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I'll be there...  anybody else on this board going?

.

I won't.

Just got back--great show!  Pretty much the same setlist as Osaka, but with a slightly rearranged order, and they added "Darlin'" and "You're So Good To Me," so it was 38 songs in all.  It was a sloppier and more spontaneous and emotional show than the Osaka one, except for "Isn't It Time" and "Kokomo" were tighter, so figure.  The band seemed really grateful to Japan, and kind of emotional to leave.  I'll post the setlist and more details later...  it's kinda late here and my little girl is all buzzed up from the show. 

Setlist:

1). Do It Again
2). Little Honda
3). Catch a Wave
4).  Hawaii
5).  Don't Back Down
6).  Surfin' Safari
7).  Surfer Girl
8).  Getcha Back
9).  You're So Good To Me
10).  Then I Kissed Her
11).  Darlin'
12).  Don't Worry Baby
13).  Little Deuce Coupe
14).  409
15).  Shut Down
16).  I Get Around
17).  That's Why God Made the Radio
18).  Heroes and Villains
19).  Isn't it Time
20).  Why Do Fools Fall in Love
21).  When I Grow Up
22).  Cotton Fields
23).  Forever
24).  God Only Knows
25).  Sail On Sailor
26). All This is That
27).  Sloop John B
28).  Wouldn't it Be Nice
29).  Good Vibrations
30).  California Girls
31).  All Summer Long
32).  Help Me Rhonda
33).  Rock n' Roll Music
34).  Do You Wanna Dance
35).  Surfin' USA
(encore)
36).  Kokomo
37).  Barbara Ann (with America; Brian on bass))
38).  Fun Fun Fun (with America)

Thanks mabewa!

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(http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/s720x720/229178_10151124966432241_1285241836_n.jpg)
The 'Boys and America in Nagoya, Japan

Perhaps Myke,being the  cheapskate he is,  should consider buying a couple of new camosils. ::)

Maybe I'm blind, but am I missing Dave in that pic?

or Cowsill and Scott Totten...

They were probably somewhere knocking back the sake together!

Blimey , is Al actually standing in that photo ?  :lol

no, he's sort of crouching.

there are 3 more videos up

this is California Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcA78MN2gWY&feature=BFa&list=ULwzwdBy0UwYE

I love Love's unbroken dedication to the Sunday yellow outfit.

Fun videos.  Man, I really wish I can see all of them live again...I miss the fun!

OK, here's my review:

This time, I brought my wife Akiko and 3-year old daughter Hisui, and we deliberately missed America, just because we were concerned about the little girl's ability to handle such a long concert.  Hisui was all excited about seeing the BBs--she's quite into music, but it's the only English-language band she has interest in.

A couple of things I noticed right away:  first, unlike the Osaka gig, this one wasn't sold out.  The floor seats were totally packed, but there was a lot of space in the arena seating.  The place seats 10,000, but there were probably more like 7500 there.  Second, the audience seemed way more interesting--a greater range of people, a lot more rock-type people, and a lot of people wearing T-shirts for Brian's Smile or Pet Sounds tour.   This is much more in line with my experience of Japanese BBs fans--a lot of serious Brian freaks.  Right behind us, we had 4 interesting people--two twin sisters who looked like they might have been 13-year old teenyboppers in 1965, and who did syncronized 60's style dancing together all night.  Next to them, there were a totally bronzed, long-haired middle-aged hippie-surfer couple.  And then next to us there were a whole lot of aging rocker types--all really fun and funky people.  

Like the Osaka show, Mike's vocals were a bit shaky when they started "Do It Again," but unlike the Osaka show, the whole band sounded a bit shaky vocally and musically for the first few songs--I was almost wondering if they hadn't been knocking back too much sake on their day off.  Part of the problem was that the acoustics in the place weren't quite as good as in Osaka, although they got much better as the night went on.  Still, the audience really went nuts for the surfing songs--I don't know if Nagoya has a big surfing culture or what, but even the images of surfers on the screen seemed to be getting a big response.  Early on, the band said something appreciative about the audience--really, the band seemed like they were in a great mood, and wanted to give this audience their best.  There was also a lot more singing along than in Osaka--Osaka isn't known for English ability!  

As before, Brian got a big response for his Surfer Girl vocal--people were screaming "Brian!" at him.  Getcha Back featured another great vocal turn from Dave, and then they went into "You're So Good To Me," the first of two additions to the Osaka setlists.  I was very glad to hear this one, and it was a lot of fun--people clapping along and cheering Brian.  Brian seemed a lot more animated!  "And Then I Kissed Her" (Al sounding great), and then the biggest and best surprise of the night:  "Darlin'."  This is a song I absolutely love, and I didn't know if I was going to get to hear it, so it was probably the emotional highlight of the show for me.  Then, Jeff knocked "Don't Worry Baby" out of the park.  Mike said something admiringly after the song, telling him to take a drink because he would need it after such a great vocal.  

The car songs were fun, with a lot of good Dave solos, and the funny sax/guitar bit in Shut Down, though as in Osaka, the audience didn't seem to respond quite as much as to the surfing songs.  Mike was in a really great mood and dancing around.  I have to say, I think the first part of the show was structured much better than the Osaka show--putting more love songs between the surfing and car songs seemed like a better balance, plus you got to hear Brian, Al and Darian sing lead in addition to Dave and Jeff, so there was much variation with the lead singers.  

Up to this point, Hisui had seemed a bit unresponsive--she'd never been to such a big show, and I think she was a bit confused.  But she really lit up for "TWGMTR," and even sang along in her broken English--she loves the new album.  "Heroes and Villains" wasn't quite as tight as it was in Osaka, but even more far-out.  "Isn't It Time" followed, and was actually much MORE tight than in Osaka--in Osaka, they struggled for the first third or so of the song, but here they had the vocals down very nicely.  This is another song that Hisui loves, so she got to sing along again.  Why Do Fools Fall in Love was just fantastic--I've finally lost my skepticism of this song.  They were really showing off their vocal chops--kind of a tour-de-force.  When I Grow Up was slightly underwhelming (as it was in Osaka), but Cotton Fields was fantastic--Al's voice was loud, clear and precise--just cutting through everything, and the harmonies were great too.

They followed with the "Forever" "God Only Knows" section, which got a great, emotional response, especially God Only Knows (again, the Japanese love Pet Sounds).  Sail On Sailor also got a big cheer of recognition even before Brian started singing.  This was the most animated he got in the entire show--he was doing some kind of weird dance with his arms, and Jeff was watching him and doing it back, so they had this amusing little performance going on.  Brian's vocal wasn't quite as tight as in Osaka, but he was really getting into it and playing with the melody--great to see him so involved.  For "All This is That," the audience seemed to understand the little intro speech more than the Osaka show (again, better English in Nagoya), and seemed to appreciate it--perhaps the greater proportion of hippy types helped.  It was beautiful, anyway, just waves of harmonies washing over everything.  

"Sloop John B" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" got some of the best responses of the night--more serious Pet Sounds love.  I think that Mike may have underestimated the popularity of PS when he wrote the setlist--I think that "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" would have really gone over well.  "Good Vibrations" also got a huge response, and then they started going through some of the huge hits.  Bruce struggled a bit with the high parts on CG, but sounded great when he got them, and there was a big surprised sounding cheer when they started All Summer Long.  Of course "Help Me Rhonda" was its usual goofy, fun self, and proved to be a good kid song.  

"Rock n' Roll Music" was a lot of fun too--it's another song that's finally winning me over after I hear how it comes across live.  I like how they do it a lot more, well, rock n' roll than on the studio version, and it's a very fun song to share with a kid--especially the ROCK, ROLL backing vocals.  Do You Wanna Dance finally got my wife dancing (she is very pregnant, by the way, and was sitting down most of the night, unlike virtually everything else).  She loves this song, and it got her and Hisui dancing together.  The chorus harmonies were gorgeous, and Dave played another atonal guitar solo--a totally DIFFERENT atonal guitar solo as he played in Osaka (nice having Dave around for that little touch of anarchy!)  "Surfin' USA" was pure joy, as Hisui loves it and I got a video of her and Akiko dancing excitedly, with Hisui waving her arms around.  I got the amused feeling that she was getting in touch with her American roots!  

When the band came back on stage for the encore, Bruce made an excited, emotional little speech about how great it was to be in Japan and "thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful country."  Not sure how many people understood it, but it was very sweet.  "Kokomo" sounded much better than in Osaka--Mike's managed his tricky vocal parts pretty well, and the song got a good response.  For "Barbara Ann," Brian came up to the front of the stage on bass, and that got the audience really excited.  It was also fun--everyone sang along, including Hisui (perfect song for a 3 year old native speaker of Japanese!).  And "Fun Fun Fun" was pretty wild--they really hammed up the trash-can ending, leaving the band and audience with and extremely fun moment.  

When we walked out, Hisui chattered excitedly about the Beach Boys, asking where they were going.  I told her that they were leaving Japan, flying to other countries to play more concerts, but if we were really lucky, they might come back sometime.  Maybe not though, because they are pretty old and can't play forever.  That was a little bittersweet to tell her, but I also told her that when she is older, she'll be able to tell people that she saw the Beach Boys, and no-one will believe her, because no-one her age will ever have seen them.  I'm glad I got that video of her going wild during "Surfin' USA," because it's something she'll be able to remember this by.  

That's great mabewa...some great memories for your daughter to have!

Thanks for your review !

It's great to see that they are still going so strong after 65 concerts and three continents. Pretty amazing especially considering their ages

Thanks for the review, very well written!

16 minute video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M98gWbxlJMI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M98gWbxlJMI)

Great review, Mabewa!

Loved your review, Mabewa, thanks for sharing. Referencing your daughter throughout the review, and then ending on that final paragraph - mostly sweet with a bit of bitter - was very touching to read.

Thanks everybody!  It was a very nice, but somewhat bittersweet moment.  I WILL say that if BW or the BBs come back, I will definitely take her! 

Beautiful review, mabewa. Reading it makes me appreciate even more what a wonderful time we're having. And while we all helplessly face the passage of time, we have this "good times never have to end" motto we've been given this year. These guys seem to live by it, after all.

Thanks, what you wrote is beautifully expressed as well.  We are all very lucky to be having this experience. 

...just as a very belated follow up to this, Brian is coming to Osaka in April, and I got tix for myself and Hisui...  no full BB's tour of course, but I told her that there would be THREE BB's there, including Blondie who wasn't there last time, and she is really excited.