The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi folks,

I assume everyone bought tickets for Brian's last Pet Sounds gig in London ages ago (or at least yesterday when they came out...). Being something of a lagard I've only just got on the case and low! 24 hours later their all sold out! Except of course from the scoundrels at TicketTout.net who seem to have bought most of them and inflated the prices astronomically (b*stards...) (see below, face value followed by their price)

Date Description Face Value Our Price Quantity
Sun 12 November 2006 REAR UPPER CIRCLE £40  £85     
Sun 12 November 2006 FRONT UPPER CIRCLE £40  £95     
Sun 12 November 2006 REAR DRESS CIRCLE £75  £125     
Sun 12 November 2006 FRONT DRESS CIRCLE £75  £145   
Sun 12 November 2006 REAR STALLS £75  £175   
Sun 12 November 2006 FRONT STALLS £75  £195 
Sun 12 November 2006 SUPERSEATS (First 7 Rows) £75  £245   

If anyone bought extra and is looking for someone to take the extra off their hands then then I would certainly be grateful to do so, and their would of course be interval drinks in it as a thankyou...

I hope to be their one way or another, (though not at £245!!!!!!!!!!) and look forward to seeing any of you lot there. Perhaps we could identify ourselves by way of hat or funny walk...

TTFN

BJ


   

when i saw brian in amsterdam in 2004 i paid euro 60. i think that is more than enough. Paying 245 pound for 1 seat is outragus but i heard it has sold out  ??? so there are fans willing to pay this kind of amount. I hope they have a great concert

Someone called "ICP" on the blueboard posted this :

Order my tickets yesterday from seetickets.com and they arrived today. Not bad less than 24 hours. Tickets states BRIAN WILSON Plus special guests who are they going to be.

Who might those guests be? Of course the first thing we're probably thinking of is Mike, Al, Bruce, but is that really possible? Who else might join him? His daughters?

That would definitely be a result if the remaining BB showed up but you've got to assume that they would make a bigger deal of something like that. What's to be gained from keeping it a surprise?

Didn't Al or someone say that they were planning to perform PS with Brian or did I just imagine that? Anyway I'm desperately trying not to get my hopes up now!!

Yep, Al said so. He said "in November, in London" before word got out that Brian was in fact playing in London in November.  I don't try to get to high on it too, but it sounds very interesting. This way, there wouldn't have to be much rehearsal, because Brian's badn knows it and Mike, Bruce and Al know their parts. But I guess we'll just get Brian and Macca or something lame like that  ;D

I would prefer Macca to the BB!
And Bruce & Mike are scheduled to play in South Bend, IN on November 12.

I would love to see Macca with Brian, too (was that Landmine-thing videotaped btw?) but I would also love to see the BBs one last time. I guess you'll know my thinking of it by now... ;)

It appears it just means there will be an opening act.

Yep. "Special Guest" is just another expression for "Opening Act". But it sounds a little bit better.

Personally, and I'm an optimist, I think it means that the Beach Boys will be there.  LOL.

They can't advertise it as that, because with the chaos in the relationships in the groups, who knows who will show up?  Mike may or may not, Al may or may not, etc.... but there's probably been discussions and a little bit of 'yeah, we'll probably do it' 's going around, so Brian and co. told the venue to just put "Brian Wilson and special guests", that way if anybody shows up they're covered, but if they put "Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys" on there, and then nobody shows, people want their money back. 

My personal opinion. 

Normally I'd agree that special guest is just a fancy way of saying "opening act", but wouldn't an opening act be a bit odd for Brian?  As far as I know anyways, he's never had one.  So it just seems strange to me that there would be anyone else appearing besides Brian.  I'm still kinda doubting that this means that the BB will be there too, but something about "special guest" doesn't quite add up for me. 

Brian had an opening act for most of the dates of his 2005 UK tour: The Magic Numbers (and i believe someone else for at least one show).

Hmm interesting I didn't know that.  In that case maybe the whole thing makes sense after all.  Thanks for the clarification Andrew. 

I haven't a clue if any of the other BB's will show up for this show, but it seems pretty clear that something was discussed about this at some point. When Al talked about this in some news story awhile back, some people thought he was just pulling the story out of thin air. But it seems as if, according to Al, that Brian and Melinda did discuss it with Al and perhaps others. Here's one question asked of Al from the latest issue of ESQ where he talks about this. At that time (which was a number of months ago, I'm not sure how many), Brian had apparently not officially confirmed for this event. Please note that the "editor's note" is also from ESQ, not me:

ESQ: There is a lot of hype surrounding a "Beach Boys" reunion. What can you tell me?

AJ: An investigative reporter called me to ask me for verification that the Beach Boys were reuniting this summer for a tour. I said, "No, we're not. That was not in the plans for this summer at any rate. But there is a possibility of our coming together in London this November when Brian is inducted into the UK Hall of Fame." (Editor's note: Brian has not confirmed for this event as of yet.) We were on a conference call together. The invitation was extended to us from Brian and Melinda Wilson to support Brian and to try out the idea of a reunion. Just to see how it would feel. And see if there's any possibility of that and hope from there. I suspect that is where the rumor came from. This is the idea that was proposed to us. Who know what will happen in 2007?

Can you imagine the general hysteria if during the show Brian calls Al out to play guitar and sing on "Sloop John B" or something? That would be a great show. 

For those hyperventilating at the prospect of a BB reunion raised by the "special guests" on the Adelphi tickets - Mike & Bruce are playing gigs in the midwest on November 11, 12 & 14.

Al never fails to disappoint me. I can always count on him to say something - usually nonchalantly - in his interviews that are totally off the wall. I'm not saying this particular scenerio didn't happen, but I find it hard to believe that Melinda AND Brian would call the Beach Boys for ANY possible reunion, extend the olive branch if you will, even for one night, and that they wouldn't jump on it. ESPECIALLY AL! Or at the very least, say, "Hey, Brian, sorry we can't make it THAT particular evening, but let's talk about another date" I'm sorry but I can't let this go. Do you realize what Al said? I'll quote it again, "The invitation was extended to us from Brian and Melinda Wilson to support Brian AND TO TRY OUT THE IDEA OF A REUNION." Unbelievable...

Maybe my english isn't good enough but it sounds like he got a call from Brian (that is his managment or Brian and wife themselves) with the idea that the BBs would perform with Brian and if that turned out okay, talk will be done about a reunion.
Again, maybe I didn't understand all of that, but it sounds quite possible to me. If it's true, I can't say.

I think it would be cool if Al shows up. That, in itself, would be a real event.

The idea of a BB reunion is cool, but it makes sense that things need to cool off a bit further before that can happen. Don't forget that Mike is "on the outs" as he would put it, with Al even moreso than his now-waning estrangement with Brian. And it's hard to imagine Mike showing up at a Brian Wilson show and performing SMiLE songs. That just ain't gonna happen, ever, IMO.

I'm not sure I'm understanding you here. Are you saying that these comments from Al suggest to you that Al wasn't interested in this "reunion?" The way I interpreted Al's comments was simply that at some point he was on the phone with Brian and Melinda and Brian and Melinda brought up this show and brought up the idea of having Al (and perhaps the others) be a part of this Brian show in some way, to "try out the idea of a reunion."

There is no indication from these comments that this whole thing involved anything other than Brian/Melinda and Al (and perhaps others that might have been on this "conference call") discussing this show. It doesn't mean Brian then proceeded to fax over a contract for Al to sign committing to the show, or vice versa. Indeed, according to ESQ at the time that the interview with Al was printed, Brian had not himself even committed to the event for sure. I also don't see any indication in this interview that Al was opposed to the idea of joining Brian on stage. In all the interviews I've seen with Al, it seems like he *would* jump at the chance to perform with Brian again. So who knows what happened after that discussion, or how serious or set in stone the details were of that original discussion. Maybe Brian or Melinda later decided it should be a solo Brian event. Maybe Al could make it but the others couldn't. Any number of things could have come up that prevented this reunion or semi-reunion from happening. Schedules may have changed. Attitudes may have changed. Who knows? The only thing I don't see in this interview is any evidence that Al wasn't interested in the idea of joining in on this show in some fashion.

I will agree that it would have been nice to get more details about this, but fans always feel this way when somebody they are fans of discusses something. It always is a bigger deal to us than to them. In this same ESQ interview, there are more words devoted by Al to a Kingston Trio documentary than to the prospect of some sort of Beach Boys reunion.

Personally, it would actually make more sense to not have all of the other BB's show up. Just having Al there, perhaps to join in on a few songs or something, would lift the burden of the thing being billed as any sort of "Beach Boys reunion". It wouldn't be much different from Bruce joining Brian on the 1998 "Imagination" show. Frankly, I might be more interested in the prospect of Al and Brian working on each other's solo projects than a "Beach Boys" reunion without Carl.

I tried to order a ticket on Friday when they went on sale via ticketmaster, and it said there were none available at any price. I repeated the process several times till mid-day when I gave up.

Ticketmaster held a presale for tickets on thursday afternoon, for which I was registered but was unable to buy tickets due to shoddy web management. Dunno if anyone else had nay luck. Logged on first thing friday morning and again was unable to buy tickets online (apart from some seats way at the back of the upper circle) so gave up. Thought better of it a couple of hours later so I called up the Adelphi's box office direct, where they still had some tickets in the stalls. Still feel utterly cheated by the whole process though.

As for who the "special guests" will be, hmmm. Support for the show in LA is Scritti Politti, but Scrit's US tour doesn't finish til later in November. Magic Numbers are also busy that night (playing Derby).  However, none of the previous UK shows based around an album (the Pet Sounds & Smile shows) have featured an opening act, just a "hits & obscurities" set followed by the "album" set. I'm coming round to the idea that "special guests" may actually mean "special guests". Awww, wouldn't it be phenomenal?

If Mike & Bruce are giving a BB show on the same evening, or even an evening either side, it cannot be them.

Could conceivably be Al.

I'm hoping the show is recorded for posterity. Damn shame I was unable to get a ticket I'd never did see Brian do Pet Sounds.

Not exactly. My comments involve two main points. First, I am shocked, blown away actually, that Brian AND Melinda would pick up the telephone to call the guys about a Beach Boys' reunion. I thought Brian's team was fully entrenched in making sure Brian had a solo career. I didn't think "they" would want Brian anywhere near Mike Love for musical and non-musical reasons. And I can't believe this phone call (if it in fact happened) wasn't made public by people other than Al, specifically Mike and Bruce. My comments directed at Al had to do with the nonchalant way he mentioned THE PHONE CALL. It was almost like (and I'm paraphrasing), "Yeah, Brian called about a Beach Boys' reunion. Who knows what'll happen?" I just have a hard time with that ho-hum description, but, hey, maybe that's how he/they really feel about it. It's just that when I look at where Mike, Bruce, and Al's careers are at this point - or where they aren't- I would think they would jump out of their shoes at the opportunity to work with Brian. Which leads to my second point.

To me (and maybe I'm in the minority) news of a Beach Boys' reunion is the biggest news about the group since Carl's death. I don't care about anniversaries, awards, solo albums, children's books, and TV movies. I want new Beach Boys' music from the surviving members. And, regardless of what the surviving members say or don't say, that's what I believe they want too. So I am again shocked and blown away that, if Brian and Marilyn made that phone call, that nothing was worked out. If NOTHING was worked out, and we'll know in due time, I would love to know why. What were the stumbling blocks this time?  The cost of airplane tickets? They couldn't re-schedule a concert? Unsettled lawsuits? Set list issues? I'd love to know.

^ I think part of it is that the Beach Boys talk to each other much more than we think they do.  Anytime there's an album, a greatest hits, work done on future albums, etc they all probably end up at least discussing it.  Over the course of the last couple years, Brian and Mike have mentioned in interviews several times "Oh, I ran into Mike the other day" or "I talked to Brian on the phone the other night" blah blah blah.  Al may be just blatantly lying but I doubt it, maybe he misinterpreted the extent of the 'invitation', but he's been saying all year that he wants to "get Brian to be a Beach Boy again" or something to that effect.  A couple months ago somebody was floating a picture of Jeff Foskett performing at a party with Mike and Bruce, etc.  I think their world is a lot smaller than what publicly shows.  Mike mentioned a couple weeks ago in an interview that Brian gave him a song to write lyrics for a few weeks back.  They're definately all talking. 

Regarding your first point, what do you think *actually* happened then? Do you really think Al just fabricated the story about the phone call? If the Brian show had never taken place or been scheduled, then there might have been reason to wonder what Al was talking about. But I think it's pretty clear that Al spoke to Brian and/or Melinda, because Al may have been aware of this concert well before it was made public apparently, and he was definitely made aware of it before Brian himself even officially confirmed for it. How else would Al have had that information? I don't think that Brian and Melinda neccessarily made this phone call specifically for the sole purpose of talking about a reunion. There was probably other business to discuss, and this show and a potential dry run for a reunion was mentioned. They have been talking to each other for other reasons than this show apparently. They apparently had some discussions about putting together the tracklisting for that forthcoming "The Warmth of the Sun" CD among other things.

I agree that Al's sort of nonchalant about the prospect of a reunion, but I don't think this means Al made up the story about the phone call or anything of that sort. Further, I'm not sure this short ESQ interview is neccessarily a full and final statement on how Al feels about this show, let alone the concept of a reunion. If anything, I would think it might be the feeling or indication he got from Brian and Melinda (perhaps not a great amount of enthusiasm or willingness to committ to a reunion from them?) that might make Al a bit nonchalant or not particularly hopeful about a reunion. It sure seems like Al is trying to downplay the prospect of a reunion in this interview, and I don't think he's doing it because he's not interested in it. I seems more like he recognizes that such a reunion is a "maybe" at best.

I guess, if all this reunion-talk is true, Melinda and Brian just thought "What could we do to top the Smile-concerts", just like they did before "Smile", wondering what could top "Pet Sounds live". I think a reunion would be the only big thing still waiting for Brian. If this won't happen, he will forever be at the point he is now, which of course isn't a really bad one.

As several people have pointed out, Mike and Bruce are doing a concert in the U.S. Therefore it seems impossible to me that they will be joining Brian on the 12th. It just doesn't seem feasible that they would agree to join Brian and still advertise a concert in the US. Al seems quite possible though. However it does apparently say guests on the ticket so that would surely imply a support act.

I must admit I'm getting quite excited by the possibility of Al joining Brian to sing on this. I need somebody cynical to outline the concrete reasons why Al will absolutley not be appearing at this concert - reality check someone!

No you don't.  You need to Leave your heart wide open, and love without fear!!!! LOL

Hey Jude, as far as what I believed actually happened regarding the phone call and Al - I believe that you described it quite accurately. However, the part of the phone call/statement that still perplexes me the most, and obviously gets me wound up, is the inclusion of Mike and Bruce, if I'm interpreting it correctly.

Look at this quote from Al - "The INVITATION was extended to US from Brian and MELINDA to support Brian and to try out the idea of a REUNION". Check out the highlighted words - INVITATION, US, MELINDA, REUNION. To me, that's an important statement. Was that the original intention of the phone call? I don't know? Did Al exaggerate what was discussed? I don't know. But that was my original point. Al brings up these things in interviews, just kinda throws them out, and leaves me screaming "What!!!???" 

Anyway, the other point that has been mentioned a few times is that Mike and Bruce have a conflicting date/concert for the evening in question. True. I'm not trying to be ignorant, but couldn't Mike and Bruce's concert be rescheduled. It's not unheard of in the concert business to reschedule dates, and what Beach Boys' fan who bought a ticket to the Mike and Bruce's show wouldn't be understanding regarding these special circumstances.

A Pet Sounds show has been announced in the US featuring Al!!!  :-D

This should put the speculation to rest.

I'm just so "luke warm" about the hype of a reunion.
I know Al would give up body parts to work with Brian again.  Al really wants to make one last statement as a band called the Beach Boys.  It is important to him, and I find his position sympathetic.  That said, what are the odds of any of that happening with only 3 real BBs or 4 if you let David "represent" and then Bruce?
I'm sorry if this sounds all "fuzzy" and glum to boot, but the 3 brothers together made one GIANT spirit!  Al knows that fer sure!  He still wants to leave something important to end it. 
Mike and Bruce have other motives, perhaps. 
I know Brian and Al were/have been talking on a semi-regular basis.  No more information than that was given me, but it was a very reliable source.
I was lead to believe it was personal and not business, but music is personal to both gentlemen, I believe.
Al got a hard lesson in humility over the last "X" number of years.  I can see Brian "reaching out" with an olive branch.  Brian knows Al can sing.  I remember Brian quoting Audrey about Al's voice "being like a bell".  Nice compliment imo.  It indicated to me that Brian admired Al's voice too. 
If you're gonna take a "first step" this is a good one.
Now I sound like a "fan" of forced togetherness.  I'm still not.  It's the hype that makes this all so dreary to me.  The more we talk and speculate the more likely to be disappointed we are.
It's not unlike Darian calling from Chicago after originally turning down the Brian tour.  "The music is going to be the star of the show!  Melinda agrees and so does Joe that doing the original arrangements is best.  We may have to change keys to aid Brian singing lead, but original arragnements!"
Well the music was star until Joe couldn't play the chords.  Then Brian had to move forward in the shows.  He wasn't ready or shouldn't have had to or....? whatever.
A new album from Brian.  Great!  Call it Brian Wilson Band Album....but no!  Brian is now the star.  The band plays for scale or less sings backgrounds ala BBs.....but not, when they could have shared vocals, taken leads and Brian would have been able to be the King within that format.  Nope.  All Brian all the time.  That was never who he was musically, was it?  He knew how it should sound, but he heard other's voices, and he knew he could create counterpoint and harmony better'n the rest of 'em 'cept maybe Carl after awhile.
These remaining Beach Boy guys are on very different "wavelengths" I'm afraid.  Something truly wonderful is a real longshot.
Brian and Scott B are such different people maybe what they've been doing will be "up" and interesting.  Most of what Brian has written since '88 are dirges about the dark.  Great chords but the melodies are too dark for me.
Yet like the lover I am, I still believe in perfect.....Maybe?
I honestly hope that all of you who posted here get what you are hoping for!  I mean that sincerely.  Everyone of you deserves "your dreams come true". 

Ok, I'm going to try that. Here goes...


Wow things are looking up! Does this mean that he'll be joining Brian in the UK too?

This are fantastic news !!

I was sort of hoping that the special guests would be Bananna and Louise  :lol