Brian sounded really fantastic tonight. I'm uploading video of "Our Prayer" as we speak.

No real surprises yet. "Marcella" was in and sounded awesome. Dave did "Getcha Back". Funny moment when Mike mentioned the President. I'll do the setlist when I don't have to type on a phone.

Just got here. Six rows back near Brian's piano. I'll try to keep track of the setlist and post at intermission.

He loved that tack piano in those days. Can anyone think what the most recent use of it is on one of his songs? I feel like once he discovered the Moog he more or less abandoned the tack piano sound other than occasional instances.

Bells of Christmas is better. that 70s Christmas album is a great album.

Oh, I don't know about that. Al's stuff was pretty dire on that one. I have a soft spot for "Winter Symphony", though.

Ditto. I'll be in the SMiLE Sessions shirt. I'm checking the clock like every two minutes.

These are two albums which in my mind are almost required to be combined into one, because that's the only way you can get all six of them fairly represented. Personally it drives me up a wall that "Here Comes the Night" is on there at all. If you're going to do a disco number (which I don't object to, FWIW), at least make it a new song.

I have an extra ticket if anyone's interested.

We've been getting a lot of thunderstorms and looks like more tonight. Hope this doesn't affect the show.

Wow, ending on "That Same Song"? Pride of place indeed! I approve. I think I'm too married to the idea that "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" is deliberately meant to set up "I Wanna Pick You Up" to separate them that way.

No, of course not. But the question was about which was the best album.

I will say, though, it'd be nice to have maybe one more Carl song on there.

Well, bear in mind, for that mix I narrowed it to ONLY Brian compositions, because I wanted to see what you'd get if they'd waited until they had enough of his new songs to do an album composed just by him (with collaborators, that is). So beautiful stuff like "Feel Flows" or any of the "California Saga" tracks are lost. At some point I'll probably do another playlist with just the songs from that era written by BBs other than Brian. Also, bear in mind I don't include anything that came from the SMiLE sessions. But here's what I use:

Sail On Sailor
This Whole World
He Come Down
Good Time
Add Some Music to Your Day
Take a Load Off Your Feet
Funky Pretty
Deirdre
Soulful Old Man Sunshine
Fairy Tale Music
You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone
All I Wanna Do
Our Sweet Love
At My Window
Marcella
A Day in the Life of a Tree
Til I Die

I would shell out V.I.P. type money to see Brian perform one Love You song, "Roller Skating Child", but under the following conditions: He wear shorts, strap on the bass, and do his "hula hoop" dance!

I said the same thing. Absolutely agree.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing him revisit a song or two from that whole mid-late 70s era. I was stoked to see "It's OK" in the setlist on and off. How about a little "Had to Phone Ya"!

I'm sorry, I went back now and did see your comment about "Roller Skating Child".

Some mid-late 70's stuff? I'd pay even more money to hear Brian perform "Matchpoint Of Our Love"!!!!!

This!

Frankly, I'd be in heaven if they did some kind of tour re-evaluating their whole 70s output. I mean, they're basically ALL deep cuts, but Jesus, they're rewarding songs. So much variety.

Sunflower is superb, an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion. Bruce's two tracks are delightful, Dennis's songs kick ass, Brian's are relaxed and sweet as punch. It's the best example of what each of them brought to the table in terms of styles and songwriting. But it holds together as a complete musical statement, I think. It's just so purely beautiful beginning to end.

I'm pretty curious to know what some of these musicians will do after this tour. Brian might want to keep doing it for another year, but would Probyn or Nelson or Darian?

I've actually done this with nearly all of their albums. It works really well, I think. For 15BO and Love You I only eliminate the covers, because even when you add the originals from 15BO to all of Love You, it's still only like 45 minutes long or so, which is a perfectly reasonable length for an album in the 70s. The only issue is that once you eliminate the covers, the ratio of Love You tracks to 15BO tracks is completely skewed in favor of Love You, obviously. I drop "Good Time" because it so obviously comes from an earlier era (and I add it to Sunflower anyway). So what you get is this:

It's OK
Had to Phone Ya
Roller Skating Child
Let Us Go On This Way
That Same Song
Mona
Johnny Carson
Honkin' Down the Highway
Ding Dang
TM Song
Solar System
The Night Was So Young
Back Home
I'll Bet He's Nice
Let's Put Our Hearts Together
I Wanna Pick You Up
Airplane
Love is a Woman

I actually also combine Sunflower, Carl and the Passions, Holland, and Surf's Up, which is insane, of course. But you end up with a playlist that's just unbelievably strong.

I would shell out V.I.P. type money to see Brian perform one Love You song, "Roller Skating Child", but under the following conditions: He wear shorts, strap on the bass, and do his "hula hoop" dance!

I said the same thing. Absolutely agree.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing him revisit a song or two from that whole mid-late 70s era. I was stoked to see "It's OK" in the setlist on and off. How about a little "Had to Phone Ya"!

Even as someone with no interest in seeing the Mike/Bruce shows, "BB Lite" is putting a little too fine a point on it, I think. Here's the way I think about the Mike and Bruce shows. Firstly, however I may feel about him behind the scenes, Mike is just as important a member as Brian is. The sets over the last five years have been very very good from Mike and Bruce. Hell, there have been songs in those shows that I'd love to see make their way into the current shows. Seeing the Mike and Bruce shows is as valid as seeing the Brian solo shows or the Al solo shows. I do take umbrage at the use of the name Beach Boys, since there's literally only one original member on stage at the time (other than the period when they had Dave with them). I think one of my bigger gripes with the Mike and Bruce shows is the sheer number of other people taking lead vocals on some of the songs. With Mike shaking a tambourine and Bruce playing a keyboard that isn't actually audible, it can sort of feel like you're just watching a tribute band with a couple of actual Beach Boys sort of supervising. I realize that's exactly the same thing you get with a Brian solo show, and I realize it's hypocritical of me to feel there's a distinction. But I also think one of the things that had been contributing to BW's shows trumping the Mike and Bruce shows was that there would be new music in there constantly, as Brian would continue to release new records. So those shows were as much about Brian still being an artist with new musical things to say, while the Mike and Bruce shows were about nostalgia and a fun evening out.

A lot of my local friends went to the CT shows in May, because those were announced and went on sale long before they added the Pavillion date. I suspect if they hadn't done it that way, they might've been able to fill a larger arena in Boston.

Guess I'm inferior as a fan, but I'm also the sort of guy who wasn't interested in Pink Floyd shows in the 90s because Roger Waters wasn't with them.

Upon further reflection, if they had Al and Dave with them, I'd consider it, sure. I'd rather see them fill a lot of those spaces with family members than with people like Adrian Baker, though.

God, no.

Our Prayer  has been performed at least once, in Belgium, 1968 or 69.

Er...well, then the debut of the song with Dave!

"Let Us Go On This Way" would probably sound amazing live with the vocal blend they have these days. "The Night Was So Young" is the best song on the album, so that would be amazing, even without Carl to do the chorus.

For my money, though, I'd want to see "Roller Skating Child" with Brian on bass doing that pelvic thrust thing he did back in the day.