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PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN  1973 BEACH BOYS CONCERT PICTURES (&  new article)

Check out the BACK THOUGH THE OPERA GLASS website (www.pipeline-operaglass.moonfruit.com) for some EXCLUSIVE 1973 concert photographs (not seen for over 35 years !) – taken at the Hollywood Palladium concert that gave us the sleeve pictures for the Beach Boys In Concert album ! A RARE GLIMPSE of Brian included !! Also included is a great timepiece/article from the era …
Go to the above link / Click on Part 2 / Enter & Highlight the ‘In Concert’ LP / Scroll down the page !
Enjoy !!

Thanks to my good friend Rob Shepherd on this one !  8)

your site is really great but sometimes it sure is maddening not being able to click on pictures to see a larger size :)

So great ! That site is one of the best, if not the best BBs-site out there imo.

Is that the same coat Brian wore on the Pet Sounds-cover?

I agree. Surely those pictures must be larger than that.

LOL - yes, I accept that I DID reduce the size of the pictures so that they 'fit' into the overall page and text, but I take on board what you're saying - so I'll put up a 'link' page from the article that'll feature only the pictures, but in LARGER scale !
Thanks for the good words so far ...  ;D

Yeah, same feelings here. There should be a law: 'Everyone Tooting His Own Horn In A Loud Voice Should Provide Large Colour Pictures So As Not To Cause Undue Disillusions'.

Extra link added for larger images ...  :afro

Thank you sweetie! I love you... 8)

Great, cool stuff. Looks like Mike is playing keyboard in one of the pics.

I thought that, and a review of the time said it too. Looking at the angle he's at though, I think he's balanced the woo-woo machine on the keyboard to play. I think he used the keys as a brace for Good Vibes, because there's a mike there too, whereas for Wild Honey he didn't need to sing, right? So he played it sat on the floor as in the picture on the LP cover.

Where is the link for larger images? I couldn't find it. Flash sites are so confusing for me.... I'd really like to see those pix in more detail -- thanks.

Man I wish that guy would have stayed off the stage. I really would have loved to see what Brian looked like then. So few pictures of him were taken from early 72 until late 1974 or so, by which time he looked like a different man.  It is great to read the story though and the pictures are super cool. 8 Beach Boys on one stage how about that!

Oh, I misunderstood -- I thought you meant you could click on a photo and look at it in more detail.

Thanks for putting the story and pix up.

There's a link on the page to bigger pictures.

Would anyone happen to know the Complete set list for the Palladium show of April 20,1973?
"Beach Boys In Concert" is my all time favorite album and I got it as a Christmas present in 1973 at age 10.Knowing the LP as well as I do these "lost" pictures from that show are bringing back so many excellent memories of that era and Album.

Thanks,
Big Bri

Thanks for the tip. It took some deep digging and a different browser to find them, but I did finally get there. It's on the last page, but they are worth seeking out.

What page has that picture of Brian?


edit


Ahh... I found it

Rocker - you have made a very astute observation concerning Brian's coat!  I'm the guy who took the April 20, 1973 Hollywood Palladium photos on Malc's site, and I got a chance to see the coat up close when talking to Brian and Marilyn after the concert.  I had never made the connection before, but I think there is a very good chance that the coat he wore the night of the Hollywood Palladium concert is the exact same one he wore seven years earlier at the San Diego Zoo photo shoot for the cover of Pet Sounds.

With his hair, weight and beard did he look more like the Brian on Holland or the Brian on 15 Big Ones?

My recollection of Brian Wilson the night of April 20, 1973 is that he was beardless and looked basically the same as he had in the Sunflower, Surf’s Up, and Holland era photos. 

I had last seen Brian at the Dec. 3, 1971 Long Beach Arena concert, first on stage and then during the encore when he and wife Marilyn left the concert walking between the front row and the stage, passing right in front of me and other concert goers.  (No, I didn’t have front row seats, but during the encore a number of audience members, including myself, made our way down the aisle and up to the front.)  Interestingly, I recall Brian wearing a long black coat both in 71 at Long Beach and 73 at the Hollywood Palladium, and, as another Smiley Smile poster pointed out, it appears that that coat may very well be the exact same one he wore for the Pet Sounds cover.

In the interest of providing as accurate an answer as possible, I also emailed by friend Ralph, with whom I attended both the 71 and 73 concerts, and asked for his recollections of Brain’s appearance, without mentioning my recollections, so as to avoid predisposing him to a given answer.  He said, “My recollection is that Brian essentially looked the same in April 73 as he did in December 1971, no beard and not very overweight.  He looked pretty much like photos on the Sunflower and Holland albums.  I believe the first time I was aware of his blimping out and full beard was when I saw the cover of 15 Big Ones.  He was really immense on the BB Special when the CHP cites him for failing to surf.”

And he looked very "15 Big Ones-ish" in photos from 1974 (the one with Jim Pewter, and the one where he's in the pool with the Endless Summer gold or platinum record). 

So...Brian still looked like "Brian" in April of '73 (despite being well into the "reclusive" period he says he got into upon returning from Holland), but looked like the Abominable Snowman a year later.  Which tends to support my theory that the REAL decline for Brian (and for Dennis) began with Murry's death (June of '73).  Brian and Dennis may have been significantly troubled prior to that (Brian more so than Dennis), but I think it took the catastrophic event of their father's passing to completely change their perononalities and looks, if you will.  After that, I just don't think they were ever the same people (at least outwardly). 

Thanks Custom Machine for the reply. I saw a picture from early 73 from the Iowa sessions and Brian looked a touch heavier then normal but still more like the old Brian-same thing with the Holland pics. So since this was April that makes sense. It was such a big and swift change that it's always good to know the info. How lucky you were to see the last two concerts Brian was at before the big decline.

C-Man I think you are right. Dennis still looked pretty good until the end of 76 but by the end of 74 his voice was gone and his marriage had ended. Brian we know didn't sound bad until 1975 but by the Pewter pics he looks terrible. Basically the real Beach Boys died with Murry.

I know it's kind of stupid, but I've always wondered what would have happened if they never fired Murry and they somehow could have sorted their differences out. I mean would much have been different?

Brian might have gone crazier sooner.  ;)

Maybe I am just dense but I can't seem to navigate that site worth a damn. Anyone wanna post a direct link to the photos for a blind man?  :p

Sorry to see that you can't seem to navigate my site !
Basically, enter Part 2, or whichever era you want to read about by selecting the tab along the top of the front page menu, then enter that section by clicking on the word 'enter'  ::) ... and then choose which album you wish to read about by clicking on the relevant sleeve. In this instance select the 'In Concert' sleeve. To find the photos just scroll down the page to the 'flash' and click on that !
I realise there is a lot of clicking and navigating on the site but that's the fun, come back some other time and find something you hadn't seem before   :p
Alternatively ... http://www.pipeline-operaglass.moonfruit.com/#/1973lashow/4532469771  ;)

You're probably right! :-D

My friend Ralph tells me that the shirtless guy whose clapping hands are obscuring Brian's face in the last photo I took is Gerry Beckley from the group America.  Ralph says he did not realize who it was when the guy was on stage, but says he recalls being told after the concert that the shirtless guy dancing around on stage during the encore was Gerry Beckley. 

I had not viewed the slides for years before scanning them and sending them to Malc, and had initially recalled that it was a shirtless Dennis whose clapping hands obscured Brian's face, but Dennis is clearly seen in elsewhere in the photo.  Malc and I then presumed the shirtless guy was a fan who had jumped up on stage, but now I'm inclined to think Ralph is correct, since the reviews did say that the band was joined on stage by Gerry Beckley from America during the encore, and I truly do not have any recollection of a fan jumping up on stage.

Brian most likely was somewhat heavier in April 73 than in Dec 71, but it wasn't anything were I remember taking note of it and thinking that he had definitely put on a significant amount of weight.

The next time I saw the Beach Boys was Nov 16, 1973 at the Anaheim Convention Center with my friend Julie.  I ran into Marilyn (with her sister Diane) backstage and was surprised that Brian was not with them, since he'd been at the July 1968 concert in San Diego as well as Dec 71 in Long Beach and April 73 in Hollywood (all as a member of the audience, although he did make brief on-stage appearances in 71 and 73).

If anyone is interested in details of Marilyn's response when I asked "Where's Brian?" as well as Dennis' classic remark after Julie and I helped him fix a flat tire on his Mom's Lincoln Continental after the concert, let me know and I'll post details.

I'm sure everyone is interested. Well I am at least :)

Please do share what happened ;D. Also since you did get to go to many mid 70's shows, when did Dennis start sounding raspy?

Where are these pictures you're talking about? I'm on the 'In Concert' page and all I see are pictures from the liner notes of the album.

Thanks Malc.  ;)

Is my site REALLY that hard to navigate  :lol ... I'm beginning to think it is !!
HF - scroll down the page to the big 'FLASH' at the bottom !! BTW - You ARE looking at the '73 In Concert LP aren't you ??  ;)

According to those guys who were there (thanks again !)

Help Me Rhonda
Funky Pretty
Darlin'
H&V
Caroline No
Californ-i-a
Surfin' USA
Wild Honey
Do It Again
Don't Worry Baby
Marcella
Sail On Sailor
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Good Vibes

I Get Around
SJB
Fun Fun Fun
Jumpin Jack Flash

Surfer Girl
Cal Girls
Barbara Ann

Apparently 'Leaving This Town' was dropped for this set but had appeared before Good Vibes the previous night

OK, here are details on running into Marilyn and Dennis after the Nov. 16, 1973 Beach Boys concert at the Anaheim Convention Center.

I attended the concert with my friend Julie, who lived nearby in Huntington Beach. (This was the second of three times I saw the BBs in 1973, the third time being Dec. 31 at the Long Beach Arena.)  I was a college student living in San Diego and also working at Sears.  Since I had to work that day, Julie and I drove separately, meeting at the Anaheim Convention Center.  The Convention Center was packed, probably sold out or close to it.  The Beach Boys, who had been considered has-beens by American audiences just a few years before, were in the midst of a remarkable concert comeback, which would lead, for better or worse, to Capital Record’s release of Endless Summer eight months later.

After the concert I suggested to Julie that we go around to the back to the convention center to find the backstage entrance and see if we could get inside.  Not far from the stage door we saw Marilyn Wilson and her sister Diane, “a boss blonde chick”, Marilyn and Diane’s mother, and Audree Wilson, all getting ready to leave in a Lincoln Continental.

The backstage entrance was surrounded by perhaps a dozen and a half fans, mostly (maybe even entirely) young females, along with a couple of guards, including one at the door advising the fans that they had to wait outside.  I told Julie, “Follow me and act like we belong here.”  We then pushed our way through the fans and as we began to walk through the door I said, “Excuse us” in a very matter-of-fact voice.  The guard nodded and we were inside.  Julie whispered, “How did you do that?” and I told her I really didn’t know, other than I acted as though we were supposed to be there and it probably helped that I was a guy and not a screaming girl.  It’s also important to point out that back stage passes were not in general use at this time, at least with the Beach Boys.

Once inside, we saw Mike, Al, and Dennis.  Then Marilyn Wilson passed by, seemingly in a hurry, and I asked “What’s the status of your new album?”  She immediately stopped and we discussed the follow-up to the Spring album, which had been released a year and a half earlier.  I then asked, “Where’s Brian?”  Since Brian and Marilyn had attended both of the previous LA area concerts I had been to, in Dec. 71 and April 73, as well as San Diego in July 68, I assumed Brain would have been at this concert as well.  I was dumbfounded when Marilyn replied, “Oh, he stayed home tonight.”  It seemed incredible to me that Brian Wilson would pass up a chance to see his group in concert when they were not far from his home.  I had read the various stories over the years about Brian’s “nervous breakdown” in late 64, his junking the Smile album in 67, his reservations about releasing and refusal to re-sing Surf’s Up in 71, etc, etc, but back in late 1973 I truly had no idea how serious his problems were.  I had been among a small group of fans conversing with him and Marilyn just seven months earlier after the Hollywood Palladium concert and he had seemed completely normal to me.  Brian was a musical genius, so to my way of thinking his odd behavior simply went with the territory.  Plus, Carl would often dismiss Brian’s unusual behavior as “another Brian put-on”. 

I replied, “At home?  Why did he stay home?”  Marilyn put a very positive spin on it, stating rather enthusiastically that he was working on new material with Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night.  That seemed to make sense to me – apparently writing new material was more important to Brian than seeing The Beach Boys in concert.  It would be a few years before I knew the real story that we all know now – Brian had retreated from life and was suffering from drug abuse and mental illness, spending much his time lying in bed, and the incredible music I assumed he had been creating during this time had never existed. As C-man pointed out in an earlier post, it seems likely that Brian went rapidly down-hill after Murry had passed away five months earlier.  Seven months earlier Brian had been at the Hollywood Palladium concert, which his parents also attended, but now, with Murry gone, Brian apparently couldn’t find the will to get out of bed and attend a Los Angeles area Beach Boys concert.

Marilyn also told us that the Beach Boys were now one of the nation’s biggest concert attractions, then said she had to leave because someone had let the air out of both of the rear tires on her mother’s car.

Julie and I spent a little more time in the back stage area, and when we returned outside we encountered a group of people, including Dennis Wilson, around the Lincoln Continental, with Mae Rovell, Audree Wilson, Marilyn Wilson, Diane Rovell, and the blonde sitting inside.  Dennis was replacing one of the tires with the spare from the trunk, and some concert goers in a Mustang had just driven up, offering their spare to Dennis.  But, as Dennis attempted to put the Mustang’s spare on the Lincoln, it was discovered that the Mustang’s wheel was too small and would not fit the Lincoln’s lug nuts.  At this point, Julie offered, “I’ve got a can of Fix-a-Flat you can use.”  Dennis said, “Great!” and we jumped in my Mustang and drove over to Julie’s VW Super Beetle to grab the Fix-a-Flat. We returned to find that some other fans had brought over their larger car, but its spare did not fit the Lincoln either.  Dennis then installed Julie’s Fix-a-Flat in one of the flat tires and put it back on the car.  Audree Wilson thanked everyone for their help, and the Lincoln was on its way.

After that, a few female fans who had been hanging around asked Dennis for his autograph, as did Julie.  (Julie seemed surprised that I was not interested in Dennis’ autograph, but at the time it seemed to me that getting Dennis Wilson’s autograph on a piece of paper, as opposed to an album cover, for example, was something only females should be interested in.)

Dennis then said, “Thank you, thank you so much” to Julie and me.  Prior to shaking my hand he began to shake Julie’s, but the next thing I knew they were in an embrace and exchanged a kiss.  I told Dennis it was a great concert but that I didn’t think Mike should close the show with Jumpin’ Jack Flash, as it wasn’t a Beach Boys song.  I later felt like an idiot when I realized that I had failed to tell him that Forever was (and still is) my very favorite Beach Boys song.  (I did tell that to Mike around a year later, and asked him to tell Dennis that he should be singing it in concert.  At the time I had no idea that there were any issues between the two of them.)

As Dennis prepared to leave he suddenly pulled his jacket back, wiggled his hips back and forth, and exclaimed with a huge smile, “Have a good sex life!”  We laughed, and he walked off with a girl (or perhaps I should be saying a woman) and another guy who was with a female.  I recall thinking that had any other member of the band encountered the car with two flat tires they probably would have gone inside and called a tow truck to come and fix the tires, but not Dennis, who was determined to take care of the problem himself.

In order to provide as accurate a recollection as possible, prior to writing this I checked out a letter I had written to my friend Ralph a couple of weeks after the concert.  The majority of the details in the letter were the same as I had recalled them, but there were some interesting differences, compared to how I had recalled things and had told them to others in recent years.  For example, I had recalled that the owner and driver of the Lincoln Continental was Audree Wilson, but in the letter I stated that the car belonged to Marilyn and Diane’s mother.  (Maybe it was Mae Rovell’s car but Audree was driving.)  And, I (surprisingly) had completely forgotten about “a boss blonde chick” (to quote the letter exactly) in the car with them.  Does anyone have an idea as to who this might have been?  And who were the three people Dennis walked off with?  Any ideas?  Could Ed Roach or Stanley Shapiro have been the guy?

Thinking she might be able to provide additional details, I emailed Julie asking for her specific recollections (without mentioning any of mine).  Her response is indicative of the effect Dennis had on women, as well as the fact that this all happened close to three dozen years ago: “My memories of “our concert” (as with everything else) are a little sparse.  You are a MUCH BETTER “historian” than I am.  I remember going back stage and acting “like we belonged” and then going to the back parking lot, seeing the car with the flat, and asking if they wanted to use my "Fix-A-Flat."  Then, of course, came THE kiss and everything else is a blur.  :)”

Interestingly, I met Jon Stebbins in the lobby of the Roxy theater when Brian was performing on April 8, 2000, and Jon was giving out flyers promoting his forthcoming biography of Dennis.  I told this story to Jon, but when I was done he and another guy standing next to him looked skeptically at me, and one of them (don’t recall which one) said, “They didn’t have Fix-a-Flat back then!”  I assured him that they did, and that I recalled first buying it sometime in the late sixties or early seventies.

Another great story you were really in the right place at the right time. Btw did you meet or see Brian at the 1968 concert? What did he look like or act like then? Also any other memories would great these are all terrific.

Thanks for that story Custom Machine... I honestly love reading stories like that from those who were there. I mean obviously you can always watch documentaries or read books on the band but sometimes they don't always portray what it was really like to be there and around those guys we all love so much.

Great story! Man that Stebbins can be such a buzzkill :-[

lol.

I saw mentioned earlier about the photos of Brian and Jim Pewter.  I don't think I've ever seen those... are they out there somewhere on the net?

There's one in David Leaf's book.  He looks pretty much like he did for 15 Big Ones.

Here it is. Leaf and many others published it in reverse. I corrected it.

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Wow... I had never seen that photo before.  I take it this photo was from the interview Brian did with Pewter.  Wasn't that in late 1974?  I can't recall the month.

I didn't realize Brian had the beard that early on.  He does have a brighter look in his eyes, though, versus a few years later.

9-1-74. He's a lot more lively in the interview too then most of the later ones. His memory is very sharp and he is pretty funny. Still he looks about 100 pounds heavier then he had on the So Tough back cover.

That picture of him on "So Tough" was edited in amongst the other guys images and originally comes from an April 1972 photograph, so there was a good 2 years between pictures ...

The real picture is in the Badman book. I knew the date but still it's such a huge change in 29 months.

That picture is also on the official site: http://www.beachboyscentral.com/ (http://www.beachboyscentral.com/)    ::)

Surely you mean the official 'page' ... as in singular !  :lol