The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hello,

I have a question concerning Brian Wilson: Will he still give concerts? Or has he retired?

I don’t think anyone knows right now.

BW canceled the rest of his 2022 shows, but in an interview last month Al suggested they might play again this summer.

Brian was in rough shape for much of this year’s dates, so I suspect his team will be cautious before booking any more dates.

Oh, I see, that's unfortunate. Let's hope he will get better soon.

To be honest I don't quite understand why he kept going on tour until recently. Don't get me wrong, I think he is still really great and I enjoyed going to one of his concerts in 2017 very much. I'm just not sure what his personal motivation for still going on tour is. When I think about his time in the Beach Boys it seems to me that he was not very eager to do concerts and preferred working in the studio. It seemed to me that he never needed the adulation of an audience. So I'm not really sure what drives him to still do concerts at his age. What do you think?

Maybe he just wants to make people happy with his music, as he has all his life.

Am I the only one who thinks Brian should retire from touring?  He's earned it.

Then we are two, Bedroom Tapes. Still better than zero... 🧐

Disclaimer to try to avoid the usual answer: of course, unless Brian wants to keep on touring.

Three and I agree with the disclaimer

As long as he wants to continue, then I will continue to go since 1. I would happily pay to see the Brian band play that catalogue without Brian, and 2. the shows themselves are like church to me.

But at the same time, I would be just as content to see him call it a day. Especially since he’s already given us more than we thought possible in his comeback run.

I don’t want to go off-topic, but given Robbie Mac’s true comment about Brian’s “comeback run,” did we ever get any further info about the pictures of Brian in the studio in late summer/early fall 2022?

Yes, I also think he really has earned it. He should tour as long as HE wants.

No, this has been a pretty regular sentiment from most fans here for quite some time. Perhaps a bit more "he should retire if he wants" than explicitly calling to bar him from the stage. But if you read the 2022 tour thread, I think most fans, even the most overly-forgiving fans, have come to the realization that we should probably expect few performances if any in the future.

This is PURE SPECULATION on my part. I wonder if in 2022 Brian experienced some of the same medication-type issues as those which caused him to cancel his 2019 June and July tours. Many people wondered why he continued to tour in 2022 when he was obviously incapacitated much more than he normally is. The difference was that in 2022 many tour dates involved Chicago as well as the Brian Wilson Band, and were perhaps much more difficult for Brian to cancel his band's participation without breaching some contracts. In any case, I hope he is happy, healthy and enjoying life at home.

If his health continues to decline and he continues to be barely functional on stage then he probably doesn't need to keep going, even if his band does a good job with the heavy lifting.  It just looked really sad seeing him up stage in that condition.

That’s strongly what I was thinking

Carney was the guest on a beach boy oriented internet talk show last night and she pretty much said that Brian's touring career days have ended and that he's retired from touring. If that's true hope he's healthy and happy  would be nice to hear some sort of a formal statement made though. She also said she was very concerned about her dad's health and hadn't seen him in a while for some reason. Hope all is okay with Brian

At 1h05s https://www.facebook.com/BeachBoysTalk/videos/547871657307372

 :(

I think it's probably better all around to *not* make a big announcement of some sort of retirement. It doesn't really help much of anything, and it's not like there are still ticket holders waiting to find out if their show is canceled. It would just invite another negative spin news cycle.

I would imagine one likely scenario is that they realize Brian's not going to be doing like "on the road" touring, but they don't want to close the door on anything and everything, so why announce anything?

I don't think fans need more closure than what we have. I mean, I think we'd all like to see some video or something that hopefully shows Brian in good spirits and generally good overall health all things considered.

As has been discussed on many threads, both the BBs as a group and Brian solo have HUNDREDS of studio and live tracks in the vaults that could still be released to continue "the story" so to speak. And I don't know that the door is 100% closed on Brian cutting stuff in the studio.

Folks should listen to this Carnie interview. It's great.

She does say that the touring is done, but she also notes that it probably extended her dad's life by decades. Even when he was just going through the motions, the love from fans really mattered. Stay tuned for lots of stories about Carl, x-rated versions of Hey Santa and what it's like to tour with Al (everything we've assumed as fans is true). She also notes that she has been urging BW to do a Sinatra tribute record.

The ending part about her dad is concerning. She suggests he has a lot going on, then corrects that to "a lot going on around him," and says she misses him and wishes that he -- and then she doesn't finish the thought. It wouldn't be the BBs without family drama, so who knows.

Thanks Wirestone, that is incredibly depressing news but thanks

Why would Carnie need to miss her own dad.. could she not.. visit him?

Who the hell knows.  As Wirestone accurately suggested, it wouldn't be the Beach Boys without family drama. 

I'm really sad that he won't tour anymore. However, it is so great to hear that the touring extended her dad's life by decades and that I helped doing that by going to two concerts. And to hear that the love from his fans really mattered is so nice to hear, too.

I’ll definitely have to listen that interview. It’s one of the many that the BeachBoyTalk crew have done that I’ve put on a to-do list. However, apologies for the second (and hopefully final) off-topic post I’ll make in this thread, but I’m curious about what an x-rated version of Hey Santa sounds like. I guess I’ll have to get to that interview sooner rather than later.  :lol

"Hey Santa, are you getting hard for me? Can we do it under the Christmas tree?"

Being part of a complex family is hard to understand if you're outside of it (or perhaps not experienced this yourself)

Sometimes everyone being alive and visitable isn't enough.

Heck, I live in the same town as my dad (who is eight years younger than Brian). I haven't visited in three weeks. Not because of any issues but because we're both busy and it can be awkward to show up on someone's doorstep uninvited.