'Nother BW date...

[Wirestone]

If I were to reword this properly, I think it would look like this:

"Wilson will perform Beach Boys hits and songs from his upcoming album".

Harsh but fair.

[Jonathan Blum]

Now, let's clarify that statement, shall we? "Hits from his latest albums". Have his latest albums produced hits?

...That would be "That's Why God Made The Radio", I'd bet!

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[HeyJude]

I think promoters just use the term "hits" too broadly. As in "songs you will know." I think they just stretch to get bubbly wording into these press releases.

Sort of like when an oldie artist does a new album, one where even if the album does well, it doesn't spawn any actual "hit singles", yet they'll put a sticker on the cover that lists two or three of the songs, something like "Featuring the new singles.....", even though next to nobody who might even buy it will be familiar with the songs, since they're just coming out!

[Mikie]

I think promoters just use the term "hits" too broadly. As in "songs you will know." I think they just stretch to get bubbly wording into these press releases.

Yep. I think that's the case here.  Most of these promotion pieces are on the money - some stretch it a bit.

[guitarfool2002]

Most folks put Foskett in the anti-rarities camp, FWIW.

And there's a world of difference between Pet Sounds -- a legendary best album of all time -- and Friends -- a pleasant little record known only to BW/BB hobbyists ...

Then if not Foskett, who's been in charge of selecting the album cuts/rarities for Brian's set all these years? Darian? Scott? Nick? Melinda???  Surely not Brian!

Foskett wasn't the BW band music director for many years before he left. IIRC, Joe Thomas was the first, followed by Jeff, then Darian, then Paul Mertens, who continues in the role.

I saw Brian at Boston's Symphony Hall during that first tour in the 90's when Imagination was out, and the story is that when that tour was being set up and rehearsed, Joe Thomas wanted to rework some of the classic material to be more contemporary. When Joe suggested they make "Caroline No" sound more smooth like a Sade song, Darian strongly objected to the point of threatening to walk out (and I'm guessing the other Wondermints would have followed) if that was what the shows would feature. Then Thomas was out in that capacity, the band set out on the tour, and what we saw on that first "comeback" tour was the classic material being performed very true to the original recordings, which was obviously a highlight as we got to hear an amazing live band playing these studio creations from the 60's as well as I think any live show could have presented them, with the guy that made those records classics back in the 60's studios.

From a musical perspective, Darian has always been a driving musical force behind the shows, no matter what or who gets the musical director credit, which has been great because I think he knows the intricacies of that music probably as well as any musician I can think of, including sounds and instrumentation to the point of knowing which specific instruments were used to create those sounds and how to replicate them. If there is someone needed to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the classic recordings in whatever capacity that calls for, Darian is probably the best go-to guy to have on the job.

[guitarfool2002]

Most folks put Foskett in the anti-rarities camp, FWIW.

And there's a world of difference between Pet Sounds -- a legendary best album of all time -- and Friends -- a pleasant little record known only to BW/BB hobbyists ...

So Wirestone, what would you rather see in a Brian show these days? Songs from the setlist above or a Beach Boys or Brian solo album played in its entirety?

I'd love to see the shows you mention. I just don't think that what I'd like to see would necessarily draw audiences. For that matter, I've never seen much evidence (in the U.S., at least) that Brian draws an enormous audience on his own anyhow, so it might be a moot point.

Every show I saw Brian play was a full house, if there were empty seats I didn't see them. And even when he played a one-off outdoor show at Boston's Hatch Shell for an oldies station WODS, the same venue where the Pops does the July 4th, there were more people there than at any show I ever watched there which wasn't the July 4th. The crowd was overflowing onto the streets, they were standing everywhere even the places you couldn't even see the stage itself, and it was a pretty rainy and damp night. Darian missed that show as he was touring with Heart at the time, and this was just before the Smile tour.

Whatever the crowd draws have been on more recent tours of the past few years, I can't speak of. But consider the recent big blow-out Jones Beach show in July featuring the Beach Boys had quite a few empty seats as well according to people who were there, so do we use those reports to suggest the BB's touring band isn't a big draw as it had been, or was it just a case of people not coming to that particular show?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Every show I saw Brian play was a full house, if there were empty seats I didn't see them. And even when he played a one-off outdoor show at Boston's Hatch Shell for an oldies station WODS, the same venue where the Pops does the July 4th, there were more people there than at any show I ever watched there which wasn't the July 4th. The crowd was overflowing onto the streets, they were standing everywhere even the places you couldn't even see the stage itself, and it was a pretty rainy and damp night. Darian missed that show as he was touring with Heart at the time, and this was just before the Smile tour.

Whatever the crowd draws have been on more recent tours of the past few years, I can't speak of. But consider the recent big blow-out Jones Beach show in July featuring the Beach Boys had quite a few empty seats as well according to people who were there, so do we use those reports to suggest the BB's touring band isn't a big draw as it had been, or was it just a case of people not coming to that particular show?

I've been to packed RFH shows, and also RFH shows that were, at best, half full. Fact is, Brian has rarely sold out an entire tour. You may have never seen empty seats: I've never seen Timbuktu with my own eyes, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[guitarfool2002]

Had to bring up a comparison with an artist who carved out a decent niche as a live touring performer through the decades who happens to be one of Brian's favorite musicians and writers as well - Burt Bacharach.

It will be interesting to see how the upcoming BW tour will be staged, considering the album it will be supporting will feature a number of guest artists, and could feature singles released featuring those guest artists.

Bacharach for decades toured under his own name, billed usually as some form of "An Evening With Burt Bacharach", where he played his familiar hits with a fairly large backing group yet rarely featured the original singers who made those songs hits. Bacharach would sit at the piano, basically do his talk-sing commentary as the music played, and it was usually a classy affair with higher-priced tickets and upscale venues.

Bacharach is not a singer, he personally was not featured as a vocalist on any of his most familiar hits, yet the audiences of his fans would come to see the man responsible for writing and producing those hits do his own thing with the songs. There were times when he'd have Dionne with him, but very rarely - yet the crowds still came out despite knowing Dionne, or whatever other famous vocalist would not be there performing.

I mention this because the appeal of seeing Brian for his fans may have morphed into something more like seeing Bacharach, and Bacharach has had a pretty decent run playing under his own name despite not having the original voices out there on stage with him at most of his live shows.

As far as doing an album like Friends live, if you go back through the past 15 years or so of Brian's live setlists, the band at various times has already played what fans might consider the highlight songs of that album live, so adding a few extra album cuts from Friends to what they already have done might not be as much of an event as, say, the obvious Smile and Pet Sounds stagings were.

[guitarfool2002]

Every show I saw Brian play was a full house, if there were empty seats I didn't see them. And even when he played a one-off outdoor show at Boston's Hatch Shell for an oldies station WODS, the same venue where the Pops does the July 4th, there were more people there than at any show I ever watched there which wasn't the July 4th. The crowd was overflowing onto the streets, they were standing everywhere even the places you couldn't even see the stage itself, and it was a pretty rainy and damp night. Darian missed that show as he was touring with Heart at the time, and this was just before the Smile tour.

Whatever the crowd draws have been on more recent tours of the past few years, I can't speak of. But consider the recent big blow-out Jones Beach show in July featuring the Beach Boys had quite a few empty seats as well according to people who were there, so do we use those reports to suggest the BB's touring band isn't a big draw as it had been, or was it just a case of people not coming to that particular show?

I've been to packed RFH shows, and also RFH shows that were, at best, half full. Fact is, Brian has rarely sold out an entire tour. You may have never seen empty seats: I've never seen Timbuktu with my own eyes, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I'm not suggesting every show or tour was a sell out as I know for a fact they were not, I'm just saying each show I saw personally was a full house. And sometimes even the venues from town to town affect what kind of crowd comes out, like some of the venues in NYC and Boston are consistently full when Brian comes to town while other areas not as much. It's definitely not a template, any more than saying the current Beach Boys tour sells out and packs the house every venue it plays, I'd never suggest a standard ticket sale reaction exists.

I saw McCartney about 25 years ago in Philly - big show, the biggest stadium venue in the city, and it was reported as a sell out show, the second of two that weekend. Yet actually being in the stadium at the show, there were many empty seats not just around me but around the general area. And tickets for that were - believe me - not easy to get short of paying a huge premium on top of face value. If I were asked, I'd say the show didn't look like it was sold out despite the reports that it was.

I take many of these things with a grain of salt. 

[HeyJude]

Every show I saw Brian play was a full house, if there were empty seats I didn't see them. And even when he played a one-off outdoor show at Boston's Hatch Shell for an oldies station WODS, the same venue where the Pops does the July 4th, there were more people there than at any show I ever watched there which wasn't the July 4th. The crowd was overflowing onto the streets, they were standing everywhere even the places you couldn't even see the stage itself, and it was a pretty rainy and damp night. Darian missed that show as he was touring with Heart at the time, and this was just before the Smile tour.

Whatever the crowd draws have been on more recent tours of the past few years, I can't speak of. But consider the recent big blow-out Jones Beach show in July featuring the Beach Boys had quite a few empty seats as well according to people who were there, so do we use those reports to suggest the BB's touring band isn't a big draw as it had been, or was it just a case of people not coming to that particular show?

I've been to packed RFH shows, and also RFH shows that were, at best, half full. Fact is, Brian has rarely sold out an entire tour. You may have never seen empty seats: I've never seen Timbuktu with my own eyes, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

A show can also "sell out" and have hunks of empty seats (unsold scalper tickets, etc.) This is especially noticeable in small venues.

[gxios]

You will get a number of people who have seats but never use them.  I've been to stadium shows where I've never been to my seat- either I found some friends to hang with or just found better seats.

[37!ws]

I saw McCartney about 25 years ago in Philly - big show, the biggest stadium venue in the city, and it was reported as a sell out show, the second of two that weekend. Yet actually being in the stadium at the show, there were many empty seats not just around me but around the general area. And tickets for that were - believe me - not easy to get short of paying a huge premium on top of face value. If I were asked, I'd say the show didn't look like it was sold out despite the reports that it was.

I take many of these things with a grain of salt. 

Speaking of which...saw Macca at Candlestick a couple of weeks ago. That was absolutely a sold-out show TECHNICALLY; got my tickets thru StubHub. But there were a couple of thousand empty seats...because of extreme traffic conditions and the total lack of traffic management near Candlestick. (I got there literally three hours early and was directed to a small parking lot, right to an exact space...I think once that lot filled, the staff went home for the day. But it really was atrocious how things were handled.)  So that could theoretically be an issue from time to time -- people literally unable to make it to the venue on time.

[Mikie]

I saw McCartney about 25 years ago in Philly - big show, the biggest stadium venue in the city, and it was reported as a sell out show, the second of two that weekend. Yet actually being in the stadium at the show, there were many empty seats not just around me but around the general area. And tickets for that were - believe me - not easy to get short of paying a huge premium on top of face value. If I were asked, I'd say the show didn't look like it was sold out despite the reports that it was.

I take many of these things with a grain of salt.  

Speaking of which...saw Macca at Candlestick a couple of weeks ago. That was absolutely a sold-out show TECHNICALLY; got my tickets thru StubHub. But there were a couple of thousand empty seats...because of extreme traffic conditions and the total lack of traffic management near Candlestick. (I got there literally three hours early and was directed to a small parking lot, right to an exact space...I think once that lot filled, the staff went home for the day. But it really was atrocious how things were handled.)  So that could theoretically be an issue from time to time -- people literally unable to make it to the venue on time.

I almost went. Heard it was a fantastic show. I also heard that it took about 6 hours for a lot of people just to get home. These were people who got there at 3pm for a parking place, thinking that they'd beat the traffic, then were surprised to find that it was a crazy getting out afterwards. Hardly anybody left before the show ended, so it was a total zoo getting out of Candlestick. Good thing that joint will finally be torn down. Saw Macca at AT&T Park in S.F. in 2010, and you didn't have that problem at all.

Edit: Now there's a petition:

http://live105.cbslocal.com/2014/08/27/enraged-mccartney-show-goers-start-petition-for-refund-following-parking-debacle-candlestick-macca-traffic-jam-san-francisco/