, Fun, Fun - Greatest Hit
28. Surfin' U.S.A. - Greatest Hit  

Paso Robles, Cali - Hop, skip, and a jump from Al's/Matt's hometown of Big Sur & Monterey. If they played "California Saga" (Minor Hit) it would be very appropriate in this venue.

I know some fans in Northern California who would be enthralled to see any of those albums played in their entirety. No doubt about it.  These are the same fans who filled the joint for Pet Sounds and Smile and Mike & Bruce shows. All you need are a couple of concerts in Northern and Southern Cal and I'm SURE they would be drawn to see Brian.

BUT. I do think with Foskett gone now the potential of this happening has diminished. I believe Foskett (and maybe Darian) were the influences in the band behind playing more rarities/album cuts.

I wonder if the market for Beach Boys music isn't a little saturated with all the dates Mike and Bruce play, and BW into the same general area.  Might be al ittle hard to sell tickets.

Actually, I'm real surprised Brian is playing Fresno and Paso Robles. Can't sell that many tickets there. Just wondering if it's kinduva favor (payback?) to Al & son.  Mike & Bruce just played THREE concerts in this area during the Summer. Agree that the saturation point is near its peak. That's why I suggested that Brian play something a little different than a bunch of Beach Boys hits. Even if it's tracks from his recent solo album(s).

News to me Brian played a show in May this year. I suspect it's news to him, too.  ;D

Most folks put Foskett in the anti-rarities camp, FWIW.

And there's a world of difference between Pet Sounds -- a legendary best album of all time -- and Friends -- a pleasant little record known only to BW/BB hobbyists ...

Of all people, you should know what I'm talking about. Hop Farm in England, July 5, 2014. Last month. Which makes the setlist above pretty accurate as far as what they're playing these days, plus or minus a couple of switches.

So Wirestone, what would you rather see in a Brian show these days? Songs from the setlist above or a Beach Boys or Brian solo album played in its entirety?

It’s also worth noting that, even with an ace band like Brian’s, they are more likely to do more “meat and potatoes” numbers if they are doing a one-off show, or a small group of shows, and/or are doing the first show in several months. The two July gigs didn’t appear to be super long shows with two full sets with an intermission, etc. All of Brian’s shows with Beck were truncated. The closest we’ve had to “full length” shows post-C50 for Brian are the hand full of July gigs “BAD” did last year. Those did at least have a bit more of variety. I think less along the lines of “hits” or “non hits” and look more at songs that are rare as far as being performed live. If Brian did “Kokomo” at a solo gig that would be a “rarity” to the setlist even though it was a hit. Here are some songs that were pulled out at least once during the 2013 dates:

Break Away
Girl Don’t Tell Me
Old Man River
Little Bird
Summertime Blues
Your Imagination
Goin’ Home
That’s Why God Made the Radio
Summer’s Gone
Let Him Run Wild
She Knows Me Too Well
Custom Machine
This Car of Mine
Monster Mash
Forever (Dave on lead)
Little Deuce Coupe (Al on lead)
Wild Honey (Blondie on lead)

Brian also did some stuff that aren’t “hits” even if they are often in his setlists over the years, like “Our Prayer”, “’Til I Die”, “Marcella”, the entire “Pet Sounds” album at a couple of gigs.

I acknowledge that only a few from that list were played at any given gig.

I certainly hope they can work up something interesting for their 2014 setlists.

Then if not Foskett, who's been in charge of selecting the album cuts/rarities for Brian's set all these years? Darian? Scott? Nick? Melinda???  Surely not Brian!

Probably Darian and a bit of the other guys, with Brian being the ultimate yea or nay, as I assume that if Brian doesn't wanna do a song, it ain't happening.

I do remember reading/hearing observations and speculation going back years (like over a decade ago, way before Foskett jumped to Mike’s band) that Foskett was less into uber-rarities as compared to most of  the rest of the band, or perhaps a better way to put it is that he was more tuned or predisposed to doing the well-known stuff. It made (and makes) sense. He came into the fold through Mike Love. He spent his time in the band from December 1981 to July 1990, not exactly a period of time known for particularly interesting setlists. He was eventually in “Papa Doo Run Run”, who aren’t exactly known for whipping out rare Beach Boys tracks in their concerts. They seem to play an even more distilled version of a Beach Boys “hits” set, with a few other oldies (Jan & Dean, “Crying”, etc.) sprinkled in.

I’ve never heard particular stories of Foskett resisting performing rarities in concert (even the stories, however accurate they may be, that he wasn’t fond of the “Love You” album seemed to be more about the album itself than the composition of the setlist; they were never going to bust out a bunch of “Love You” songs in concert). It may be that he was more comfortable or happy doing more surf/car hits than some of the other guys in the band. Foskett was in the touring Beach Boys for most of the 80’s. Someone like Darian on the other hand, the first BB gig he attended was apparently opening night on the 2012 tour.

Foskett wasn't the BW band music director for many years before he left. IIRC, Joe Thomas was the first, followed by Jeff, then Darian, then Paul Mertens, who continues in the role.

I'd love to see the shows you mention. I just don't think that what I'd like to see would necessarily draw audiences. For that matter, I've never seen much evidence (in the U.S., at least) that Brian draws an enormous audience on his own anyhow, so it might be a moot point.

As long as the show is good, it doesn't matter what you play. Some members of the audience might come expecting the hits, but the assumption they'd be upset after a show on non-hits is a bit ridiculous. Brian can play whatever he wants to play - the audience is going to enjoy it regardless.

Same goes for M&B to an extent.

I believe that if there was a list or a petition started on the Bleu for a particular album or songs, they'd listen. Might not do it, but they'd read it and consider. Though some never get tired of the hits after all these years, and have affectionately labeled the band that has played them as "The Traveling Jukebox".

Pet Sounds and Smile are the only albums that could be played in their entirety to help shift tickets. Any other album would put people off.

Hopefully they will add some rarer songs to these shows though as they don`t need to play all of the hits in a show. I can`t imagine anyone asking for refunds if Hawaii, Catch a Wave, Shut Down were cut for example. Mike and Bruce have to play the hits as that is what concertgoers expect from a `Beach Boys` show at this point. Brian and Al don`t.

I think every show brian plays is news to him

This just in to the Smiley Smile newsroom regarding the Paso Robles show:

"Known as the “Mozart of Rock,” Wilson will perform hits from his latest and upcoming albums".

Now, let's clarify that statement, shall we? "Hits from his latest albums". Have his latest albums produced hits? Is his upcoming album expected to produce hits?

If I were to reword this properly, I think it would look like this:

"Wilson will perform Beach Boys hits and songs from his upcoming album".

Songs from his upcoming album might entice me to go.  Plus the free blanket......

 :dennis

 :-D ;)

Harsh but fair.

...That would be "That's Why God Made The Radio", I'd bet!

Cheers,
Jon Blum

I think promoters just use the term "hits" too broadly. As in "songs you will know." I think they just stretch to get bubbly wording into these press releases.

Sort of like when an oldie artist does a new album, one where even if the album does well, it doesn't spawn any actual "hit singles", yet they'll put a sticker on the cover that lists two or three of the songs, something like "Featuring the new singles.....", even though next to nobody who might even buy it will be familiar with the songs, since they're just coming out!

Yep. I think that's the case here.  Most of these promotion pieces are on the money - some stretch it a bit.

I saw Brian at Boston's Symphony Hall during that first tour in the 90's when Imagination was out, and the story is that when that tour was being set up and rehearsed, Joe Thomas wanted to rework some of the classic material to be more contemporary. When Joe suggested they make "Caroline No" sound more smooth like a Sade song, Darian strongly objected to the point of threatening to walk out (and I'm guessing the other Wondermints would have followed) if that was what the shows would feature. Then Thomas was out in that capacity, the band set out on the tour, and what we saw on that first "comeback" tour was the classic material being performed very true to the original recordings, which was obviously a highlight as we got to hear an amazing live band playing these studio creations from the 60's as well as I think any live show could have presented them, with the guy that made those records classics back in the 60's studios.

From a musical perspective, Darian has always been a driving musical force behind the shows, no matter what or who gets the musical director credit, which has been great because I think he knows the intricacies of that music probably as well as any musician I can think of, including sounds and instrumentation to the point of knowing which specific instruments were used to create those sounds and how to replicate them. If there is someone needed to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the classic recordings in whatever capacity that calls for, Darian is probably the best go-to guy to have on the job.

Every show I saw Brian play was a full house, if there were empty seats I didn't see them. And even when he played a one-off outdoor show at Boston's Hatch Shell for an oldies station WODS, the same venue where the Pops does the July 4th, there were more people there than at any show I ever watched there which wasn't the July 4th. The crowd was overflowing onto the streets, they were standing everywhere even the places you couldn't even see the stage itself, and it was a pretty rainy and damp night. Darian missed that show as he was touring with Heart at the time, and this was just before the Smile tour.

Whatever the crowd draws have been on more recent tours of the past few years, I can't speak of. But consider the recent big blow-out Jones Beach show in July featuring the Beach Boys had quite a few empty seats as well according to people who were there, so do we use those reports to suggest the BB's touring band isn't a big draw as it had been, or was it just a case of people not coming to that particular show?

I've been to packed RFH shows, and also RFH shows that were, at best, half full. Fact is, Brian has rarely sold out an entire tour. You may have never seen empty seats: I've never seen Timbuktu with my own eyes, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Had to bring up a comparison with an artist who carved out a decent niche as a live touring performer through the decades who happens to be one of Brian's favorite musicians and writers as well - Burt Bacharach.

It will be interesting to see how the upcoming BW tour will be staged, considering the album it will be supporting will feature a number of guest artists, and could feature singles released featuring those guest artists.

Bacharach for decades toured under his own name, billed usually as some form of "An Evening With Burt Bacharach", where he played his familiar hits with a fairly large backing group yet rarely featured the original singers who made those songs hits. Bacharach would sit at the piano, basically do his talk-sing commentary as the music played, and it was usually a classy affair with higher-priced tickets and upscale venues.

Bacharach is not a singer, he personally was not featured as a vocalist on any of his most familiar hits, yet the audiences of his fans would come to see the man responsible for writing and producing those hits do his own thing with the songs. There were times when he'd have Dionne with him, but very rarely - yet the crowds still came out despite knowing Dionne, or whatever other famous vocalist would not be there performing.

I mention this because the appeal of seeing Brian for his fans may have morphed into something more like seeing Bacharach, and Bacharach has had a pretty decent run playing under his own name despite not having the original voices out there on stage with him at most of his live shows.

As far as doing an album like Friends live, if you go back through the past 15 years or so of Brian's live setlists, the band at various times has already played what fans might consider the highlight songs of that album live, so adding a few extra album cuts from Friends to what they already have done might not be as much of an event as, say, the obvious Smile and Pet Sounds stagings were.

I'm not suggesting every show or tour was a sell out as I know for a fact they were not, I'm just saying each show I saw personally was a full house. And sometimes even the venues from town to town affect what kind of crowd comes out, like some of the venues in NYC and Boston are consistently full when Brian comes to town while other areas not as much. It's definitely not a template, any more than saying the current Beach Boys tour sells out and packs the house every venue it plays, I'd never suggest a standard ticket sale reaction exists.

I saw McCartney about 25 years ago in Philly - big show, the biggest stadium venue in the city, and it was reported as a sell out show, the second of two that weekend. Yet actually being in the stadium at the show, there were many empty seats not just around me but around the general area. And tickets for that were - believe me - not easy to get short of paying a huge premium on top of face value. If I were asked, I'd say the show didn't look like it was sold out despite the reports that it was.

I take many of these things with a grain of salt.  :)

A show can also "sell out" and have hunks of empty seats (unsold scalper tickets, etc.) This is especially noticeable in small venues.

You will get a number of people who have seats but never use them.  I've been to stadium shows where I've never been to my seat- either I found some friends to hang with or just found better seats.

Speaking of which...saw Macca at Candlestick a couple of weeks ago. That was absolutely a sold-out show TECHNICALLY; got my tickets thru StubHub. But there were a couple of thousand empty seats...because of extreme traffic conditions and the total lack of traffic management near Candlestick. (I got there literally three hours early and was directed to a small parking lot, right to an exact space...I think once that lot filled, the staff went home for the day. But it really was atrocious how things were handled.)  So that could theoretically be an issue from time to time -- people literally unable to make it to the venue on time.

I almost went. Heard it was a fantastic show. I also heard that it took about 6 hours for a lot of people just to get home. These were people who got there at 3pm for a parking place, thinking that they'd beat the traffic, then were surprised to find that it was a crazy getting out afterwards. Hardly anybody left before the show ended, so it was a total zoo getting out of Candlestick. Good thing that joint will finally be torn down. Saw Macca at AT&T Park in S.F. in 2010, and you didn't have that problem at all.

Edit: Now there's a petition:

http://live105.cbslocal.com/2014/08/27/enraged-mccartney-show-goers-start-petition-for-refund-following-parking-debacle-candlestick-macca-traffic-jam-san-francisco/