I saw something last night that really makes we doubt that boredom, disinterest, or "he's just going through the motions" is the only thing(s) confronting Brian. If anyone present last night disagrees, please, I welcome your thoughts.
When the band came out for the encores, during "Kokomo", the first encore, Brian was totally disengaged. He might've sung one or two notes. He sat there, motionless, just following Mike as he was prancing around the stage, with a disturbing look on his (Brian's) face.
Immediately after "Kokomo", a roadie helped Brian strap on the bass. Brian walked out to the front of the stage, and as the band was repeating that famous riff to the beginning of "Barbara Ann", Brian motions to the audience, and starts to yell, "Well let me hear you say 'Yeah'..." And, just as Brian is yelling this, Mike talks over him (unintentionally), and goes into his "Thanks for coming to see the Beach Boys tonight". Brian looked totally confused, and stepped back from the microphone, looking around. Did he think he was at one of his solo concerts, and he was supposed to lead that part? Seriously. And, when they did go into the "Well let me hear you say yeah" part, Brian didn't join in. He barely sang any parts to "Barbara Ann".
Eventually, they got to the closer, "Fun, Fun, Fun". Brain started out dancing that little two-step shuffle, but quickly stopped. Then he sang a line or two backing, and stopped singing completely. He eventually just stood motionless, with just his thumb plucking the one string on the bass. Then he stopped playing.
Brian ended up just standing there, up front, doing nothing. He was staring upward and the lights were flashing and the music was blaring and the crowd was going nuts. All of a sudden, Brian starts walking to the back. It looked like he was trying to walk off the stage, but Jeff kind of cut him off. I could see Jeff half-smiling and shaking his head and saying, "No, it's not over yet". Brian stopped in his tracks, just staring at Jeff, almost waiting for a command. Keep in mind while all of this is going on, the music's blasting and the place is rocking. Then Brian pulls up his shirt to try to pull up his Adidas pants, which were falling beneath his stomach. It was a sad sight, really.... Brian hung around to line up to wave to the crowd, and then he quickly scurried off.
I will never forget the look on his face as he stood in the front of that stage, motionless, staring into what - the crowd, the lights, space? This was not a look of boredom, of disinterest. It was beyond that. It made me feel very uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. I wanted to just jump up on the stage and take his hand or something. It just made me wonder what was going on in his mind, in his brain. I trust he is OK. I trust his doctors have absolutely cleared him to do this tour. But, God, what demons he must be facing....
Great description of those moments, Sheriff. I was there and observed all of this as well. Only other thing that I noticed is that Jeff (it seemed to me) started the "everybody say yeah" thing and Brian kind of jumped in. I agree that Mike speaking over him was unintentional. It really felt that Mike, in a semi-scripted moment, heard Jeff speak and was ready to say his thing, and Brian got a few words in the gap, only to be cut off. Jeff is working hard up there between the music and coaching Brian- pretty impressive.
All in all, I thought Brian hung in there pretty well throughout the night, but that was a tough ending.
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