I was at the Stomp convention in 1988, funny thing was I only found out about it the day before and almost wasnt going to go, but decided last minute to do it - I would have been sick if I had missed it. it's true that the curtain opened and everyone in the room thought "who is that person who looks JUST like Brian Wilson but cant be" and then the place went ballistic for, yeah, probably at least 10 minutes - Brian played "Surfer Girl" "Night Time" and (I think) "Love and Mercy" just him playing Sean McCreavys DX7 (which I later offered him my car for, turns out he didnt need an old Datsun!)and then signed autographs for everyone, My turn came, completely surreal, I had a promo poster from the BW '88 album, I said "Hi Brian, My Name is Tony (which he signed to me) I shook his hand said thanks and moved on. fortunately My Dad was there and organised someone to take my picture at the time (A guy named Ken, who if you are reading this, thanks again!) I was a skinny 18 year old with a Stripe shirt on, BW, was wearing a red Hawaiian Shirt, White Pants.

the poster he signed now resides, framed on the wall in my studio, cant believe that its 20 years! good memories.

Yeah I guess I'd never seen a carrot cookie anyway! thanks! now I'm trying to think what song thats from anyway!! (H.E.L.P is on the way??)

I was going to wait until the 2nd, but couldnt help myself and had a couple of listens to the streaming version - Wow, let's face it, this is a really good album! I cant find anything really wrong with it and even the weakest song (Mexican Girl seems to be the consensus) is still very enjoyable.

The concept, as has been discussed, really works - the Nostalgia, Americana, Brians life story, whatever you want to read into it - to me, this album sits very nicely with SMiLE, Song Cycle, Orange Crate Art - definitely Brians wheelhouse! there's endless debate about how much is Wilson/Bennett/Darian whatever - lets face it Brian always had been better with some quality support - Asher, Van Dyke, the wrecking crew, Mike Love, Paley t's true here, he has the support and musicianship available to him that he needs. I love some of the unexpected progressions/arrangements - to me, the chord voicings are classic Wilson (I remember reading how he likes just to make interesting shapes with his hands on the Piano and whatever chord that happens to be!)

Vocally very nice, I think Brian has made  real effort with his vocals from SMiLE/Christmas Album/TLOS (not so much with GIOMH, unfortunately) and the band vocals are as usual very good.

I think that most of us agree that anything BW does is more than we would expect at this stage, but with the output that he has come up with this past few years, Brians 60's may rival his 20's

You go Brian, nice job and thank you!

btw, does anyone else expect to hear "yummy carrot cookies are an organic treat" in "Oxygen to the Brain"?

anyway, as usual, the rare occasion that I post it turns out random and rambling, but I just had a great afternoon listening to TLOS while painting my house on a sunny afternoon in Maine!

Hey Thanks for the info clay! you are right I thought Brian looked tired too, but he did the job. also enjoyed the small band, they still produced a very full sound, vocally very rich still. I am pleased to hear that Darian, Paul and Taylor will return though -but may not have been much more room on that stage last night though!

good response for Nelson and Probyn, both local guys!

I was at the Boston show with Al too, that was probably my favourite of the 4 shows I've seen. but loved them all.

Also was at Hampton Beach, I must admit to not being so much in the BW loop as I have been in the past - I knew that Jim Hines and Bob Lizik (spelling??) had left, but was surprised to see Scott on drums (he IS bloody talented!) and Probyn on bass, also no Darian (where is he?) Taylor or Paul Mertens, I must catch up on my gossip!

anyway, I enjoyed the show, always do, maybe not my favourite ever BW show mostly because the instrumentation wasnt there, you get spoiled having the stockholm strings and Saxophone and theremin/trumpet etc when the full lineup was there. I was very lucky that some guy got moved right near the stage and gave me his seats which were much nearer the stage than my own general admisssion tickets!

it had a bit more of a raw guitar based sound, keyboards were mixed so that you could hear the organ but not the piano real well, Probyn actually sang the theremin part on GV. but the band were tight and harmonies etc spot on as usual.

Brian was really as you expect at a concert, really involved at times, a bit zoned out at others - his vocals were pretty decent though, he got himself into a jam to begin 'catch a wave' where he pitched a little high to start but saved himself pretty well. he was wearing the yellow ralph lauren T shirt that he wore in some promo pics in the past few years. Jeff sang lead on "wouldnt it be nice" and shared lead on "then I kissed her" (Jeff's looking slimmer than I remember)

really enjoyed GOK, Add some music and All summer long - the 2 songs from the new album sounded really good, especially the finale "Southern California" am really looking forward to TLOS now

I'm writing this at work, so probably a bit random - but wanted to get this down while fresh!

Hi, I was at the Orpheum theatre in Boston last Friday. I loved it, loved it, loved it!

I am lucky enough to have seen BW in Boston the past two SMiLE tours also. I was definitely intrigued to see BW and Al on stage again and wasn't disappointed.

the set started in the familiar campfire singalong mode, they started with "Add some Music" (which is always one of my highlights) for the life of me I cant remember the set list for this show (I'm sure someone has it!) but this first section was very good and always a nice start to the show.

I think everyone feels that Brians live voice has improved over the past 5-6 years and I noted that on this show, Jeff was not doubling Brians lead as often as in the past. Brian was singing with real feeling and seemed to be really concentrating on pitching his vocals well. I wonder if this had anything to do with Al being there now, either  making Brian more comfortable, motivating him to try a little harder or a little bit of both - nonetheless I think this is the best Brian has sounded to me.

After "you're welcome" the lights came up "Then I kissed her" began, and there was Al, right next to Brian with the familiar white Strat. the crowd went nuts, he got a standing ovation bigger than I've seen anyone give Brian even. He seemed really happy to be there, sang as well as ever and even played lead guitar on "Do it Again" something that I dont think I have ever seen him do!

the rest of the first set was excellent, though I dont have the set list memorised. great to hear "California Saga" particularly Brian singing "on my way to..."   Breakaway" and "Please let me Wonder" always a pleasure to hear but enhanced by having Al there  though I think Brian still has to get used to having Al there - I'm sure Al expected to sing "Help me Rhonda" alone but Brian dived straight in with the vocal, Al laughed and joined right in

Brian and Al seemed pretty as ease together, often sharing a look or pointing at each other.

The rest of the Band were very very good as usual, I was pleased to see Darian there, I thought there were rumours that he wasnt going to be there but the lineup was the same as usual. very tight and sounded excellent.

then came "Pet sounds" which I hadnt seen live, which is where I really tried to absorb everything and where I felt that Brian had really worked on his vocals, he obviously doesnt have his 1966 voice but he really made his 2006 voice fit the songs - his falsetto was much improved all in all a very solid performance. A great "Sloop John B" with Al sharing the lead. the performance of the album was amazing and all too quickly there was "Caroline no"

the concert ended with the Usual encores (actually a non BW compostion "Johnny B Goode" was one of the best songs of the night!) then a beautiful "Love and Mercy" then done

sorry if this post is a bit random! but I really loved the show. good job Brian. Welcome back Al! (hope he sticks around)

Thanks Ken W, I will leave mine open, though my laptop is old and slow, hopefully it will help. thanks for the effort.

I Remember seeing them at Bournemouth in summer 1991, good show though I recall that everyone was seated virtually the whole show. except myself in a very loud Hawaiian shirt dancing badly to Dance, Dance, Dance. I think they had the Cheerleaders then.

Wonderphil, I have a BW inspired original song that I would like to submit- I have emailed you for an address to mail a cd to, Thanks.