The Smiley Smile Message Board

...since Brian & his band launched their touring career with a show at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor ??  Damn, time flies!  What a great ten years.  Congrats, Bri.

Nice call. Yes, amazing, isn't it? If ever there was a comeback, and a 2nd career, it is this one... it took half that time to go from 'Surfer Girl' to 'Pet Sounds'. Proves that perception of time is a weird thing.

I'll play the Roxy CD, and Pet Sounds Live, and BWPS and the SMiLE DVD as some sort of tribute...

I drove 10 hours through an icy blizzard with no driver's license to be at that Ann Arbor show. And I'd surely DO IT AGAIN.

It's also amazing how similar the band has remained over that span: even when there have been changes here and there, they are mostly rotations through a small cast of musicians. Ten years is a long time for a band to remain mostly intact, and it's maybe even more amazing when you consider this band is basically hired sidemen as opposed to equal partners. They must truly love what they're doing. And they're certainly good at it.

This is the longest Brian has toured on a consistant basis in his life isn't it? I think this is the main reason that Brian and the Beach Boys music from 1966 and on has been rediscovered and they are for the most part respected now. 10 years ago, it was uncool to be a BBs fan (in my experience).

40 years ago it was uncool to be a BBs fan as well.

I'm a bit late with this but it was ten years and 2 days ago 3/13/99) that Brian first did "Love & Mercy" as part of his encore.  This was at the State Theater in Minneapolis and it was totally spontaneous when it happened. 

I have my audience recording on tape and really should find a way to put it to disc before it deterioriates or something.

That performance is one of the things that got me into BW, and I wasn't even there. I had Pet Sounds and knew the hits, but around that performance, I happened to catch a televised bio and read a few stories, including either a preview or review of that show. The story sucked me in and I started digging for Smile-related stuff. Didn't take long from that point...

At that same theatre, I saw something I thought I would never see; Brian perform 'Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE' in all it's glory. Beautiful.

I was at that show, too: first show of the U.S. leg of the tour. And best of all, having seen it in Glasgow the spring before, I knew to expect brilliance, and so I felt good about bringing a bunch of friends (all of whom were wowed).

I was also at that first US Smile show in Minneapolis except it was at the Orpheum, across the street from the State (both between 8th and 9th on Hennepin Ave), that that happened.  I was in the third or so row, center, in the balcony.  Of note during the show is that a woman directly behind my seat had an epileptic fit (is that the proper term?) when the strong strobes began at the beginning of Smile.  She began kicking my seat and I wondered why she didn't have a better sense of rhythm.  Then I and a few others realized she was in trouble and left to get help.

The show was so impressive that I, and two friends I was with, decided to blow off any other obligations and head to Madison, WI for the show the next night.  I never did see a "TLOS" show and can only hope that's not the last time I ever see Brian and his band.