New Mike Examiner interview

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I want to hear that story

[SurfRiderHawaii]

I want to hear that story

I was a college student at nearby Cal State Fullerton.  Their was a big sign "Brian is Back".  I wished I remembered more.  The place was electric with anticipation. Mike introduced Brian, if I recall.  Brian kinda hid behind his piano. You could barely see him. .  Believe Brian was wearing a jumpsuit.

The place just rocked. "It's OK" was a huge hit in Southern Cal and the Beach Boys were the biggest of the big again.
First encore was a super emotional "you are so beautiful" by Dennis. Still have the program. Seems like a long time ago.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Wow...that's pretty bad ass

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Wow...that's pretty bad ass

It was truly exciting.  And they were filming the whole thing for the NBC Special as I recall.

[AndrewHickey]

Your premise that they threw a concert and the horse race was a throw in is ass backward.

Question is, for the other tour shows charging 30 quid, how'd they draw? Not 10000, not 5000, 3000, 1000?

Well, no, it isn't 'ass backward' -- as you'll see if you look at Rob Dean's post further up. Nor were the crowd 'drunken racecourse denizens'. The timeline for that show was something like (I can't remember the exact details, but this is pretty close):
2PM -- doors open. Small number of people rush to the front of the stage and park themselves there (this includes Rob and myself, some other people I know from Beach Boys Britain, some other people on this board -- hardcore fans).
5PM -- racing. At this point the venue is less than a quarter full, if that. The racing lasts for about half an hour, forty minutes.
6:30PM -- the crowds actually start to show up in any numbers
7:30 show starts. The crowd is now full.

At least 75% of the people who saw the show *weren't there* for the racing. And of those of us who were there for it, the vast majority were primarily there to see the band.

It may well be, as you say, that there is a long tradition of sport events throwing in a free show -- *in America*. There isn't over here, and that's not how the show was promoted. It was promoted, and tickets sold, as a Beach Boys show -- to the extent that I don't think I even found out that there was racing on the same day until a month or so after buying the tickets.

Here's an example of how a show in that concert series is being sold this year -- http://www.uktw.co.uk/Epsom/Epsom-Downs-Racecourse/Concert/Tony-Hadley-Hits-of-Spandau-Ballet-with-full-Orchestra/L1787170974/ . Out of five ticket sites I checked for that show, four of them don't even mention that there's horse racing on that day. (And no, I'm not going to that. Sounds ghastly.)

As for other shows on that tour, there weren't any -- that was their only public UK date that year. The two previous full UK tours had them sell out multiple largeish theatre venues (3-5000 seats) of the same type Brian usually plays.

And as for the audience response... the audience response was better than that at Wembley, frankly, because pretty much all Mike & Bruce played at Epsom was hits. I loved the Wembley show -- it was in the three or four greatest shows I've ever seen, while Epsom would be lucky to scrape into the top hundred, if that -- but it was simply too long for many people, who were there to hear the hits and not the other tracks. In the last hour, there were a *lot* of people leaving -- mostly after especially popular songs, like they were thinking "right, they've played Wouldn't It Be Nice, we can go now".

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Your premise that they threw a concert and the horse race was a throw in is ass backward.

Question is, for the other tour shows charging 30 quid, how'd they draw? Not 10000, not 5000, 3000, 1000?

Well, no, it isn't 'ass backward' -- as you'll see if you look at Rob Dean's post further up. Nor were the crowd 'drunken racecourse denizens'. The timeline for that show was something like (I can't remember the exact details, but this is pretty close):
2PM -- doors open. Small number of people rush to the front of the stage and park themselves there (this includes Rob and myself, some other people I know from Beach Boys Britain, some other people on this board -- hardcore fans).
5PM -- racing. At this point the venue is less than a quarter full, if that. The racing lasts for about half an hour, forty minutes.
6:30PM -- the crowds actually start to show up in any numbers
7:30 show starts. The crowd is now full.

At least 75% of the people who saw the show *weren't there* for the racing. And of those of us who were there for it, the vast majority were primarily there to see the band.

It may well be, as you say, that there is a long tradition of sport events throwing in a free show -- *in America*. There isn't over here, and that's not how the show was promoted. It was promoted, and tickets sold, as a Beach Boys show -- to the extent that I don't think I even found out that there was racing on the same day until a month or so after buying the tickets.

Here's an example of how a show in that concert series is being sold this year -- http://www.uktw.co.uk/Epsom/Epsom-Downs-Racecourse/Concert/Tony-Hadley-Hits-of-Spandau-Ballet-with-full-Orchestra/L1787170974/ . Out of five ticket sites I checked for that show, four of them don't even mention that there's horse racing on that day. (And no, I'm not going to that. Sounds ghastly.)

As for other shows on that tour, there weren't any -- that was their only public UK date that year. The two previous full UK tours had them sell out multiple largeish theatre venues (3-5000 seats) of the same type Brian usually plays.

And as for the audience response... the audience response was better than that at Wembley, frankly, because pretty much all Mike & Bruce played at Epsom was hits. I loved the Wembley show -- it was in the three or four greatest shows I've ever seen, while Epsom would be lucky to scrape into the top hundred, if that -- but it was simply too long for many people, who were there to hear the hits and not the other tracks. In the last hour, there were a *lot* of people leaving -- mostly after especially popular songs, like they were thinking "right, they've played Wouldn't It Be Nice, we can go now".

Thanks for the show overview.  But please don't attribute comments of others to me.

Humm, no other shows besides the racetrack show? Guess they had so many big offers they just couldn't decide and just left the country.

FYI - I lived in England for 2 1/2 years in the mid 80s.  Saw many shows there.  FYI - No horse racing for Spandau Ballet. It's strictly a concert.

[Nicko1234]

Humm, no other shows besides the racetrack show? Guess they had so many big offers they just couldn't decide and just left the country.

Didn't you just say in another post that you were around in 1976? So aren't you a little old to be making childish comments like that?

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Humm, no other shows besides the racetrack show? Guess they had so many big offers they just couldn't decide and just left the country.

Didn't you just say in another post that you were around in 1976? So aren't you a little old to be making childish comments like that?

Here we go with the insults.  When you run out of retort, get personal and start the insults.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Alright guys...

[Nicko1234]

Posting PM s is not allowed

[Andrew G. Doe]

I want to hear that story

I was a college student at nearby Cal State Fullerton.  Their was a big sign "Brian is Back".  I wished I remembered more.  The place was electric with anticipation. Mike introduced Brian, if I recall.  Brian kinda hid behind his piano. You could barely see him. .  Believe Brian was wearing a jumpsuit.

Believe he wasn't. Hawaiian shirt, unless the footage in the 1976 TV special - which also shows the "Welcome Back Brian" sign - is from somewhere else.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Alright guys...

They're just getting started Billy. Morning has broken in the UK.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Humm, no other shows besides the racetrack show? Guess they had so many big offers they just couldn't decide and just left the country.

Didn't you just say in another post that you were around in 1976? So aren't you a little old to be making childish comments like that?

Here we go with the insults.  When you run out of retort, get personal and start the insults.

The Beach Boys - either version - have historically had problems with the UK tax people. Care to speculate why the UK C50 tour dates were so late in being announced ?

[SurfRiderHawaii]

I want to hear that story

I was a college student at nearby Cal State Fullerton.  Their was a big sign "Brian is Back".  I wished I remembered more.  The place was electric with anticipation. Mike introduced Brian, if I recall.  Brian kinda hid behind his piano. You could barely see him. .  Believe Brian was wearing a jumpsuit.

Believe he wasn't. Hawaiian shirt, unless the footage in the 1976 TV special - which also shows the "Welcome Back Brian" sign - is from somewhere else.

As I said, my memory is foggy. But I was there and you weren't. As I recall, Brian took his shirt off after a few songs.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Humm, no other shows besides the racetrack show? Guess they had so many big offers they just couldn't decide and just left the country.

Didn't you just say in another post that you were around in 1976? So aren't you a little old to be making childish comments like that?

Here we go with the insults.  When you run out of retort, get personal and start the insults.

The Beach Boys - either version - have historically had problems with the UK tax people. Care to speculate why the UK C50 tour dates were so late in being announced ?

No but you're gonna tell us anyway.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Nicko has a valid point - OSD has implied he's about my age, yet delights in using grade school humor (?). Odd and slightly scary.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Humm, no other shows besides the racetrack show? Guess they had so many big offers they just couldn't decide and just left the country.

Didn't you just say in another post that you were around in 1976? So aren't you a little old to be making childish comments like that?

Here we go with the insults.  When you run out of retort, get personal and start the insults.

The Beach Boys - either version - have historically had problems with the UK tax people. Care to speculate why the UK C50 tour dates were so late in being announced ?

No but you're gonna tell us anyway.

Rhetorical question. That means one to which no response is expected as the answer is implicit in the query.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Here we go with the insults.  When you run out of retort, get personal and start the insults.

Very mature.

I'd rather you two go back and forth via private message than here. Please keep it there.

Thank you.

No further insults from anybody. There's such a thing as passionately disagreeing. Several posts from several people have crossed that line. This isn't directed towards any one particular person either.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Humm, no other shows besides the racetrack show? Guess they had so many big offers they just couldn't decide and just left the country.

Didn't you just say in another post that you were around in 1976? So aren't you a little old to be making childish comments like that?

Here we go with the insults.  When you run out of retort, get personal and start the insults.

The Beach Boys - either version - have historically had problems with the UK tax people. Care to speculate why the UK C50 tour dates were so late in being announced ?

No but you're gonna tell us anyway.

Rhetorical question. That means one to which no response is expected as the answer is implicit in the query.

You asked me if I cared to speculate. I said no.  I remember you discussing the tax issues on the BBB.

Per our Moderators instructions, I'm off.

[Andrew G. Doe]

As I said, my memory is foggy. But I was there and you weren't. As I recall, Brian took his shirt off after a few songs.

Seeing as you got his clothes and the sign wrong, chances are you're wrong on that too (Mikie was there too, and he's never said anything like that). You may have been there, but you're not impressing with your memory of the day.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

As I said, my memory is foggy. But I was there and you weren't. As I recall, Brian took his shirt off after a few songs.

Seeing as you got his clothes and the sign wrong, chances are you're wrong on that too (Mikie was there too, and he's never said anything like that). You may have been there, but you're not impressing with your memory of the day.

I'll PM my response to your erroneous comments.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'm going to close this thread. I really should have done this earlier. The original point of the thread ended a long time ago.

[Nicko1234]

I'd rather you two go back and forth via private message than here. Please keep it there.

Thank you.

No further insults from anybody. There's such a thing as passionately disagreeing. Several posts from several people have crossed that line. This isn't directed towards any one particular person either.

No need as I don't do the private message thing. The whole point of the board is group discussion after all.