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I was there tonight, too. For those not familiar with the venue, it's a covered pavillion (though it's far more beautiful than that suggests) with lawn seating on the outside. It was a perfect night for the concert, but very few in the area seemed to recognize that as it was one of the smallest crowds at Wolf Trap that I have seen in the dozen or so times I have been there. The lawn was mainly empty and only the front orchestra section was almost full. I don't believe there were any people in the rear orchestra and have no idea about the upper level. At any rate, I mention this just to give a sense as to what Brian is up against, particulalry when there is very little promotion for the show, as was the case here. Makes you wonder why the focus on England the past few weeks when, at least for this venue, ticket sales were clearly not that high. I got my ticket today and it was 8th row center if that gives any indication.
Anyway, on to the music. First off were the hits. I haven't seen Brian since he was here in DC for the Al/Pet Sounds tour, so it's been a while. The crux of the hits set there remained. I don't think I'd seen Salt Lake City before, though I know it's been in for a while, so that was cool and he also did Shut Down/Little Deuce Coupe which my memory is telling me I hadn't seen him do live before either. I may just be forgetting. I was surprised somewhat that there was no mention of the Smile Box coming up. I would have thought it a perfect opportunity to do a mini-set given all the interest there seems to be. We got Good Vibes and Heroes (w/Cantina), but nothing else. Brian was in generally good voice, but I was surprised that so many leads were given to Jeff and also Darlin' to Darian. They did great, but I was disappointed Brian handed them off. Saving his voice for Gershwin, I guess. Brian was also prone to zoning out here and there, so Jeff picked up when he needed to. In the first half, I felt like Brian's vocals were a little more buried than they should be - not sure if it was just based on where I was sitting, but I tend to think not.
The second half, I thought, was much better. Brian was far more into the material and I always find it's an improvement to hear him perform works he has more recently completed because the voice matches that on the cd. Brian can still sing, but it's sometimes jarring to hear the current voice on the older material. Brian was clearly nervous in terms of coming in on the songs at the appropriate time and would often look to Jeff for guidance. But, once he got in there, he really soared. Summertime and I Loves You Porgy for me were highlights, but by and large the whole thing was pretty great. Much better for me than the cd. Even the new songs, which I'm not the biggest fan of, came off really well.
After Gershwin came the standard fare. I really hate the Johnny B Goode, Rhonda, Barbara Ann, Surfin USA, Fun, Fun, Fun combo by now! You'd think someone could have mixed it up a little more, but it certainly gets the man on the street going, so why screw with the formula...
I'm very glad to have gone, but the whole experience was kind of bittersweet. I was embarrassed for Brian and Band that the audience was so small - really more ashamed of my fellow DC area residents for not appreciating this music we all hold so dear - and I couldn't help but wonder if this would be the last time that I saw Brian. Even if he does tour again, I would think the powers that be might consider bypassing our area given the crowd size. I would argue that a theatre would be a better draw next time, but I don't guess BriMel feel like arguing with me...
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