Beach Boys "Fun Fun Fun" at Dodger Stadium

[Wirestone]

Jeff is a legend in his own mind, but The Beach Boys can do fine without him.  Again, Matt Jardine can sing circles around Jeff.  On his best day, Jeff could never come anywhere close to what Brian sounded like in his prime.  Jeff is a backing musician and a cover "artist".  Jeff is just darn lucky that Brian has gotten comfortable using him as a "crutch".  There are five real Beach Boys performing at this reunion, and Jeff is not one of them.  I know it may sound like I'm picking on Jeff, but seriously, he is just an arrogant backing musician, this tour is not dependant on him!

Arrogant? How? I mean, all he's doing is singing. It's not like he's shooting little old ladies at the same time or anything.

Also, the tour is darn well dependent on him. No Foskett = No Brian. No Brian = No reunion tour. It is that simple.

[Jon Stebbins]

On Surfer Girl you can clearly hear Al and David...plus Brian real up front on that bridge section.

[Mikie]

One more thing, can't believe how slowly Brian is moving around. Doesn't walk as much as shuffle.  Sat in a chair on the field except right as they sang.  Hope this is related to the recent back problem and he will recover soon

I really hate to be a pessimist, but Brian was moving slow at the SMiLE signing in S.F. a few months ago and kept shifting in his chair. Sounds like he still isn't doing too good. The big gut doesn't help with the back problem either. I seriously hope he'll make it through the busy tour this year. I'm a little concerned about that.

[stack-o-tracks]

One more thing, can't believe how slowly Brian is moving around. Doesn't walk as much as shuffle.  Sat in a chair on the field except right as they sang.  Hope this is related to the recent back problem and he will recover soon

He's old now. It's to be expected. He could definitely be in worse shape for somebody his age, especially after the abuse his body went through during the late 60s, 70s and 80s.

Seems like the past 2 or 3 years though, he's really started showing his age. Except for that beautiful head of hair. Ain't never gonna lose that.

[Autotune]

I like those clips. And the Mike interview was fun.
The mix was poor, agreed, but then most BBs TV mixes have been poor over the years. They're a difficult group to mix.

They definitely sang live... No pre-recordings (you can even hear the mic popping).

Brian was fine in the SG bridge. And in those few parts where you can hear the entire group, you can feel -barely- the magic of the sound they can produce.

There's no reason to fear that live mixes during the tour will be anything like this.

[Autotune]

One more thing, can't believe how slowly Brian is moving around. Doesn't walk as much as shuffle.  Sat in a chair on the field except right as they sang.  Hope this is related to the recent back problem and he will recover soon

He's old now. It's to be expected. He could definitely be in worse shape for somebody his age, especially after the abuse his body went through during the late 60s, 70s and 80s.

Seems like the past 2 or 3 years though, he's really started showing his age. Except for that beautiful head of hair. Ain't never gonna lose that.

I saw him live 8 years ago, and he did not seem an agile walker on stage.

That's why all those stories about walking/running 5 miles a day seem so unbelievable to me.

[Wirestone]

One more thing, can't believe how slowly Brian is moving around. Doesn't walk as much as shuffle.  Sat in a chair on the field except right as they sang.  Hope this is related to the recent back problem and he will recover soon

I really hate to be a pessimist, but Brian was moving slow at the SMiLE signing in S.F. a few months ago and kept shifting in his chair. Sounds like he still isn't doing too good. The big gut doesn't help with the back problem either. I seriously hope he'll make it through the busy tour this year. I'm a little concerned about that.

AGD has posted that Brian just likes to sit. Always has. Look at that Summer of Love video that's been posted -- Brian is sitting in a chair playing a fake bass for most of it! He's been shuffling for a decade at least, maybe more. Yes, it seems like his back isn't great (and it's disappointing to see him big again), but I really doubt it will affect the shows.

[urbanite]

He ought to get a personal trainer and work some of that gut off, he'd feel a whole lot better, even at his age.

[urbanite]

Mike takes the hat off for the singing of the national anthem.

[Wirestone]

One more thing, can't believe how slowly Brian is moving around. Doesn't walk as much as shuffle.  Sat in a chair on the field except right as they sang.  Hope this is related to the recent back problem and he will recover soon

He's old now. It's to be expected. He could definitely be in worse shape for somebody his age, especially after the abuse his body went through during the late 60s, 70s and 80s.

Seems like the past 2 or 3 years though, he's really started showing his age. Except for that beautiful head of hair. Ain't never gonna lose that.

I saw him live 8 years ago, and he did not seem an agile walker on stage.

That's why all those stories about walking/running 5 miles a day seem so unbelievable to me.

I could believe them. Doesn't matter how much you exercise if you eat enough birthday cake. And exercise can stimulate appetite, too ...

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Mixing was terrible on SG, The SSB was INCREDIBLE. Some of those harmonic parts were mind blowing, man I can't wait for the album! THEN WE KNOW IT WILL BE MIXED WE.....

oh... wait... do I have trust in Joe? :O

[Mikie]

AGD has posted that Brian just likes to sit. Always has. Look at that Summer of Love video that's been posted -- Brian is sitting in a chair playing a fake bass for most of it! He's been shuffling for a decade at least, maybe more. Yes, it seems like his back isn't great (and it's disappointing to see him big again), but I really doubt it will affect the shows.

Well, yeah, he sits down during his concerts too, with exception to standing up and playing bass for a couple of songs. And he laid in bed for a few years too!

I see Brian on stage behind a piano for the upcoming gigs, like he was in the 70's and 80's.  Don't think he'll be sitting on a bar stool behind a keyboard this time around, but I could be wrong. Would be really cool if he stood up and played bass for a couple of songs, though.

I hope you're right, Wirestone.

[tpesky]

It is a lot of Foskett and I can make out Al in Surfer Girl and the anthem.  The problem with Foskett's voice is it never blended as well with them as Matt Jardine's. It always stuck out and that's what you're getting here.  It's technically great , but lacks the blend and ya he's a little high in the mix but I'm sure the sound people asked ok who's singing lead on Surfer Girl, they answered Foskett so he's up in the mix and they kept the same mix for the anthem.  Mike's voice concerns me more...interesting that in 2 big performances they stayed away from heavy Mike leads. Good Vibes is a lower range.

[stack-o-tracks]

One more thing, can't believe how slowly Brian is moving around. Doesn't walk as much as shuffle.  Sat in a chair on the field except right as they sang.  Hope this is related to the recent back problem and he will recover soon

He's old now. It's to be expected. He could definitely be in worse shape for somebody his age, especially after the abuse his body went through during the late 60s, 70s and 80s.

Seems like the past 2 or 3 years though, he's really started showing his age. Except for that beautiful head of hair. Ain't never gonna lose that.

I saw him live 8 years ago, and he did not seem an agile walker on stage.

That's why all those stories about walking/running 5 miles a day seem so unbelievable to me.

I could believe them. Doesn't matter how much you exercise if you eat enough birthday cake. And exercise can stimulate appetite, too ...

I think he'd be in much worse shape if he wasn't getting at least SOME exercise. People that age tend to go south (mentally and physically) pretty damn quick when they're mostly idle.

[ivy]

Am I missing something?

Well, they all look kind of funny but Brian looks bored and annoyed and the stands behind them make it seem like only a handful of people showed up for the game.

This is a better one!

http://yfrog.com/mgpdclaj


And another one:



And another one:

http://twitpic.com/9888nt

[Ron]

The "Jeff" story I always heard was Jeff knew the neighborhood Brian Wilson lived in, and using the stained glass window on the cover of one of the albums (Wild Honey?) he drove around until he found the stained glass window on the house, then walked up and knocked on the door, Brian answered and they talked for a few minutes.  Later he joined Mike's band but that has nothing to do with him meeting Brian, that was just a 'fan' moment. 

I think once the boys get on tour, they'll have their own sound guy that travels with them who can mix everything properly.  If you say

"BEACH BOYS!"

everybody thinks "FALSETTO"

If you say "WHOS SINGING FALSETTO"

the entire band points at Jeff

The sound guy mixes Jeff as lead, everybody else as background. 

Simple as that.

[Mikie]

The "Jeff" story I always heard was Jeff knew the neighborhood Brian Wilson lived in, and using the stained glass window on the cover of one of the albums (Wild Honey?) he drove around until he found the stained glass window on the house, then walked up and knocked on the door, Brian answered and they talked for a few minutes.  

It's a true story.  I did the same thing.  So.........

[GoodVibrations33]

Somebody has uploaded video of the anthem from near the right field foul pole:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVENbV2DSN4

[ivy]

And then there's this

http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/top-mlb-photos-slideshow/beach-boys-band-member-brian-wilson-sits-performing-photo-224520747.html


http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/top-mlb-photos-slideshow/beach-boys-perform-los-angeles-dodgers-mlb-national-photo-215753295.html


http://ph.cdn.photos.upi.com/slideshow/lbox/fa68479128ac9d9d5e1754ebf3e72aff/MLB-DODGERS-PIRATES.jpg


http://ph.cdn.photos.upi.com/slideshow/lbox/68bb5a35f38d97e1f62fe275baf20061/MLB-DODGERS-PIRATES.jpg


http://ph.cdn.photos.upi.com/slideshow/lbox/1959df64ab873242374b9ae262fb9d12/MLB-DODGERS-PIRATES.jpg

[Justin]

Am I missing something?

Well, they all look kind of funny but Brian looks bored and annoyed and the stands behind them make it seem like only a handful of people showed up for the game.

I get what you're saying but there was nothing they could about the crowd...the official start time for the game was 1:10pm and these pictures were from when they first came on the field to do "Surfer Girl"...at about 12:30pm.  So most of the crowd hadn't even gotten to the park yet...and considering these people paid to see a baseball game; there was no urgency to go there earlier to catch the BB perform a song.  I doubt many in the crowd even knew they were going to be there.  Not like us here though!  Thanks for the pics.

[OGoldin]

Hey is it or is it not a great time to be Beach Boys fans.

[Runaways]

these guys sure are getting up there lol

[Shady]

Hey is it or is it not a great time to be Beach Boys fans.

It's a great time..

Obviously

[Shady]

And then there's this

That would be a great avy but I love my current one

[drbeachboy]

these guys sure are getting up there lol

See what you have to look forward to?