Title: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Uncle Walter on September 27, 2017, 04:05:56 PM Since we all know Brian's going to stop touring Pet Sounds soon, I was wondering what kind of setlists you guys would like to see from him in the future, or what you think they could/should be. I wanted to make a separate thread from the 2017 tour thread since I didn't want to flood the tour discussion thread with setlist wishlists or future speculation.
I know Brian has expressed a dislike for doing the more verbose songs like Surf's Up and generally stays away from Smile material. If Brian wanted to do a "greatest hits" setlist, encompassing the Beach Boys' most popular songs and with respect to what his current taste seems to be, I could see him doing a setlist that looks something like this: (Brian lead unless otherwise stated) Code: 1. California Girls Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Tony S on September 30, 2017, 05:33:45 AM I'll tel l you what I think I'd like to see.....a Brian Wilson show where the setlist is comprised of his SOLO tunes....there's just so many to pick from over the course of the last 20 years. Maybe save a couple of classic Beach Boys songs for the Encore, like California Girls. Not sure how well this would go over with the audience, but I think it could work well.
Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on September 30, 2017, 06:43:36 AM I'll tel l you what I think I'd like to see.....a Brian Wilson show where the setlist is comprised of his SOLO tunes....there's just so many to pick from over the course of the last 20 years. Maybe save a couple of classic Beach Boys songs for the Encore, like California Girls. Not sure how well this would go over with the audience, but I think it could work well. With promoting a solo best of, I think you might see a few more solo songs in 2018 setlists, but Id still expect it to be a BB heavy show. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: the captain on September 30, 2017, 06:52:56 AM While I think there's plenty of good material for a solo setlist, there's probably approximately zero percent chance that ever happens. I'd bet he never even does 50% solo material. (Even in the full-album shows, there was a full set plus encore of BBs songs, so he probably never quite hit half.) And let's be serious, most people go see Brian mostly because of his Beach Boys music.
Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Lonely Summer on September 30, 2017, 10:49:42 PM While I think there's plenty of good material for a solo setlist, there's probably approximately zero percent chance that ever happens. I'd bet he never even does 50% solo material. (Even in the full-album shows, there was a full set plus encore of BBs songs, so he probably never quite hit half.) And let's be serious, most people go see Brian mostly because of his Beach Boys music. I'm surprised they even put out a solo comp, since there is so little interest in that music. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Wirestone on October 01, 2017, 06:51:58 AM While I think there's plenty of good material for a solo setlist, there's probably approximately zero percent chance that ever happens. I'd bet he never even does 50% solo material. (Even in the full-album shows, there was a full set plus encore of BBs songs, so he probably never quite hit half.) And let's be serious, most people go see Brian mostly because of his Beach Boys music. I'm surprised they even put out a solo comp, since there is so little interest in that music. The amount of interest needed to justify a single disc compilation of music a company already has the rights to is different than the amount of interest needed to sustain a two year tour of 5,000 seat halls with a gigantic band. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: HeyJude on October 02, 2017, 07:23:28 AM I'll tel l you what I think I'd like to see.....a Brian Wilson show where the setlist is comprised of his SOLO tunes....there's just so many to pick from over the course of the last 20 years. Maybe save a couple of classic Beach Boys songs for the Encore, like California Girls. Not sure how well this would go over with the audience, but I think it could work well. As I've often pointed out, Brian's shows aren't showcases for "Brian the solo artist." Nor are they de facto "Beach Boys" concerts (though it veers a bit more in that direction with Al and Blondie and Matt in the band). Rather, Brian's shows are showcases of *Brian's music.* It's a showcase of his songwriting. Note that he almost never does BB tunes he didn't have a hand in writing. He has occasionally covered a Carl or Dennis song, and done a cover version here and there. Al gets "Calfornia Saga" in the setlist. But even most of the songs that *Al and Blondie* sing in the setlist are songs Brian co-wrote. Meanwhile, he usually skips BB hits that he didn't co-write ("Kokomo", "Getcha Back") and even some of the more Mike-centric BB songs that he *did* co-write ("Be True to Your School", "It's OK", etc.). He also skips the majority of cover versions that were hits and/or BB staples ("Come Go With Me", "Rock and Roll Music", "California Dreamin'", "I Can Hear Music", etc.). Brian's shows have never been relegated to his own solo material and nothing more. Brian going solo in 1999 for touring wasn't the same as McCartney doing Wings in the 70s, where McCartney had the popularity and power (and continued songwriting/recording ability) to sustain a show based mostly on non-Beatles material. Maybe, *big maybe*, Brian could have ended up going that route had he left the band in 1976 or something and recorded a ton of solo albums and had a lot of hits. Dennis was probably going to go down the path in his prospective 1977 solo tour of doing a lot of solo stuff and Dennis-centric stuff. He probably wasn't going to bust out "Little Deuce Coupe" on his solo tour. But he also was, at that point anyway, not going to leave the band to do his solo stuff. Carl stuck mostly to solo stuff on his brief solo tours in 1981 (and a bit in 1983). But he was either playing clubs or playing as the opening act for another band, and only had to play around a dozen or so songs for his setlist. So it was easy to do 9 or 10 solo tracks and then only throw a BB song or two into the setlist. And again, I don't think he ever intended to permanently leave the band. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: HeyJude on October 02, 2017, 07:30:31 AM While I think there's plenty of good material for a solo setlist, there's probably approximately zero percent chance that ever happens. I'd bet he never even does 50% solo material. (Even in the full-album shows, there was a full set plus encore of BBs songs, so he probably never quite hit half.) And let's be serious, most people go see Brian mostly because of his Beach Boys music. I'm surprised they even put out a solo comp, since there is so little interest in that music. I'm sure artists with less hits, lower sales/chart action, and less name recognition than Brian have had compilations of their music released. I'm surprised they didn't get a Brian comp out five years ago or more. I don't think a Brian solo comp would ever burn up the charts. But having a CD out there compiling material from a well-known name/artist is a no-brainer, especially when, as Wirestone mentioned, the label in question doesn't have to sub-license much of the material for it. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Lonely Summer on October 04, 2017, 12:42:50 AM While I think there's plenty of good material for a solo setlist, there's probably approximately zero percent chance that ever happens. I'd bet he never even does 50% solo material. (Even in the full-album shows, there was a full set plus encore of BBs songs, so he probably never quite hit half.) And let's be serious, most people go see Brian mostly because of his Beach Boys music. I'm surprised they even put out a solo comp, since there is so little interest in that music. The amount of interest needed to justify a single disc compilation of music a company already has the rights to is different than the amount of interest needed to sustain a two year tour of 5,000 seat halls with a gigantic band. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Lonely Summer on October 04, 2017, 12:45:15 AM I'll tel l you what I think I'd like to see.....a Brian Wilson show where the setlist is comprised of his SOLO tunes....there's just so many to pick from over the course of the last 20 years. Maybe save a couple of classic Beach Boys songs for the Encore, like California Girls. Not sure how well this would go over with the audience, but I think it could work well. As I've often pointed out, Brian's shows aren't showcases for "Brian the solo artist." Nor are they de facto "Beach Boys" concerts (though it veers a bit more in that direction with Al and Blondie and Matt in the band). Rather, Brian's shows are showcases of *Brian's music.* It's a showcase of his songwriting. Note that he almost never does BB tunes he didn't have a hand in writing. He has occasionally covered a Carl or Dennis song, and done a cover version here and there. Al gets "Calfornia Saga" in the setlist. But even most of the songs that *Al and Blondie* sing in the setlist are songs Brian co-wrote. Meanwhile, he usually skips BB hits that he didn't co-write ("Kokomo", "Getcha Back") and even some of the more Mike-centric BB songs that he *did* co-write ("Be True to Your School", "It's OK", etc.). He also skips the majority of cover versions that were hits and/or BB staples ("Come Go With Me", "Rock and Roll Music", "California Dreamin'", "I Can Hear Music", etc.). Brian's shows have never been relegated to his own solo material and nothing more. Brian going solo in 1999 for touring wasn't the same as McCartney doing Wings in the 70s, where McCartney had the popularity and power (and continued songwriting/recording ability) to sustain a show based mostly on non-Beatles material. Maybe, *big maybe*, Brian could have ended up going that route had he left the band in 1976 or something and recorded a ton of solo albums and had a lot of hits. Dennis was probably going to go down the path in his prospective 1977 solo tour of doing a lot of solo stuff and Dennis-centric stuff. He probably wasn't going to bust out "Little Deuce Coupe" on his solo tour. But he also was, at that point anyway, not going to leave the band to do his solo stuff. Carl stuck mostly to solo stuff on his brief solo tours in 1981 (and a bit in 1983). But he was either playing clubs or playing as the opening act for another band, and only had to play around a dozen or so songs for his setlist. So it was easy to do 9 or 10 solo tracks and then only throw a BB song or two into the setlist. And again, I don't think he ever intended to permanently leave the band. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 04, 2017, 05:30:20 AM I have a couple theories on why artists (Wilson, McCartney, Waters, Fogerty, etc) continue to fill setlists with past glories from their former bands:
1. I could be dead wrong, but I think concert goers were a little more opening minded in the 70s and 80s. I mean why else would 20 minute drum solos be tolerated? Right? 2. Another big factor is the cost of tickets these days. When audiences are asked for at least a C-note to go to a show, I can see how, if the setlist is filled with unfamiliar solo material, a guy who spend a good amount of money on tickets, parking, concessions, and / or merch would be annoyed, and likely reluctant to buy tickets to a future show. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: HeyJude on October 04, 2017, 07:05:58 AM Regarding Brian, I wouldn't lump him (especially if we're looking at his entire modern-era "solo" touring career since 1999) in with other artists that lean heavily on hits and most well-known, old songs. And I don't differentiate between someone's solo career and their previous bands, because, assuming they wrote and sang the stuff, the songs are as much theirs as anybody else's. In most cases, when these members "go solo", they're not trying to erase their previous catalog or start over.
That being said, Brian has performed MULTIPLE full-length brand-new solo works IN-FULL on his tours. TLOS, Gershwin, Smile '04 (which comprised mostly songs unfamiliar to the masses). He was the first to, and continues to, dig into post-66 deep cuts. Again, I point to how many BB hits Brian *doesn't* play at his shows, either ever, or not terribly often. "Surfin' Safari", "Be True to Your School", "Surfin'", "Kokomo", and so on. It took years for him to even incorporate some of the car and surf "oldies", and some of them are only sporadically in his setlist (e.g. "Catch a Wave"). To keep perspective, when I saw Brian on his first tour in 1999, he did 29 songs. Of those songs, I'd say about HALF of the setlist was comprised of songs that had rarely or never been in recent Beach Boys setlists. "The Little Girl I Once Knew", "This Whole World", "Pet Sounds", "Let's Go Away For Awhile", "Back Home", "Add Some Music", "Caroline No", these were all songs that the BBs weren't regularly doing *ever.* McCartney's almost in a class by himself. He could do nothing but Beatles tunes, *and* skip all the hit singles, and people would still know every song. He skips over most of his solo stuff, even the old stuff, even when they were hits. He has *more* wiggle room than most and he only slowly changes his setlist over time. The more popular an artist is, the less likely they'll be able to stray from the hits in concert, because it opens the door to more and more casual fans. If you dig an indie band that has no hit singles, then they not only have few tracks that are any more "recognizable" than any other, but they have smaller, more devoted concentration of fans that will dig on anything they play. Brian as a solo artist has straddled this line quite well, kind of playing to smaller indie-type audience of hardcore fans, while also bringing in more casual fans. The irony with guys like McCartney is that they are popular enough that they'd have to go WAY far out to actually alienate fans and start seeing ticket sales drop. Sure, if he hit the stage and only performed the "Press to Play" album and then left the stage, that might impact future ticket sales. But if he dropped "Live and Let Die" and "Hey Jude" and did "With a Little Luck" and "Pipes of Peace" instead, I think he'd be just fine in terms of ticket sales. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm on October 04, 2017, 01:49:49 PM I saw Paul McCartney a few weeks ago, and not being at all familiar with his recent setlists, I was VERY happily surprised how many deep or semi-deep cuts he played. It was lovely to hear gems like 'Blackbird' and 'I've Just Seen a Face', and equally lovely not to have to hear (for instance) 'Hello Goodbye' and 'Long and Winding Road' in their place just because they were #1 hits that casual fans would recognize.
Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Lonely Summer on October 04, 2017, 11:36:34 PM I have a couple theories on why artists (Wilson, McCartney, Waters, Fogerty, etc) continue to fill setlists with past glories from their former bands: I think you're right. When John Fogerty came out of retirement in the mid 80's, he didn't play ANY CCR songs, and I don't recall any fans booing or walking out of the shows. McCartney's tours with Wings were mostly songs from their albums, only a few Beatles songs. The Wings Over America tour was built mostly around songs from Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and Speed of Sound. Can you imagine McCartney doing a tour now based around the songs from his last 3 studio albums? 1. I could be dead wrong, but I think concert goers were a little more opening minded in the 70s and 80s. I mean why else would 20 minute drum solos be tolerated? Right? 2. Another big factor is the cost of tickets these days. When audiences are asked for at least a C-note to go to a show, I can see how, if the setlist is filled with unfamiliar solo material, a guy who spend a good amount of money on tickets, parking, concessions, and / or merch would be annoyed, and likely reluctant to buy tickets to a future show. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 05, 2017, 05:23:08 AM I have a couple theories on why artists (Wilson, McCartney, Waters, Fogerty, etc) continue to fill setlists with past glories from their former bands: I think you're right. When John Fogerty came out of retirement in the mid 80's, he didn't play ANY CCR songs, and I don't recall any fans booing or walking out of the shows. McCartney's tours with Wings were mostly songs from their albums, only a few Beatles songs. The Wings Over America tour was built mostly around songs from Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and Speed of Sound. Can you imagine McCartney doing a tour now based around the songs from his last 3 studio albums? 1. I could be dead wrong, but I think concert goers were a little more opening minded in the 70s and 80s. I mean why else would 20 minute drum solos be tolerated? Right? 2. Another big factor is the cost of tickets these days. When audiences are asked for at least a C-note to go to a show, I can see how, if the setlist is filled with unfamiliar solo material, a guy who spend a good amount of money on tickets, parking, concessions, and / or merch would be annoyed, and likely reluctant to buy tickets to a future show. Plus, at those respective times, those artists were still considered "relevant." When Fogerty toured in 1985, it was to promote a massively successful comeback album. Same with McCartney who had a huge run of success in the 1970s post Beatles. But, here in the 2010s, new material is cobbled up by diehard fans, but not so much the public at large. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Lonely Summer on October 05, 2017, 08:14:15 PM I have a couple theories on why artists (Wilson, McCartney, Waters, Fogerty, etc) continue to fill setlists with past glories from their former bands: I think you're right. When John Fogerty came out of retirement in the mid 80's, he didn't play ANY CCR songs, and I don't recall any fans booing or walking out of the shows. McCartney's tours with Wings were mostly songs from their albums, only a few Beatles songs. The Wings Over America tour was built mostly around songs from Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and Speed of Sound. Can you imagine McCartney doing a tour now based around the songs from his last 3 studio albums? 1. I could be dead wrong, but I think concert goers were a little more opening minded in the 70s and 80s. I mean why else would 20 minute drum solos be tolerated? Right? 2. Another big factor is the cost of tickets these days. When audiences are asked for at least a C-note to go to a show, I can see how, if the setlist is filled with unfamiliar solo material, a guy who spend a good amount of money on tickets, parking, concessions, and / or merch would be annoyed, and likely reluctant to buy tickets to a future show. Plus, at those respective times, those artists were still considered "relevant." When Fogerty toured in 1985, it was to promote a massively successful comeback album. Same with McCartney who had a huge run of success in the 1970s post Beatles. But, here in the 2010s, new material is cobbled up by diehard fans, but not so much the public at large. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 06, 2017, 05:17:54 AM I have a couple theories on why artists (Wilson, McCartney, Waters, Fogerty, etc) continue to fill setlists with past glories from their former bands: I think you're right. When John Fogerty came out of retirement in the mid 80's, he didn't play ANY CCR songs, and I don't recall any fans booing or walking out of the shows. McCartney's tours with Wings were mostly songs from their albums, only a few Beatles songs. The Wings Over America tour was built mostly around songs from Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, and Speed of Sound. Can you imagine McCartney doing a tour now based around the songs from his last 3 studio albums? 1. I could be dead wrong, but I think concert goers were a little more opening minded in the 70s and 80s. I mean why else would 20 minute drum solos be tolerated? Right? 2. Another big factor is the cost of tickets these days. When audiences are asked for at least a C-note to go to a show, I can see how, if the setlist is filled with unfamiliar solo material, a guy who spend a good amount of money on tickets, parking, concessions, and / or merch would be annoyed, and likely reluctant to buy tickets to a future show. Plus, at those respective times, those artists were still considered "relevant." When Fogerty toured in 1985, it was to promote a massively successful comeback album. Same with McCartney who had a huge run of success in the 1970s post Beatles. But, here in the 2010s, new material is cobbled up by diehard fans, but not so much the public at large. I don't think it's so much that they don't care. It's trying to find that balance between doing the new album, doing the songs you have to do, and putting in a few surprises. For my money, nobody does this better than Iron Maiden. Since 2000, they've been doing alternating tours where one tour will be nostalgia based, and the next will focus on recent material (the new album and stuff of recent albums). I've seen them 7 times since 2003, and have seen 7 completely different setlists. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: HeyJude on October 06, 2017, 06:45:33 AM I saw Paul McCartney a few weeks ago, and not being at all familiar with his recent setlists, I was VERY happily surprised how many deep or semi-deep cuts he played. It was lovely to hear gems like 'Blackbird' and 'I've Just Seen a Face', and equally lovely not to have to hear (for instance) 'Hello Goodbye' and 'Long and Winding Road' in their place just because they were #1 hits that casual fans would recognize. I think it may be because you're not familiar with his setlists over the course of his career that you have this impression. He has performed "Blackbird" far more often than "Hello Goodbye", and "I've Just Seen a Face" nearly as often as "Hello Goodbye" (and much more often if you include Wings tours). I'd also say the Beatles are pretty unique in that there aren't really much of any "deep cuts" that the audience doesn't know. I highly doubt thousands of fans in the audience know "Hello Goodbye" but haven't heard of "Blackbird." There aren't any obscure/deep cut Beatles tunes as far as audience recognition. That is, unless he starts doing "That Means A Lot" or "Los Paranoias" or "I'll Be On My Way" or "Nobody I Know" or something like that. I don't think McCartney picks his setlists based on songs being #1 hits. He just picks them based on doing the "standards", and then fills in with some rotating stuff including some occasionally deeper solo material. Even most of the seemingly "deep" solo material he's added in recent years have been songs that were hits, just hits that he hasn't done in eons like "Junior's Farm." Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 06, 2017, 06:53:37 AM Wasn't Blackbird one of the few Beatles songs to crack Wings setlists?
Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: HeyJude on October 06, 2017, 07:23:16 AM Wasn't Blackbird one of the few Beatles songs to crack Wings setlists? Yep, one of four Beatles tunes on the ‘75/’76 Wings tour. He did a few other Beatles tracks on the short Wings ’79 tour, including “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Let It Be”, and “Fool on the Hill.” But yeah, he didn’t go heavy on Beatles songs until 1989 and beyond. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 06, 2017, 07:29:13 AM Wasn't Blackbird one of the few Beatles songs to crack Wings setlists? Yep, one of four Beatles tunes on the ‘75/’76 Wings tour. He did a few other Beatles tracks on the short Wings ’79 tour, including “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Let It Be”, and “Fool on the Hill.” But yeah, he didn’t go heavy on Beatles songs until 1989 and beyond. Right, I remember my father saw Paul for the first time in 1990, and he was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of Beatles songs in the set. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Lonely Summer on October 11, 2017, 11:09:36 PM Wasn't Blackbird one of the few Beatles songs to crack Wings setlists? Yep, one of four Beatles tunes on the ‘75/’76 Wings tour. He did a few other Beatles tracks on the short Wings ’79 tour, including “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Let It Be”, and “Fool on the Hill.” But yeah, he didn’t go heavy on Beatles songs until 1989 and beyond. Right, I remember my father saw Paul for the first time in 1990, and he was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of Beatles songs in the set. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 12, 2017, 05:28:49 AM Wasn't Blackbird one of the few Beatles songs to crack Wings setlists? Yep, one of four Beatles tunes on the ‘75/’76 Wings tour. He did a few other Beatles tracks on the short Wings ’79 tour, including “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Let It Be”, and “Fool on the Hill.” But yeah, he didn’t go heavy on Beatles songs until 1989 and beyond. Right, I remember my father saw Paul for the first time in 1990, and he was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of Beatles songs in the set. I think as the quality of his solo material stated to decline, and especially once George stopped touring, it made perfect sense for Paul to fill up half his set with Beatles material. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: HeyJude on October 12, 2017, 06:36:04 AM And my reaction was just the opposite. I didn't need Paul being "the Beatle". He had plenty of solo hits and Wings hits to mix in with the Beatles songs, but by1989, he had decided that having been a Beatle was his main drawing power. I think Paul has wrongly ignored his Wings/solo output. But back in 1989, nobody from the Beatles was doing Beatles tunes in concert. Ringo started touring that year and did a few of his own Beatles songs. Other than a small string of shows in late 1991, Harrison wasn't touring (and even on that tour he of course only did his own Beatles songs). So, much like Brian doing BB songs, I think McCartney did Beatles songs in part because they're *his* songs. (I think he also learned, or already knew, that they were the most crowd-pleasing songs and he finally embraced that rather than rejecting it has he had done in the 70s). Let's remember that in 1989, "Jet" and "Live and Let Die" had been aired more times in concert by McCartney than "Hello Goodbye" or "Michelle" or "Magical Mystery Tour", and so on. Ideally, and certainly by the 2000s when he was touring quite often, he could have mixed things up more. He *has*, but slowly. There are still huge gaps of beloved solo songs (some even minor or big hits) that he has completely ignored. But there are also some songs he wouldn't be able to sing live anyway. "Wanderlust" would be a good example, even if he were inclined to do it. But I know tons of fans have clamored of years for "With a Little Luck", or "Young Boy", or "The Back Seat of My Car", or even bringing back "My Brave Face." Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 12, 2017, 06:40:34 AM And my reaction was just the opposite. I didn't need Paul being "the Beatle". He had plenty of solo hits and Wings hits to mix in with the Beatles songs, but by1989, he had decided that having been a Beatle was his main drawing power. I think Paul has wrongly ignored his Wings/solo output. But back in 1989, nobody from the Beatles was doing Beatles tunes in concert. Ringo started touring that year and did a few of his own Beatles songs. Other than a small string of shows in late 1991, Harrison wasn't touring (and even on that tour he of course only did his own Beatles songs). So, much like Brian doing BB songs, I think McCartney did Beatles songs in part because they're *his* songs. (I think he also learned, or already knew, that they were the most crowd-pleasing songs and he finally embraced that rather than rejecting it has he had done in the 70s). Let's remember that in 1989, "Jet" and "Live and Let Die" had been aired more times in concert by McCartney than "Hello Goodbye" or "Michelle" or "Magical Mystery Tour", and so on. Ideally, and certainly by the 2000s when he was touring quite often, he could have mixed things up more. He *has*, but slowly. There are still huge gaps of beloved solo songs (some even minor or big hits) that he has completely ignored. But there are also some songs he wouldn't be able to sing live anyway. "Wanderlust" would be a good example, even if he were inclined to do it. But I know tons of fans have clamored of years for "With a Little Luck", or "Young Boy", or "The Back Seat of My Car", or even bringing back "My Brave Face." I think Young Boy would be a great addition, or The World Tonight, since the Flaming Pie album didn't get a proper tour. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: Lonely Summer on October 12, 2017, 09:48:58 PM And my reaction was just the opposite. I didn't need Paul being "the Beatle". He had plenty of solo hits and Wings hits to mix in with the Beatles songs, but by1989, he had decided that having been a Beatle was his main drawing power. I think Paul has wrongly ignored his Wings/solo output. But back in 1989, nobody from the Beatles was doing Beatles tunes in concert. Ringo started touring that year and did a few of his own Beatles songs. Other than a small string of shows in late 1991, Harrison wasn't touring (and even on that tour he of course only did his own Beatles songs). So, much like Brian doing BB songs, I think McCartney did Beatles songs in part because they're *his* songs. (I think he also learned, or already knew, that they were the most crowd-pleasing songs and he finally embraced that rather than rejecting it has he had done in the 70s). Let's remember that in 1989, "Jet" and "Live and Let Die" had been aired more times in concert by McCartney than "Hello Goodbye" or "Michelle" or "Magical Mystery Tour", and so on. Ideally, and certainly by the 2000s when he was touring quite often, he could have mixed things up more. He *has*, but slowly. There are still huge gaps of beloved solo songs (some even minor or big hits) that he has completely ignored. But there are also some songs he wouldn't be able to sing live anyway. "Wanderlust" would be a good example, even if he were inclined to do it. But I know tons of fans have clamored of years for "With a Little Luck", or "Young Boy", or "The Back Seat of My Car", or even bringing back "My Brave Face." Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: KDS on October 13, 2017, 05:27:04 AM And my reaction was just the opposite. I didn't need Paul being "the Beatle". He had plenty of solo hits and Wings hits to mix in with the Beatles songs, but by1989, he had decided that having been a Beatle was his main drawing power. I think Paul has wrongly ignored his Wings/solo output. But back in 1989, nobody from the Beatles was doing Beatles tunes in concert. Ringo started touring that year and did a few of his own Beatles songs. Other than a small string of shows in late 1991, Harrison wasn't touring (and even on that tour he of course only did his own Beatles songs). So, much like Brian doing BB songs, I think McCartney did Beatles songs in part because they're *his* songs. (I think he also learned, or already knew, that they were the most crowd-pleasing songs and he finally embraced that rather than rejecting it has he had done in the 70s). Let's remember that in 1989, "Jet" and "Live and Let Die" had been aired more times in concert by McCartney than "Hello Goodbye" or "Michelle" or "Magical Mystery Tour", and so on. Ideally, and certainly by the 2000s when he was touring quite often, he could have mixed things up more. He *has*, but slowly. There are still huge gaps of beloved solo songs (some even minor or big hits) that he has completely ignored. But there are also some songs he wouldn't be able to sing live anyway. "Wanderlust" would be a good example, even if he were inclined to do it. But I know tons of fans have clamored of years for "With a Little Luck", or "Young Boy", or "The Back Seat of My Car", or even bringing back "My Brave Face." From what I remember that was a pretty popular song at the time. I remember seeing the music video on TV a lot. Of course, this is back when MTV / VH1 would actually respect artists that had more than a decade under their belt. Title: Re: Brian's future live setlists Post by: HeyJude on October 13, 2017, 07:18:16 AM And my reaction was just the opposite. I didn't need Paul being "the Beatle". He had plenty of solo hits and Wings hits to mix in with the Beatles songs, but by1989, he had decided that having been a Beatle was his main drawing power. I think Paul has wrongly ignored his Wings/solo output. But back in 1989, nobody from the Beatles was doing Beatles tunes in concert. Ringo started touring that year and did a few of his own Beatles songs. Other than a small string of shows in late 1991, Harrison wasn't touring (and even on that tour he of course only did his own Beatles songs). So, much like Brian doing BB songs, I think McCartney did Beatles songs in part because they're *his* songs. (I think he also learned, or already knew, that they were the most crowd-pleasing songs and he finally embraced that rather than rejecting it has he had done in the 70s). Let's remember that in 1989, "Jet" and "Live and Let Die" had been aired more times in concert by McCartney than "Hello Goodbye" or "Michelle" or "Magical Mystery Tour", and so on. Ideally, and certainly by the 2000s when he was touring quite often, he could have mixed things up more. He *has*, but slowly. There are still huge gaps of beloved solo songs (some even minor or big hits) that he has completely ignored. But there are also some songs he wouldn't be able to sing live anyway. "Wanderlust" would be a good example, even if he were inclined to do it. But I know tons of fans have clamored of years for "With a Little Luck", or "Young Boy", or "The Back Seat of My Car", or even bringing back "My Brave Face." Yes, "With a Little Luck" was presumably likely to be performed on the Japan/US legs in 1980. The rehearsal video with Wings sounds pretty "bleh", but it is of course just a rehearsal. That was a rather sterile-sounding live configuration to begin with anyway. Much like Brian occasionally bringing out deep cuts when they're tied into a recent archival project, McCartney has occasionally brought out old stuff into the setlist based on having recently digested the material again for his "Archive Collection" series of reissues. Although, I do still chuckle when fans are convinced each "Archive" release will all of a sudden lead to a glut of songs from that old album entering his setlist. Indeed, he hasn't added *anything* from the most recent release, which was "Flowers in the Dirt." |