I hadn't performed in 18 years, but the reunion tour was so good that it inspired me to get back into playing.  Ultimately, it resulted in a cd and some videos.  Thank you Brian, Al, David, Mike, et al!!!  Here's a clip. Sorry about the ad, i don't have any control over it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPtiFB1jXY

anybody who doesn't at least casually like the Beach Boys needs to make a trip to Oz and ask the wizard for a heart.

see guys, this is exactly what i mean about these stones fans... i come out here to get away from them and they still can't leave me alone!!!  they gotta moan and groan all night long when you say something they don't like.  both of their main fan message boards have deteriorated into babble, hope they don't drag it over here.  i highly doubt that any of the Beach Boys fans would suggest i put my basset hounds to sleep so that i could attend more Beach Boys shows.   yep, that actually happened to me on one of the stones boards - actually the guy said it to my face at a meet-up.  another time i took one of them with me to an out of state show and the guy trashed the motel room while i was out, of course the room was in my name.  i could go on and on and on.  this guy here just thinks it was one incident, but that was all i cared to go into.  there was A LOT more to it!!!

4) The Stones have been doing basically the same set-list for the past 20 years.  I can't compare them to the Beach Boys in that regard - before this tour my last BB show was in 1980 or so.  But i will say this...  dag gone i LOVED the Beach Boys set list.  I never get tired of their hits and LOVE the album cuts they've been doing.  The Beach Boys greatest hits have, IMO, have stood the test of time better than the Stones' hits.

Bottom line... if they do a 50, the Stones will no doubt out-gross the BB, but the cd (if any) and the tour won't be nearly as good.  NOT --- EVEN --- CLOSE!

See, I would've gone ahead with this a little differently.  To me both bands are incredible and I can't put one song of one band's over another.  The Beach Boys can't lay down "Midnight Rambler" and the Stones can't do "Good Vibrations."  I'm past the point where I pick a "winner."  It's apples and oranges.  Part of why the BB tour is working really well is because this is the first united tour as a full group in years.  You said yourself that you saw the Stones 45 times and the BB less than a handful.  What'd you expect was going to happen?  The Stones by comparison have toured way more consistently than this version of the BB.  That has everything to do with it.

let me add one more thing.... the last several Stones tours were predictable and even (shock!) to an extent...boring!!!  Even a lot of their hard-core fans will tell you that.  The Beach Boys 50th tour is fresh and alive by comparison.  Even the theater shows on the Licks tour were pretty much the same old war horses with a couple of rarities thrown in

I can't agree with any of this.  How is the BB tour fresh exactly when it's tailored the exact same way as a Stones show?  First half: deeper cuts and fan favorites while the second half is your typical greatest his home stretch designed for the casual/tourist fan?  The BB only seemed "Fresh" for the aforementioned reasons above.  Your own preference is of course your own but let's not make such declarative statements when they're really personal opinion.  And your summary of the Licks theatre shows is pretty off...out of a typical 22 song set, more than half were songs haven't played in decades if ever at all....definitely more than "a couple rarities thrown in."

Both bands are irreplaceable so let's not dismiss the Stones just because a dumb guy on a board said something stupid and left a bad taste in your mouth.  

let me add one more thing.... the last several Stones tours were predictable and even (shock!) to an extent...boring!!!  Even a lot of their hard-core fans will tell you that.  The Beach Boys 50th tour is fresh and alive by comparison.  Even the theater shows on the Licks tour were pretty much the same old war horses with a couple of rarities thrown in.

Very happy to be here with you guys!!!!

Glad to chime in on this one!  I was a major Stones fan for over 40 years and just a casual Beach Boys fan during that period.  Have seen the Stones 34 times, Beach Boys 5 times.  In addition, i was a regular poster on two of the Stones message boards for the past 10 years or so and became friends with some of the members.  After the BB tour was announced, for some unknown reason i "switched sides".  Now I can't get enough of the BB and only casually like the Stones.  As this tour progressed, I posted some nice words about the Beach Boys tour on the Stones boards.  Each time, my posts were attacked by other posters.  One of the members of the IORR board was so offended that he tried to start an argument with me by claiming that BB tunes were simple-minded compared to Stones tunes!  If that boy could bottle "stupid", he'd be a millionaire!!!

Of course, all of that is irrelevant to the question.  But knowing what I know about the Stones (and their fans), i'll guess this...

1)  The last several Stones cd's were mediocre at best.  No way could they out-do TWGMTR.  no way!  It's better than any Stones album since Tattoo You (from 1981), and the passage of time might regard it even more generous than that.  I doubt they will do any new material, but you never know.  Lately, they've been "opening the vaults" - releasing outtakes and live performances.  Even those were not as good as they could have been had they done it up right - nothing from the Brian Jones era and not enough from the Mick Taylor era.  lots of great stuff still in the vaults.

2) any tour is sure to be short.  Keith's health will not hold up to a major tour.  If you've seen any of his performances of late, then you know they've been pretty bad.  Mick is still a phenomenal performer on short gigs, but it remains to be seen if he can still do a 2-hour show.  My guess is that he can.  He's in extraordinary shape for a man of ANY age!

3) If the Stones do tour again, no doubt that $$$-wise they'll beat the pants off the Beach Boys regardless of how many shows they do.  There's enough folks out there still willing to shell out $500 per ticket and arenas will be the order of the day.  I can't imagine how much a meet-and-greet will cost, but no doubt the hard-cores will eat it up.

4) The Stones have been doing basically the same set-list for the past 20 years.  I can't compare them to the Beach Boys in that regard - before this tour my last BB show was in 1980 or so.  But i will say this...  dag gone i LOVED the Beach Boys set list.  I never get tired of their hits and LOVE the album cuts they've been doing.  The Beach Boys greatest hits have, IMO, have stood the test of time better than the Stones' hits.

Bottom line... if they do a 50, the Stones will no doubt out-gross the BB, but the cd (if any) and the tour won't be nearly as good.  NOT --- EVEN --- CLOSE!

same here!  in the first week of release i listened all the way thru 15 times!!! now i'm down to one a day.  i always think of it as a concept album all the way thru, makes it more profound.  Here's how i interpret it, accurate or not doesn't matter to me.

Think About the Days - Brian melancholy about something, but don't know what.
TWGMTR - turns the radio on, gets in a good mood.
Isn't it Time - after getting in a good musical mood, wants to get the band back together.
Spring Vacation - band back together. all is good.
Private Life of Bill and Sue - Brian watches reality tv after the gigs.
Shelter - needs shelter, just like when he was young, but now for different reason - world gone mad (reality tv, etc).
Daybreak  -  M. Love also sad, just part of the theme.
Beaches in Mind  - need to escape from this new mad world, run to the beach.
Strange World - expresses the strangeness encountered in previous songs.
From There to Back Again - i picture this as Al singing to Brian.  Al feels same way as him about things.
Pacific Coast Highway - Brian says goodbye to the world.  now we know why he was melancholy.
Summer's Gone - i imagine this to be after his death.  either at a funeral or in an after-life.

maybe everybody listens to it this way, i don't know.  in any event, makes the song sequence totally appropriate.

this is a fun topic.

Paul McCartney - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
Spanky and Our Gang - Sunday Will Never Be the Same
The 4 Seasons - Rag Doll
The Cowsills - The Rain, The Park, and Other Things
The Turtles - Happy Together, Elenore, You Showed Me
The Wonders - Little Wild One

i just now finally GOT it! took 24 hours, good grief.  if that's the front, then i'd LOVE to see what you can do with the BACK cover!!!  (the BOX SET would be interesting, too!!!)

I had to go and lower the tone… sorry…

Thank you!  Smile sessions 2cd set it is.

hey guys, i'm ready for another one too.  didn't want to start a new thread.  here's what i already have in order of most favorite to least. already have hits packages.

1. Pet Sounds
2. TWGMTR
3. Today
4. Friends
5. Summer Days
6. All Summer Long
7. Sunflower
8. Little Deuce Coupe
9. Surf's Up

if Smile should be next, then which version? I'm not familiar with the incarnations.

good idea Emdeeh, photoshop time!...

That's Why God Made The ROdeo

here's mine.  not quite what i wanted, but close...

i was a great fan of the greatest hits packages all along but not a super-fan otherwise.  Pet Sounds has been in my collection in one form or the other since at least before 1970, and.... I never once listened to it all the way thru until this year!!!! S-T-U-P-I-D!!!!!!  Now, i can't get enough of "That's Not Me", "Waiting for the Day", "I Know there's an Answer" and "Here Today" - and i never even listened to them until this past March.  I didn't care for "Let's Go Away for Awhile" or the title track.  Now, i absolutely love them!!  ok, you figure it out because... i can't.

I've been a casual fan since the mid-60's and for some reason that i can't explain became a "super fan" after the announcement of this tour. have no idea why that happened.  my musical tastes are quite simple - i still live in the '60s.  In my opinion, the 3 best bands that came from that period (in no particular order) were The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and The Stones.  It is only my opinion, but of the 3, i think that the big hits of The Beach Boys aged the best.  As far as albums go, Pet Sounds is the best album ever made.  Rest easy, Brian.  You won.  You beat Sgt. Peppers and didn't even know it - in my opinion, of course.

What i am saying, is that for me anyway this is the best period to be a fan!

but that's just me, i'm crazy and weird.
[/quote]
count me in that crazy and weird crowd!  i wanna here "Amusement Parks USA", "Dierdre", "It's About Time", and "Waiting for the Day" and nobody cares.

Hi all.  Just joined this site a few weeks ago.  This is my first post other than the introduction.

This was my 5th BB show and 1st of this tour.  Very 1st was in 1973, most recent was maybe 1980 or so.  Was lucky to score Pit row 4 tickets on tm.com a few weeks ago.  just lucked out - logged onto tm right as they were releasing some great Pit seats.  was seated right at the edge of Brian's piano, and just to the left of Jeff F.  Really great view!  I took my 69 year old sister with me.  It was her 1st BB concert.

For about 1/2 hour right before the show, i could see Brian seated side-stage behind a crack in the curtains...



(not a very good pic, had to enlarge and crop it.)  he looked very ancient and was perfectly still most of the time with his eyes closed.  it was almost scary and i wondered how he could go on in the condition he appeared to be in. 

I'll spare the song-by-song reviews and just say this...

WOW!  they were truly great!  it was possibly the most fun i've ever had at a concert, and i've been to a lot!  seen almost every classic band.... Stones 34 times, Aerosmith 11 times,  Paul McCartney and Wings,  Pink Floyd 5 times, J. Geils Band maybe 10 times, Todd Rundgren, The Who, i could go on and on.

First the minuses....  I was really looking forward to "It's OK" and "Marcella", but to tell you the truth, i don't think they did a very good job on either one.  I wish B. Johnston would have performed "Deirdre" instead of "Disney Girls".  I really love "Deirdre" and find DG kind of bland by comparison, IMO of course.  He did a nice job, though.  It may be just me, but i also thought the new songs were not as good as on the cd and i LOVE TWGMTR.  "God Only Knows" was too fast.

Now the pluses.... EVERYTHING ELSE!!! was really shocked how well some of the songs were performed and loved "Be True to Your School", "Kokomo", and "Barbara Ann".  was not expecting to like those songs live and was totally blown away by them.  "All This is That" was better than i expected, and i was expecting a lot on that one. 

Would like to give a more thorough review, but the wife is in the hospital.  She had back surgery a few weeks ago and it did not go so well.  It was all i could do to make this show.. drove down from Columbus and was awake for 42 hours straight before finally getting back home after the show.

I would just like to say what a wonderful group of fans you all are.  I've been reading all your posts since signing up.  The Beach Boys have the classiest fans on earth.  It is a tribute to them and to you!

thank you all for the welcomes!  listened to Friends last night for the first time ever.  the first two lines of the title track have occasionally gone around my head my whole adult life, never knew where it came from.  the mystery is now solved!  really enjoyed the album, especially side two.

Hi all:

My favorite bands are The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones.  My first BB concert was in 1974, roughly, at the Ohio State Fair.  At the time, i was 20 years old.  My girlfriend went with me.  Was just a very casual fan back then and went to the show just for something to do.  As the show progressed, I became more and more stricken by how great they were.  By the time they performed I Get Around, I was actually in tears because they moved me so much.  My gal was poking fun at me and asking what was wrong, but i just couldn't bring myself around to telling her that it was just because the music was so great.

Over the years, i bought all of the albums up thru Smiley Smile, but left off there.  Have only seen them a handful of times.  Was mostly a Stones fan throughout my adult years and have seen them 34 times, although i still loved the BB tunes equally as much.  For some inexplicable reason my favorite BB is Al Jardine, and favorite tunes besides the usuals are Hushabye and The Monkey's Uncle.  Just discovered the youtube video of TMU the other day - it's blowing my mind, love it!

Once the 50th tour was announced, i became fascinated with BB again, and have been been following the boards daily and discovering the post-Smiley Smile songs, especially the ones they are performing on the tour.  Have been watching all the youtube videos, caught Jimmy Fallon, QVC, and am generally as excited for this tour as i have ever been for any tour by any artist.  

Have tickets to the Riverbend show in Cincinnati.  There are still tons of seats left for this show.  They are cheap!!!  Ticketmaster makes it easy for this one.... it's one of the shows where you can pick your exact seat.  I hope many of you here can arrange to attend this show!!!!

I have gotten in trouble on one of the Stones boards lately for defending the Beach Boys and most recently have gotten banned from the board.  I started a ruckus for suggesting that the BB songs passed the test of time better than either the Beatles or Stones hits.  I say... good riddance!  When all is said and done, i do believe BB were a better band, and from what i've seen on this board it appears the fans are better as well.  Glad to be here!


Joe