New Mike Examiner interview

[drbeachboy]

The truth doesn't lie, nor hate.

Truthfully, you're saying this?

[SMiLE Brian]

Truthfully, I am going to bed.

[urbanite]

I'm sure the Bonnaroo crowd was bigger than the Hollywood Bowl.

[Shady]

You guys aren't taking the time to read the posts, or else you're being ignorant. Or both.

I posted that I saw the Beach Boys C50 at The Sands in Bethlehem. The Sands is a casino. The hall seats 2250. The man sitting at the piano was Brian Wilson.

In 2001, I saw Brian Wilson opening - thought I'd mention OPENING again - for Paul Simon in Hershey, Pa. It was at the outdoor ampitheater, right outside the amusement park. You could hear and see the rolliecoasters flyin'.

This is just a pissing contest, going nowhere.

Double post, sorry.

Sure, I may be off on some venues, but the point is, is that they cannot sell out big 20k arenas anymore. If C50 couldn't do it, then Brian or Al or Mike & Bruce cannot do it in their current configurations either.

They did get 15 - 20k at some venues on the C50 tour.

With the right promotion The Beach Boys could sell out Madison Square Garden easily. Pretty fast too I'd imagine, it would be a big deal.

Just look at the Hollywood Bowl, holds 18 thousand plus, I read with the demand they could have sold the bowl out 5 nights in a row. 18 thousand is as big as any arena. I doubt they could sell out arenas all across American but in certain cities they easily could. I think they were offered Yankee Stadium or something during the C50 tour. That would've been interesting.

Truthfully, I am going to bed.

 

[Sheriff John Stone]

You guys aren't taking the time to read the posts, or else you're being ignorant. Or both.

I posted that I saw the Beach Boys C50 at The Sands in Bethlehem. The Sands is a casino. The hall seats 2250. The man sitting at the piano was Brian Wilson.

In 2001, I saw Brian Wilson opening - thought I'd mention OPENING again - for Paul Simon in Hershey, Pa. It was at the outdoor ampitheater, right outside the amusement park. You could hear and see the rolliecoasters flyin'.

This is just a pissing contest, going nowhere.

Double post, sorry.

Sure, I may be off on some venues, but the point is, is that they cannot sell out big 20k arenas anymore. If C50 couldn't do it, then Brian or Al or Mike & Bruce cannot do it in their current configurations either.

They did get 15 - 20k at some venues on the C50 tour.

With the right promotion The Beach Boys could sell out Madison Square Garden easily. Pretty fast too I'd imagine, it would be a big deal.

Just look at the Hollywood Bowl, holds 18 thousand plus, I read with the demand they could have sold the bowl out 5 nights in a row. 18 thousand is as big as any arena. I doubt they could sell out arenas all across American but in certain cities they easily could. I think they were offered Yankee Stadium or something during the C50 tour. That would've been interesting.

Truthfully, I am going to bed.

 

Yes, Shady, they could draw and play and sell out some of those venues that you're mentioning. But, that's not the point. Or, that's not the only point. The rest of the story is...that along the way, eventually, maybe sooner than later, probably sooner than later, The Beach Boys - Brian, Mike, Al, Bruce, and David - would be playing some - some - smaller venues, including casinos, JUST LIKE MIKE AND BRUCE ARE PLAYING NOW. That's the point! Would we all still like to see the five guys united and playing together in those larger venues - in ANY venues? Absolutely yes. But, that's not the point. Good night.

[Shady]

But not sea world and fun fares.

Good Night 

[JohnMill]

Overall, I think Mike realized that he likes Brian and the whole "Brian Wilson mystique" a lot less in reality then he thought he did. He always wanted to reunite, but once they did he probably realized that yeah, he wanted to work with Brian in the studio again but he really didn't care for the way this one went, so what's the use in doing it again. And as far as on stage, why go out there with Brian and his own bus and Al and his whining about the set list, when he can just go out there on his own, sing "409", pick up a check, hit the hotel bar with his son Christian and go pick up some babes. No headaches, just "The Beach Boys" his way.

In my opinion, its sad that Mike always will look at touring in this manner. C50 was his last shot and he blew it when he was SO close to redemption in the eyes of the fans. I even believed he had changed for the better.

This is all that really needs to be said from where I stand.  I don't think of myself as a Mike Love hate monger, but there always seems to be a great amount of unhappiness following this man around and personally I can't take it anymore.  From a public relations standpoint he always seems to turn the tide against him whether that is fair or not.  Quite frankly I'm not even sure I'm going to plunk down my money for the MIC boxset now.  It better be a pretty enticing package anyhow as there are other artists who I enjoy supporting who quite frankly I have never spilled any ink/type on regarding the general unhappiness in the air that surrounds Mike Love, at least from my standpoint. 

[drbeachboy]

But not sea world and fun fares.

Good Night  

Shady, they have been playing Fairs since the 70's, if not before. Sea World may be something new, but Fairs and Casinos have long been in their itinerary for decades.

[bgas]

But not sea world and fun fares.

Good Night  

Shady, they have been playing Fairs since the 70's, if not before. Sea World may be something new, but Fairs and Casinos have long been in their itinerary for decades.

And of course, if Sea World were to offer to hire Brian and Band, They'd mosty likely take the gig; then what would everyone say? 

[SurfRiderHawaii]

But not sea world and fun fares.

Good Night  

Shady, they have been playing Fairs since the 70's, if not before. Sea World may be something new, but Fairs and Casinos have long been in their itinerary for decades.

Again, apples and oranges. There used to be many concert series in conjunction with summer fairs and expos. You had to buy a ticket to the show separate from the fair admission. Now, like Sea World, you pay to get in and the music is a freebie.

Yeah, the Beach Boys headlined the Vegas  Strip in 1976. It was a great gig.

Some of us have the Beach Boys right up there with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. You will never see McCartney or the Stones playing Sea World or Chinook Winds Casino. It's about sature, artistic integrety and reputation.

Brian and company are not calling themselves the Beach Boys. But I would prefer Brian, Al and David not play these gigs either.

We have 5 REAL Beach Boys. They should be the touring entity, doing prestigious, classy shows. The Bruce/Mike show tarnishes the legacy.
What the C50 gaveth the Lovester taketh away.

[Kurosawa]

I don't care where M&B play or where Brian plays. I care about what they play, and Brian is the only one doing new material. Even if it isn't all great, at least he's still active. M&B is a pure nostalgia show with nothing new and not even a consideration of doing anything new. I have no use for anyone who does this, it even irks me that the Who did that for so long, although at least their main songwriter was there.

Mike's spot in the Beach Boys reminds me a lot of Roger Daltrey's position in the Who, except Daltrey is a lot better singer, frontman and person and he has some humility, unlike Mike.

This is also why I don't have this need for Brian to record with Mike.  

[Pretty Funky]

But not sea world and fun fares.

Good Night  

Shady, they have been playing Fairs since the 70's, if not before. Sea World may be something new, but Fairs and Casinos have long been in their itinerary for decades.

 You will never see McCartney or the Stones playing Sea World or Chinook Winds Casino. It's about sature, artistic integrety and reputation.

Maybe, maybe not for those venues but both have been happy to play Vegas for private gigs so neither are beyond risking their legacy to make a buck.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/what-happens-in-vegas-a-buyout-birthday-blowout/

http://www.iorr.org/tour02/lv1.htm

[urbanite]

As the reviews of the C50 tour began to circulate, that it was a great show, interest grew.  I can see how some of the members of the group wanted to keep going because they were hitting a groove and the public was responding.  That takes nothing away from M&B, because they already made commitments, but those guys really did something special.

[Jay]

The C50 Album and tour is like the maniac in a horror movie popping up for one last scare before he finally dies.

I think poor Mr. Stebbins just unwittingly gave some people here the ammunition to tarnish the C50 tour. So, now we're compairing the C50 tour and album, a truly magic time time be a Beach Boys fan, to an annoying zombie/ghost that refuses to stay dead? Wow.

[The Shift]

Other factors have to be borne in mind.

Brian, I'm sure, could not have maintained the C50 tour pace much as he might have loved to try. His back would have given him sh*t. They'd have had to curtail it or he'd have had to pull out of some shows - then should those shows have gone ahead without him (in which case Mike would have been a bastard for depriving the fans of the main man) or postponed (in which case Mike would have been a bastard for forcing Brian to perform gruelling rescheduled dates at the tail-end of a never-ending tour).

The publicity would have diminished and once every concert goer in the States had seen the novelty reunion tour, the ticket sales would have started to subside.

Al would have fallen out with Mike (or Brian) and dropped out to play with his new band The Beach Boys Endless 50th Summer Reunion Family and Friends.

Poster above who stated Brian's the only one producing new material - don't forget Postcards or David's new album.

Anyways, in a bid to maintain ticket sales among the majority of non-fan concert goers, the 50th reunion tour would have started to focus more on the hits. Dave would probably have gotten bored and gone off to do something more original.

So the C50 band would have continued without Al and Dave, with Brian making intermittent appearances, and only Mike and Bruce as regular fixtures.

We just got to the inevitable faster and cleaner.

I hope they get together and do it again but this being the Beach Bous we're probably a lot better off with occasional full lineup gigs and the status quo as currently is.

[Lonely Summer]

As far as much of the general public was concerned, the Beach Boys C50 was no big deal. "What? The Beach Boys reunited? Didn't we just see them at the fair last year?" I saw the same thing happen with the Guess Who reunion in 2001. They drew well in some cities, not so well in other cities, because the second rate Jim Kale-led GW had been touring endlessly for years. The same people who wouldn't know who Al Jardine and David Marks are wouldn't know Burton Cummings or Randy Bachman, either. I agree that the M&B show dilutes the legacy.

[AndrewHickey]

Yes I understand they played some very nice smaller theaters over the course of the 50 nights but I also understand they sold out massive venues too.

Big difference between playing beer and chicken wings day at sea world to selling out the legendary beacon for 2 nights or not leaving one seat empty at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In 2011 Mike & Bruce sold out Epsom racetrack, near London, which has a capacity of 10,875 -- 2,875 more than the Albert Hall. (It also has better acoustics than the Albert Hall, which is a truly horrible venue).
That's not to say that the reunion tour wasn't more successful than Mike & Bruce -- after all, they only played the Albert Hall because they sold out Wembley Arena, which has a 12,500 capacity -- of course it was, but it's not like the places Mike & Bruce play are ludicrously small.
Personally I'd *rather* see them in smaller venues, but that's because I like seeing bands, rather than watching tiny dots on the horizon while also looking at a giant screen...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Look at the figures, The C50 tour was playing to 10-15 thousand people a night, selling out arenas etc while The Mike and Bruce experience are playing sea world.

Okay, let's look at the numbers, shall we?

I know that the band played some very large festivals and such for the C50 tour...I saw them at Summerfest in Milwaukee, and that venue has a seating capacity of 23,000, but it was nowhere near full.  However, here are the seating capacities of some of the other venues on the C50 tour.

Starz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, FL: 2600
Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Eugene, OR: 2450
Bigger cities?
Chicago Theater, Chicago, IL: 3880
Borgata Center, Atlantic City, NJ: 2400
Beacon Theatre, New York City, NY: 2829

So, what about SeaWorld?

Bayside Stadium, SeaWorld, Orlando, FL: 4500

Yeah, I guess it was really a step down for Mike and Bruce to play that dump.
 

Yes I understand they played some very nice smaller theaters over the course of the 50 nights but I also understand they sold out massive venues too.

Big difference between playing beer and chicken wings day at sea world to selling out the legendary beacon for 2 nights or not leaving one seat empty at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

It's a simple fact, some of us on here hold the beach boys to higher regard than other people. If you're fine with the fun fares and sea worlds than that's fine, I personally feel it's a mockery to the name that Brian and the guys worked hard to establish.

Classic: someone makes a totally inaccurate statement - "The C50 tour was playing to 10-15 thousand people a night, selling out arenas etc" - then when someone has the sheer gall to contradict it with, y'know, FACTS, they're all "Yes I understand they played some very nice smaller theaters over the course of the 50 nights but I also understand they sold out massive venues too". No, you don't understand because if you did you wouldn't have said "10-15 thousand people a night", but in the rush to bash Mike, what's truth ?

Here's the basic problem some folk have with the Mike & Bruce show: their beloved Brian (or his people) is perfectly happy with them touring as The Beach Boys and has been since summer 1998. So, of course, they have to do his job for him, viz hold high the banner of artistic integrity, with scant regard to inconvenient fact. I loved the Gershwin project, and the Disney album is more than acceptable... but fact is, they're covers. Further, in the last nine years since the rightly derided GIOMH, Brian has released precisely one album that even approaches entirely new material. But that's OK, 'cause it's Brrrrrriiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn...

I've not suddenly gone over to the dark side: Brian Wilson has composed, arranged, produced and performed some of the most incredible music of the rock era and on an artistic scale of 1 to 10, if Brian is 10, then Mike is maybe 0.5, and that's as it should be because his forte is being a frontman. My main problem is that this Mike-bashing hasn't just got boring, it's recently become groundless. Bash away if there's supporting evidence, but just because he's not Brian ? Kindergarten stuff. I'd dearly love to win the lottery, then fund an international SS fan convention, purely to see if folk like, say, OSD and SmileBrian are in real life as dumb and ignorant as they come over here... and they could discover if I really am as arrogant, dismissive and condescending as I'm percieved here. I'm betting everyone involved would be hugely surprised: that's been my experience down the decades - with one notable exception.  

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Other factors have to be borne in mind.

Brian, I'm sure, could not have maintained the C50 tour pace much as he might have loved to try. His back would have given him sh*t. They'd have had to curtail it or he'd have had to pull out of some shows - then should those shows have gone ahead without him (in which case Mike would have been a bastard for depriving the fans of the main man) or postponed (in which case Mike would have been a bastard for forcing Brian to perform gruelling rescheduled dates at the tail-end of a never-ending tour).

The publicity would have diminished and once every concert goer in the States had seen the novelty reunion tour, the ticket sales would have started to subside.

Al would have fallen out with Mike (or Brian) and dropped out to play with his new band The Beach Boys Endless 50th Summer Reunion Family and Friends.

Poster above who stated Brian's the only one producing new material - don't forget Postcards or David's new album.

Anyways, in a bid to maintain ticket sales among the majority of non-fan concert goers, the 50th reunion tour would have started to focus more on the hits. Dave would probably have gotten bored and gone off to do something more original.

So the C50 band would have continued without Al and Dave, with Brian making intermittent appearances, and only Mike and Bruce as regular fixtures.

We just got to the inevitable faster and cleaner.

I hope they get together and do it again but this being the Beach Bous we're probably a lot better off with occasional full lineup gigs and the status quo as currently is.

well said

[Pretty Funky]

As far as much of the general public was concerned, the Beach Boys C50 was no big deal. "What? The Beach Boys reunited? Didn't we just see them at the fair last year?"

Well said.

The truth? The general public have no idea Mike and Bruce even tour as the Beach Boys. In the story of life the fact the Beach Boys still tour in any form rates pretty low in 'the general public' thoughts. Last year with the C50 this changed to a certain degree with some hype and publicity but even then the only ones who got super excited were us.

IMO the only band that got it right was the Beatles. 'We are breaking up.' Thats been it for over 40 years. No reunions, no re-grouping with new members or replacements. Class act no contest. Sure Macca and Ringo are out there still but 'The Beatles' remain untarnished.

[Andrew G. Doe]

In 2011 Mike & Bruce sold out Epsom racetrack, near London, which has a capacity of 10,875...

Some of those 10,875:


... one of whom was young master Hickey (front row, directly above security dude in hoodie):

[Nicko1234]

I agree that the M&B show dilutes the legacy.

Brian and Carl's estate shouldn't really have given them the rights to tour in 1998 then should they.

It would have been great if the C50 touring could have carried on forever but no anniversary could do that by definition. Plus, as another poster has said, does anyone think Brian would have been up for playing another 75 shows this year? In reality he might play a 10th of that...

[Cam Mott]

I was going to write a rant about who really diluted the legacy to the extent it may or may not have been unduly diluted by anyone in the band [spoiler: it was Brian (spoiler spoiler: though really the fans)] but maybe we ought to instead be appreciative of the amazing legacy the band has been able to maintain.

[modestmaus]

I've come to recently appreciate Mike Love a bit more than I had before. I had held the whole "greedy Mike Love" view but, you know, I got to thinking about things and in the end the only thing that really makes sense is Mike genuinely loves being a performer. Yeah, I know, he (well, 'they', actually) charges money for the concerts. I'm not advocating him for sainthood or anything like that.   Although, it's probably not as good as Brian's, Mike probably gets a real nice check from Capitol (or direct deposit!) every month thanks to royalties & perhaps other things. He can certainly buy himself plenty of distractions so I kind of doubt Mike Love does the touring thing constantly because he doesn't know what to do with himself when he's at home. I know it's a rather morbid thing to say and I do apologize for doing so but I wouldn't be surprised if Mike's idea of a 'perfect death' would be to go out singing/performing on stage.

Forgive me I'm not very good at getting across my thoughts. I just mainly wanted to get across that, at the very least, I respect how much Mike Love enjoys being an entertainer. He could most certainly afford to live it up in retirement instead but he continues to do his Beach Boys thing. Hats off to him for that.

[SMiLE Brian]

I've not suddenly gone over to the dark side: Brian Wilson has composed, arranged, produced and performed some of the most incredible music of the rock era and on an artistic scale of 1 to 10, if Brian is 10, then Mike is maybe 0.5, and that's as it should be because his forte is being a frontman. My main problem is that this Mike-bashing hasn't just got boring, it's recently become groundless. Bash away if there's supporting evidence, but just because he's not Brian ? Kindergarten stuff. I'd dearly love to win the lottery, then fund an international SS fan convention, purely to see if folk like, say, OSD and SmileBrian are in real life as dumb and ignorant as they come over here... and they could discover if I really am as arrogant, dismissive and condescending as I'm percieved here. I'm betting everyone involved would be hugely surprised: that's been my experience down the decades - with one notable exception.  

I am pretty sure you are not a nice person in real life after saying me and OSD are dumb just for not following your line of thinking. But I am done fighting with you, enjoy being a miserable fanboy gives this place and BBs fans a bad name.