The Smiley Smile Message Board

My favorite latter-day album from the Beach Boys, I've been able to find the title track, Surfin, and Under the Boardwalk performed live, and wonder if anyone has ever come across any of the other tracks live. I'd particularly be interested in Lahaina Aloha and Strange Things Happen.

hot fun in the summertime and forever (with John Stamos) were also performed.

Bring on the 30th anniversary tour in 2022!

The Beach Boys - Surfin' (Live 1992) Summer In Paradise STYLE
https://youtu.be/H-jiQdiPS5o

Wish I knew what concert this was

Hi, Tim.

I took a look at Eric A's set lists and AGD's Bellagio site and compared them. It's hard to tell when the new-sound "Surfin'" was first played but it had been dropped by June 16, 1993. According to Andrew's "Shows & Sessions" page for 1993 the following concerts were recorded:

June
06 - Kaivopuisto, Helsinki, Finland*
12 - Middlefart Festival, Aarhus, Denmark*
13 - Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Hamburg, Germany*
15 - Frankenhalle, Nurenberg*

It sounds out of doors, so maybe one of the first two?

No idea whether any of this helps.

With thanks to those two gentlemen. :=)

That is fascinating. Was Carl performing those guitar solo parts live?

Great stuff! I've always liked the updated version. Great vocals! ;D

Seems the guys really worked hard to promote this album. Wish they had put this much effort into promoting the 1985 album.

While not lasting long in the setlist, the following songs from the '85 album were performed live in 1985:

Getcha Back
It's Gettin' Late
Crack at Your Love
California Calling
She Believes in Love Again

(Brian also performed "It's Just a Matter of Time" a few times in 1983, though that really wouldn't count as "promoting" the album I suppose).

The live version of Summer in Paradise is on Made in California.  They should have left that track off the album and included Lahaina Aloha.

Lahaina Aloha not only has very solid Carl vocals, but Mike's vocals are very smooth and cool too. If this song had been on Still Cruisin' or released as a standalone single, and not associated with the SIP album, I think it'd be far more well-regarded.

It's a nice song and Carl's vocals are great, indeed. Parts of it's harmonies and melody always remind me of "Roller skating child".

Interesting... I'd never thought of that. Not quite sure I can hear what you're referring to, what parts of those songs remind you of one another?

"And when the wind comes up,
and when the sun goes down"

"And we'll make sweet lovin' when the sun goes down,
we'll even do more when her Mama's not around"


Not talking about the lyrics but the melody and harmonies.

Thanks, I'll have to play them back to back. I think I can hear (in my head) the similarity that you're getting at.

I heard both Hot Fun and Surfin' played at the Concord Pavilion on May 31, 1992 before the Album was released.  Surfin' led off the encore that day.

My recollection is that "Surfin'" (the SIP album arrangement anyway) dropped off the setlist first, then "Hot Fun in the Summertime" (in 1993 I believe), with "Boardwalk" and "SIP" staying longer, with "Boardwalk" eventually dropping as well (I believe in 1995). SIP is the only track that survived more than a few years/touring seasons.

This would be an interesting side topic, of how long a duration new songs from each album stayed in setlists over the years.

It seems the SIP songs stayed in the setlists much longer than the songs from SC, BB85, KTSA, or LA. Getcha Back being the exception - they performed it up through 1987; it was gone in 1988. California Dreamin' was still in the setlist in '87; also dropped in 88. But they did replace those with some good ones - This Whole World comes to mind.

I'm guessing this is because Mike largely controlled the setlists by the early 90s, and he didn't want to accept that the album SIP, his baby more than any other BB album, was a failure.  It was probably an ego thing.  Let's not forget, nearly half the album was re-recorded probably because they (maybe mostly Mike?) didn't want it to accept it was a flop.  I've always been curious as to the details of what/who instigated the new versions.  I find it hard to believe that it was anyone other then Mike and/or Terry who was behind that.

That said, I'm always happy when the band kept playing more of their current songs for as long as possible, so I don't necessarily begrudge Mike or the band for it.  I still like about half of the album, and  as unpopular an opinion as it may be, I think it is underrated compared to how maligned it gets.

Am I correct in understanding that SIP itself was the only original -- i.e, not a cover or a remake of their own song -- from the album ever to be played live?

Cheers,
Jon Blum

I understand that, just wish they had believed in early albums as much as Mike seemed to believe in this one. Would like to find high quality live recordings of Where I Belong, It's Gettin' Late, Somewhere Near Japan, Livin' With a Heartache, Full Sail, Good Timin', It's Just a Matter of Time, Island Girl...but I suspect they don't exist, because the songs were rarely or never played live.

You're welcome. If you'd like to, please post your thoughts. Since the first time I heard "Roller skating child" (I got to know that song after already knowing "Lahaina aloha") it was totally obvious to me. But maybe I'm in the minority.

I've always enjoyed Hot Fun In The Summertime live. The title track isn't bad either in a live setting.

There are some really nice quality recordings out there of some of those songs. but yeah a few of them i dont think were ever or at least not known to have ever been covered live by the band.

I think the SIP sings mostly had a normal "new album" life span in the setlist. Two songs survived past 1993, and one song survived past 1995.

On "LA", "Good Timin'" was in the setlist through 1979 and 1980 (and perhaps early '81 gigs before Carl left), then was brought back into the setlist in 1982 when Carl returned, dropped by the end of that year. That was the only LA song that survived past 1979.

On KTSA, "School Days" stayed in the setlist through 1982; all the other KTSA songs dropped throughout 1980.

"California Dreamin" remained a fairly regular setlist inclusion pretty much throughout the 90s and in fact is still regularly played by Mike's band now (and was rotated in and out of the 2012 C50 setlist).

I think even "Still Crusin" had a similar setlist lifespan. The title track popped in and out over the years, while other stuff like "Somewhere Near Japan" and "Island Girl" were done sporadically through 1990 and then dropped.

Lady Lynda from LA lasted at least until 1980, right? It was played at Knebworth. Unless you're talking about regular touring setlists rather than special concerts. However, I think they performed it after that as well, although they changed it to "Little Lady" or "Lady Liberty" later on (there was a topic on the song and its different incarnations awhile back on here that I remember reading).

Can anyone imagine if the band had started regularly performing Summer of Love in concert?  And perhaps doing a duet with somebody dressed up as Bart Simpson?

<<Lady Lynda from LA lasted at least until 1980, right? It was played at Knebworth>>

Lady Lynda stayed in the set list through 1981.

I did forget "Lady Lynda"; that one appeared as early as 1977 and was a regular in the setlist from 1979 through early 1982 (I think some early 1982 gigs featured the song), and of course it resurfaced briefly in 1986 as "Lady Liberty, and again on at least one UK tour in the early 90s as "Little Lady" (the original song with the name excised, apparently).

I never have figured out how Bart was supposed to be a part of the song. Was he going to do the rap about "there's no one I'd rather do it with that you"? Eww!

I've always thought that Keepin The Summer Alive (the song) should have been brought back at some point. bizarrely enough, there is at least one known performance of "School Days" in 1996.

Do we have any confirmed recordings or first hand accounts of "School Days" in 1996. That seems intriguing and odd!

I remember watching the evening local news before heading out to watch The Beach Boys on that tour. Bruce was on with the weather guy,pimpin the hell out of SIP!

It's weird because even though that's a track from the 1980 album,  I wonder if any of the band even thought of that song in that KTSA context when they played it in 1996. I wonder if that's a song that they had toyed around with covering decades earlier.

Okay - while that link gave me a headache, I'm beginning to understand some of you a bit more.

Here's the setlist I was referring to.
http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/9-27-96.html

I think I asked the contributor about it, and he confirmed it. This was years ago. I lost many of the original emails from the early days of the setlist archive when they automatically deleted one of my email accounts after not logging on for 30 days.

I remember seeing them on ABC's late night In Concert program the summer after the album came out, they showed a live video of Summer in Paradise, and Mike talked about his idea for the next BB's album, Masterpiece, which would focus more on the ecology theme, kind of a 90's Surf's Up. They showed a phone # to order the box set, which would come with a bonus disc - SIP. It was clear that Mike believed in this album. I just felt sorry for the BB's becoming the Mike Love Show - a hint of things to come. The live version of SIP isn't bad; surely the sentiment of the song is to be applauded, but the actual lyrics - they're like Mike doing a parody of a Mike lyric.

Lady Lynda was in the set list in 1982, at least the first part of it.  Not coincidentally around the time that Al and Lynda split up.

I personally enjoy Under the Boardwalk live , think that was in the set list until '94. It had a good vibe to it. It's weird that of all those late 70s/80s/90s song California Dreamin is the one that endured through the most set lists. ( with the exception of Kokomo of course)

Not weird - it was already a familiar song to the majority of concert goers. We wouldn't, you know, want to take too much of a chance with something the fans haven't heard 1,000,000 times before.

Then they turned Lady Lynda to Lady Liberty and played that a few times during 1986

and dont forget Lady Lynda was preformed live in 1993 as well but with the lyrics changed to Little Lady! https://youtu.be/0TGd5c8UlxE

Thanks for posting that one. It was mentioned a few posts above in this thread that there were "Lady Liberty" and "Little Lady" variants.

Incidentally that was the penultimate UK BB's Show that Carl did, I remember both those Wembley gigs quite well (a Tuesday and a Wednesday I recall)

setlist.fm lists a performance of Strange Things Happen at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI, on November 22, 1993

If I remember correctly Eric's site mentions that Al sang a line or so in response to a request.

Yes indeed: http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/11-22-93.html

That setlist website that Eric did was fantastic!  What a resource!  Any plans to keep it going?

Yeah, definitely not a fan of how the setlist.fm website logs that sort of stuff. Even with a little notation that only a line was sung, by giving it a full "song" entry, you end up seeing the song as part of the various "Stats" you can view for artists and albums. Not sure where exactly to draw the line for what constitutes a "performance", but when one person sings a single line, that doesn't count in my book. There are other cases where an entry is warranted (Brian's abbreviated "Proud Mary", the weird 1988 truncated performances of "Okie from Muskogee", maybe even the a capella intro to "Salt Lake City" done in the early 80s).