When were the Beach Boys at their best in concert?

[Smile4ever]

As many fans (including me) look over the amazing new book "The Beach Boys in Concert," it seems like an appropriate time to discuss the band's touring history from 1962-2012. When were they best to see in concert? When did they put on the best show? I know there are people who have attended concerts in various eras, so their input is especially helpful. There's so many ways this could be evaluated, but what's your opinion?

[hypehat]

Early 70's or C50 tour, imo. Both tours gave the full breadth of their sound justice on a live stage.

[Tony S]

Without question, early to mid 70"s, with Blondie and Ricky in the band. The live CD from 72 documents just how great a rocking band they were. Some of the greatest concerts I have ever seen. They were great on the 50TH tour as well, but had a lot of support from Fosket, and Brian's band. 70's still had the great Carl Wilson, and Dennis too, though he wasn't as dominant during this time.

[Emdeeh]

I agree that there were some great shows in the early '70s. That unplugged tour in fall of 1993 wasn't too shabby, either, when they played small venues. I saw the Atlanta show that year -- it was great.

[KokoNO]

Early 70's. They weren't on the nostalgia circuit yet, they sounded great, and they had a very strong back catalog without much crap.

[Pretty Funky]

Early 70s for sure due in part to Dennis and Carl of course and as I've said before, the set lists and professionalism of the C50 put it right up there.

[SMiLE Brian]

1964

[Steve Mayo]

1971 thru 1975 for me...

[Gabo]

The Adrian Baker years

[Shady]

64, they had incredibly chemistry and Brian was killing it on the bass.

[Lonely Summer]

2013 - who needs Brian, Al or David when you've got the incredible clapping, dancing man in the shorts, Bruce Johnston.

[The Shift]

Sept 27, 2012… before that, early '70s. Blistering!

[SonicVolcano]

1971-1974

The Carl/Dennis-led period. Blondie and Ricky added so much fresh energy. Incredible setlists with lots of 'deep cuts'. They rocked. The most adventurous years for them as a live band.

[Alex]

Surfin' Safari performance on Dead Man's Challenge. That and the Queen Mary in '81. And don't forget Sea World.

[Micha]

64, they had incredibly chemistry and Brian was killing it on the bass.

Without question, 1964. I absolutely agree with the chemistry thing. At that point they were live even better than in the studio (I Get Around, Hawaii) and played only songs that I like. 1965 Brian definitely lacked.

[phirnis]

Can only judge from concert footage and live recordings. For some reason I can't relate to their early performances. I love the hits as much as anyone, it's some of the greatest music ever recorded and still in terms of concert performances I largely prefer the 1970s when the group members' individual personalities had become a lot more distinctive.

[BergenWhitesMoustache]

I really enjoyed the gig of the C50 tour I went to, but let's get real people. The highlights for me were Bruce doing Disney Girls and Al's leads. The rest, I'm glad I can say I was there, but it's not 24 year old Carl Wilson smashing 'it's about time', or 'here's one Dennis wrote, which we haven't recorded yet', or 'cool cool water'. Even Mike's stage patter seemed funnier back then.

So yeah, probably looking at 70-74 for me.

[Eric Aniversario]

There is so much to love about just about every era of the touring band. It's what inspired me to create the setlist archive in 1998.

In terms of professionalism and thoroughness, the c50 tour can't be beat. They did, after all, have 51 years of material to draw from at this point, and audiences appreciated the depth and breadth of their catalog, perhaps to the fullest extent that fans ever had in the past 5 decades. Many audience recordings from the 70s and 80s reveal an audience that was often times, at best, merely tolerant of new material. And the 70s were known for shows with long gaps between songs while the boys got ready to play the next song. Not to mention the uncomfortable onstage antics that happened at times.

That said, the 70s provided some rockin shows! And the unpredictability was part of the fun! The early 70s featured short but exciting shows with eclectic setlists. The mid to late 70 s featured longer setlists, excited crowds, and good performances. Even Carl's tripped out performances in Australia were exciting in their own way!

The mid 60s featured excited crowds, and somewhat subpar performances for a group of their caliber. The early 60s also featured those same excited crowds, but somehow the basic performances were quite charming for their time. The late 60s featured performances that were much more put together, if somewhat short compared to other acts' shows of the era.

The 80s were a mixed bag. The Boys had somewhat resigned themselves to being a nostalgia act, and focused less and less on newer material,  Sometimes acting seemingly like their material from the 70s never existed. Performances ranged from awful to great, depending on the year and who was present or not present at any given show.

The 90s were perhaps the low point of the touring band. Shows had gotten pretty stale and rote, but were admittedly professional most of the time. At times, the band seemed to be just going thru the motions the vast majority of the time. The 93 unplugged tour was an exception.

1998-2011 saw 4 different bands performing, all very professional. Mike and bruce's band got better as the decade progressed, and as personnel and setlist changes were made. They perhaps peaked around 2007-8, but continued to be strong well after that. Al's band started off very strong, much stronger than Mike and bruce's did, at least performance wise, in 1998. There was an excitement in the air as the recently ousted Al did his thing and thumbed his nose at the system. After a series of somewhat unfair lawsuits against him, al's band had to change their name and lost some key personnel along the way. They remained a strong performing unit, but lost a little of the magic in the earlier years of BBFF. Brian's band, also started in 1998, went strong the whole decade, with just a few bumps along the way. Some years were better than others, but no band was as meticulous in detail as Brian's. Dave Marks put on some great, loose, laidback shows over the decade. His shows were not frequent, but definitely were a treat and had a vibe all their own. So the 00s were a bittersweet triumph. The Boys had splintered, but they were all quality splinters. And 4 tours often meant multiple shows a year for the average Beach Boys fan near a big city, a feature of this decade that was very unique.

Overall, I'd rank the touring eras like this:

1. 1976-1980 (just by a hair...the excited crowds energized our Boys)
2. 1971-1975 (rockin shows, high coolness factor, somewhat marred by crowds demanding oldies)
3. C50 tour (professional, thorough, just lacking Carl and Dennis in person)
4. 1998-2011 (highest volume of shows by far, due to the 4 different bands)
5. 1961-1965 (raw energy)
6. 1966-1970 (the band's touring quality wasn't quite excelling as much as their studio output at this time)
7. 1981-1989 (big crowds, mixed bag of performances)
8. 1990-1997 (other than the unplugged tour, shows were not very creative and lacked energy and spontaneity)
9. 2013 (it is difficult to come off the c50 tour and splinter back into different groups without missing what we had in c50)

I have a great appreciation for all eras of the studio and touring history of the Beach Boys. There is something to appreciate in all of them! :-)

[The Shift]

Great summary Eric, much appreciated, quite incisive.

[Paul J B]

I never saw them before 1975...... but seeing the main 5 together in '64 with Brian singing falsetto, had to be FANTASTIC.

[job]

1971-1974.  In Concert isn't just their best live album by far, it is one of the best live albums I've ever heard.

[The Shift]

1971-1974.  In Concert isn't just their best live album by far, it is one of the best live albums I've ever heard.

Hear, hear!

[The 4th Wilson Bro.]

1964

This!  Every period that the band performed in concert had its high points, but the Boys' early performances laid the foundation for what would eventually earn them the title of America's Band.  Watch those performances from 1963 and 1964 on YouTube and tell me that the people who were lucky enough to be there were not seeing history unfold before their very eyes.  Nothing else could ever top that era. JMHO.

[Cabinessenceking]

1971-1974.  In Concert isn't just their best live album by far, it is one of the best live albums I've ever heard.

Hear, hear!

In the future they could release something focusing on the Beach Boys as a live act with 1971-75 as the focal point. Damn they were good. No wonder they were considered the best live act back then. It's cool how they juxtaposed their early hits with their contemporary music. Many of the live incarnations of the older songs sounded far better with new arrangements (not sure about Rhonda, although that was very cool as well)

[schiaffino]

There is so much to love about just about every era of the touring band. It's what inspired me to create the setlist archive in 1998.

In terms of professionalism and thoroughness, the c50 tour can't be beat. They did, after all, have 51 years of material to draw from at this point, and audiences appreciated the depth and breadth of their catalog, perhaps to the fullest extent that fans ever had in the past 5 decades. Many audience recordings from the 70s and 80s reveal an audience that was often times, at best, merely tolerant of new material. And the 70s were known for shows with long gaps between songs while the boys got ready to play the next song. Not to mention the uncomfortable onstage antics that happened at times.

That said, the 70s provided some rockin shows! And the unpredictability was part of the fun! The early 70s featured short but exciting shows with eclectic setlists. The mid to late 70 s featured longer setlists, excited crowds, and good performances. Even Carl's tripped out performances in Australia were exciting in their own way!

The mid 60s featured excited crowds, and somewhat subpar performances for a group of their caliber. The early 60s also featured those same excited crowds, but somehow the basic performances were quite charming for their time. The late 60s featured performances that were much more put together, if somewhat short compared to other acts' shows of the era.

The 80s were a mixed bag. The Boys had somewhat resigned themselves to being a nostalgia act, and focused less and less on newer material,  Sometimes acting seemingly like their material from the 70s never existed. Performances ranged from awful to great, depending on the year and who was present or not present at any given show.

The 90s were perhaps the low point of the touring band. Shows had gotten pretty stale and rote, but were admittedly professional most of the time. At times, the band seemed to be just going thru the motions the vast majority of the time. The 93 unplugged tour was an exception.

1998-2011 saw 4 different bands performing, all very professional. Mike and bruce's band got better as the decade progressed, and as personnel and setlist changes were made. They perhaps peaked around 2007-8, but continued to be strong well after that. Al's band started off very strong, much stronger than Mike and bruce's did, at least performance wise, in 1998. There was an excitement in the air as the recently ousted Al did his thing and thumbed his nose at the system. After a series of somewhat unfair lawsuits against him, al's band had to change their name and lost some key personnel along the way. They remained a strong performing unit, but lost a little of the magic in the earlier years of BBFF. Brian's band, also started in 1998, went strong the whole decade, with just a few bumps along the way. Some years were better than others, but no band was as meticulous in detail as Brian's. Dave Marks put on some great, loose, laidback shows over the decade. His shows were not frequent, but definitely were a treat and had a vibe all their own. So the 00s were a bittersweet triumph. The Boys had splintered, but they were all quality splinters. And 4 tours often meant multiple shows a year for the average Beach Boys fan near a big city, a feature of this decade that was very unique.

Overall, I'd rank the touring eras like this:

1. 1976-1980 (just by a hair...the excited crowds energized our Boys)
2. 1971-1975 (rockin shows, high coolness factor, somewhat marred by crowds demanding oldies)
3. C50 tour (professional, thorough, just lacking Carl and Dennis in person)
4. 1998-2011 (highest volume of shows by far, due to the 4 different bands)
5. 1961-1965 (raw energy)
6. 1966-1970 (the band's touring quality wasn't quite excelling as much as their studio output at this time)
7. 1981-1989 (big crowds, mixed bag of performances)
8. 1990-1997 (other than the unplugged tour, shows were not very creative and lacked energy and spontaneity)
9. 2013 (it is difficult to come off the c50 tour and splinter back into different groups without missing what we had in c50)

I have a great appreciation for all eras of the studio and touring history of the Beach Boys. There is something to appreciate in all of them! :-)

Great summary, couldn't agree more. The comment on the 93 unplugged tour made me curious to check the setlist back then and found something interesting:
http://www.bigozine2.com/cdcvrs/images91/BBparamount/BBparamount.pdf

It looks as interesting as any of the C50 setlists - if not more! Wonderful, You still believe in me, Vegatables...

Anyone has videos/audios of these concerts?