Tell YOUR Story. What was THE BEST Beach Boys related concert YOU Ever Attended

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Unfortunately, I've only been to four. Maybe 5. I became a big fan in 98 when I saw the Endless Harmony doc. But I may have seen them once before that in the early 90s at the Texas state fair. I just wasn't paying attention because I wasn't a fan then, but a friend mentioned they were on a stage. Three of the other Four were great! Pet Sounds tour in Dallas around 2000 or 2001. The Smile tour in Dallas area in 2005??? And the 50th in the Dallas area in 2012. The Mike and Bruce show in the late 90s was forgettable and at that time I didn't think I would ever get to see anything great by them. Of course I am thankful that things have improved in the Beach Boys world since the 90s!

[Smilin Ed H]

Brian doing the Pet Sounds show in Glasgow - his first concert appearance in the UK for many years. Barely reported in the UK press, if I remember correctly, because he hadn't played London yet and those were the shows the media were attending. Great night, but Smile in Newcastle was even better - though ignored by the shitty local press which only does culture if i's at the bottom of a can or has tits on it.

Ah, SMiLE Newcastle, March 6th 2004. Magical ! And probably my favorite show BW show I attended (although Pet Sounds Hamburg 2002 comses close, as it was my very first BW concert ever). Being a guest at JP and being present at the pre-SMiLE party in the Pet Sounds shop, talking with some of the band members there, hearing SMiLE life for the first time, sitting next to a fan who promised me an audio copy if I didn't clap too loud (we both kept our word   ), it was all great. The setlist was a bit shorter compared with other ones as BW was a bit sick that day. I remember Jeff fosket getting a call and suddenly leaving the SMiLE party. And the guards at the Newcastle City Hall were a pain. A very tense atmosphere, especially afterwards. I was backstage waiting for a short talk and autograph from the man. But halfway the session, clearly still not feeling well, and combined with the 'bad vibrations', he suddenly decided to leave. Bit of a disappointment for me personally, but understandable in those circumstances. It still was a fantastic experience. Unbelievable this was almost 11 years ago. Time flies.

Strange thing was, when I saw him at Glasgow, security didn't give a sh*t and people were crowding up to the stage to take photos of the Great Man and then went down to shake his hand at the end.

The fact I had to skip a day at work also sticks in my mind. I remember when we arrived in Glasgow, the snow was melting and it was like walking in two inches of water!

On both occasions, Brian was far more engaged and singing better in the second half of the show, so I was a little annoyed when I saw him do Gershwin at The Sage in Gateshead and he did the album first and the hits after the interval. Again, he was better in the second half.

[Mikie]

Great night, but Smile in Newcastle was even better - though ignored by the shitty local press which only does culture if it's at the bottom of a can of sh*t lager or has tits on it.

 

[Mikie]

September 24, 1971, Carnegie Hall, 7:30 p.m. show. First time I saw the group was also the classiest and most exciting.

Now that's one concert I'd like to have been at!

I have been trying to insert a Fillmore program that has an ad for the Carnegie show to no avail...

A quick refresher on how to insert images? Do they have to reside in a URL address that you then place between the img brackets - or can you just upload a jpg from your desktop directly?

You just have to enclose the URL of the photo with these: "[ img ] [ /img ]" (excluding the extra spaces)

There you go.  Thanks, GV33.

[Rocker]

I wrote this a while ago about the Groningen BW concert I attended: http://locusceruleus.tumblr.com/post/96952332293/brian-wilson

Groningen! Very nice city. I was there in November of 2013 for a congress.

[bgas]

September 24, 1971, Carnegie Hall, 7:30 p.m. show. First time I saw the group was also the classiest and most exciting.

Now that's one concert I'd like to have been at!

I have been trying to insert a Fillmore program that has an ad for the Carnegie show to no avail...

A quick refresher on how to insert images? Do they have to reside in a URL address that you then place between the img brackets - or can you just upload a jpg from your desktop directly?

You just have to enclose the URL of the photo with these: "[ img ] [ /img ]" (excluding the extra spaces)

There you go.  Thanks, GV33.

Nice ad!  I think it was last year that someone was trying to sell their poster for the 72 Carnegie Shows on Ebay, minimum was something like $5000;  I don't think it sold... 

   

[Lee Marshall]

I didn't have a secret agenda when I posted this topic.  It was intended as a vehicle for us to share some special memories and times...to, hopefully, let us relive some specific moments which we ourselves might have sort of forgotten...or at least which might have faded from memory just a little.  GREAT to see that, in some cases, other SS board members attended the exact same shows...or shows on the same tours...maybe a night or two [or 3] later.  Some stories were detailed.  Some a little more brief and to the point.  No matter.  Each post is a valuable addition to the thread.

For some it was hard to choose just 1.  No problem.  You're actually REALLY fortunate to have 2 or 3 or more perfectly memorable experiences.  Bottom line.  These shows were great, important, significant, memorable and added something of huge value to our individual and our collective life's experience.  That Brian, Dennis, Carl, Mike, David, Al, Bruce, Blondie and Ricky [along with their supporting caste[ s ] managed to do that for so many people...so many times...over the space of over 40 years worth of listed concert going opportunities says a LOT about The Beach Boys and their 'related' permeations.  It also says a BUNDLE about the music, the lyrics, the VIBRATIONS.
Regardless of who you 'side with' through the thick and thin story of the Beach Boys...bottom line...S'all good.  It's also more than just a little evident that when it comes to the Beach Boys...the concensus seems to be simply this...The more...the merrier.

Yo...B.R.I...You HEAR!!!???!!!  

[donald]

I saw them a lot over the past several decades.   Saw SMiLE, Pet Sounds, Brian with the Beach Boys in the 80's,   And a lot more.  but my favorite show,  the one that stands out in my memory the most, was one of the early shows when Carl returned After his solo hiatus.  to me, this was the Beach Boys reunion.  they were spot on and CW was transcendent.  To have CW back after seeing them without him, was just pure joy.   Better in terms of pure ecstasy and  as good as seeing C50 in Pittsburgh in 2012.    Losing CW and getting him back is/was a once in a lifetime experience for this BB fan.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

The aforementioned Smile concert at Massey Hall was a great one. Apart from what Add Some said, there are a few key things that stick in my mind from the show. I remember that when they started the "band" part of the show (after the more acoustic set that started things) they started with And Your Dreams Come True in a dark lighting which came up all the way for the next song - pretty cool, dramatic stuff. I remember Brian's hand gestures being so wild that he smacked his microphone away during the first or second verse of Heroes and Villains. He dealt with it like a pro. Also, I think this was the week that Smile made it to #13 - it's quite possible that this was the first show after the album reached that peak and Jeff announced it to the audience and the place went wild. I also remember thinking that the Smile logo on the back of Jeff's guitar, which he displayed at the end of Good Vibrations was pretty cool.

It was a staggering night though maybe not the most significant for me. Unfortunately, being the time that this was, I had already heard the Smile concert from one of the very first London shows, as a result of the old Smile Shop. The night was still amazing but I could anticipate just about everything.

I think the night that was the most significant for me was going to the Pet Sounds concert at the Molson Amphitheatre a few years earlier. It was the summer of 2000 between my first and second year of university. It was quite the time to be a Beach Boys fan. I had always loved the band's hits as well as Pet Sounds going back to my childhood days in the late 80s and early 90s. Then around 1997 or so, I became even more invested in Pet Sounds. I began listening to it every day. By the time I was done high school, I had purchased the SS/WH and F/2020 twofers. My growing love for the band was coinciding with a revival movement, and I saw the Brian bio on A&E as well as Endless Harmony where I heard fragments of Smile for the first time.

Then in my first year of university, I finally was able to hear Smile in its entirety (or what I thought was its entirety), I got the Beach Boys Good Vibrations box set from my school's library and heard so many of the gems that I had heard about but had thus far been unable to obtain. I met a friend who I started a band with who was having the same growing appreciation for The Beach Boys as me - except he was more of a collector than I was so over the next few years he kept beating me to the punch with all the material.

Because of him, that summer was the summer of The Beach Boys. The friends that I met in university would always hang out with Today/Summer Days or Pet Sounds or Smile in the background. It was the soundtrack to what may end up being the best days of my life. Then it transpired that Brian Wilson was doing the Pet Sounds album at the Molson Amphitheatre. I went to show with my first serious girlfriend, happened to sit beside another young fan who I could talk to about the music.

Because these were the early days of my fandom, and because I wasn't as adept at social media (and because the internet just wasn't was what it is now), I didn't really know what to expect. I knew what Brian was like from the interviews that I had seen, particularly in the Bio and in EH. But I didn't know how he would sound. The show started with that orchestral medley produced by Van Dyke Parks, and I remember trying to decipher the songs. Then Brian came out - at that point the audience for these shows were there to cheer on a survivor. That's essentially how Brian was packaged at the time - and it was quite true. There's still a little bit of that there, but because of the last fifteen years, Brian has proven himself. At that time, though, he hadn't quite proven himself as a touring musician in the late period of his career.

I remember how things seemed fragile - I remember worrying that everything could collapse at any moment. I remember witnessing the Brian hand movements for the first time which at the time seemed unusual but now are a crucial part of his character. I remember hearing the attempts at banter. I remember when Brian started coughing the middle of Here Today. But most of all, I remember hearing all of the songs that had being playing such a significant role in my life over the previous few years being performed so incredibly well by a back-up band that I didn't know at all, but would come to know (from an admiring distance) for the next fifteen years. I remember Brian being great - I remember the audience cheer when Brian held that high note in Don't Talk (that's how fragile things felt!). I remember Brian taking the bass in the encore and feeling like this was the first time he had done this in years (of course, it wasn't). I remember thinking that this could all be a brief moment - that I might never be able to see this remarkable artist again. Fortunately, I have since seen him four more times. It was a very special evening.

[Rentatris]

I get to start...well...just 'cause...

There have been a bunch of really, Really GREAT shows.  Getting to MC several over the years in and around Toronto, circa '83-'93, was a HUGE thrill...but they don't qualify.  It ain't all about me.  The early 70s show where I accompanied Carl back to their Toronto lodgings for lunch and a chat was a GIGANTIC thrill.  I'll never-ever forget it.  THE highlight of my young life...by light years.  The box-set tour in the early 90s [because the venues were so SMALL and intimate that they could actually hear one another sing and as such the level of the performances were elevated BIG TIME] in Toronto's accoustically perfect Massey Hall ranks right up there...almost at the very top.  It is certainly the 2nd best concert I've ever been lucky enough to attend.  But there is one more that stands head and shoulders beyond the rest.  It will likely be the pinnacle for what's left of the rest of my life.

[Granted I did NOT get to attend a 50th Anniversary concert...so my view-point is, at the very least, incomplete.]

No...for me the head and shoulders winner was the Smile [BWPS] concert at the previously mentioned, accoustically perfect Massey Hall in Toronto.  It was the concert that was NEVER-EVER going to happen.  Not a snowball's chance in hades that THAT would even BECOME a possibility.  ZERO likelihood.  A pipe dream.  Forget it.

Yet, On October 6, 2004...I arrived at Massey Hall to pick up *MY* tickets for the concert that would NEVER occur.  I had ordered them on-line.  Decent seats.  But for SOME inexplicable reason they were just not available when I arrived at the will-call window.  Really?!?!?!?  Some glitch in 'the machine' had robbed me of my seating.     Oh "sh*t-on-a-stick"!!!  Don't panic.  How will THIS 'screw-up play out? ... ... ...

 Like 'Monopoly'.  "Bank error in your favour"  Collect 2 FRONT ROW CENTRE seats...do not pass go...do not collect 200 dollars.  As they sang on 15 Big-Uns...'It's OK'.  OK?  Freekin' JACK POT!!!

Now...I am on the edge of my [front row] seat because I know THIS is going to be beyond my wildest expectations.  I had only recetly discovered that there was a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson Message board.  It was printed on the back of his 'Imagination' cd which I'd purchased when it was released.  I quickly had discovered two things.  1.  The Blue-board...and then 2.  'Smile' was going to be completed, released and toured!!!  My Gawd!!!  Pinch me.

Oh YA!!  I'd died and gone to heaven.  There are other people who love the Beach Boys and Brian?...They 'chat' about it ON-LINE?  And SMiLE is HAPPENING???  Pinch me again...Am I dreaming?  But no...I wasn't.  I got to bear witness with eyes, ears and other human witnesses to the concert of a lifetime.  Man...I was pulling for Brian.  I wanted him to knock one so far out of the park that it would never land.  I wanted HIM to feel better about the whole 'thing' than anyone there...including me.  He/They most certainly did Clobber that 'sucker'...and then some.  Almost 11 years later and the ball is still sailing...showing no signs that gravity even exists.

And so it began... ... ...

1.And Your Dream Comes True
2.Surfer Girl
3.Wendy
4.Add Some Music to Your Day ...at this point I started to CRY...Hence the 'name' Add Some.  Cry?  What a 'suck'.
5.Good to My Baby
6.Please Let Me Wonder
7.Drive-In   ...I couldn't believe they added this old 'baby' into the mix.  GREAT surprise.
8.Good Timin'
9.You're Welcome   ...I sure was.

That marked the end of the accoustic intro to the festivities.  It was FANTASTIC.  Wonderful way to present...and to begin.  Then...

10.Sloop John B
11.Hawaii  
12.Desert Drive  
13.California Girls
14.Your Imagination
15.Gettin' In Over My Head
16.God Only Knows
17.Don't Worry Baby
18.Forever
19.Soul Searchin'
20.Sail On, Sailor
21.Marcella

Now how the heck do you BEAT THAT???  We knew.  And this was only the intermission?  Pinch me again. [twice]

Then came the magic.  Brian Wilson and his Band of Excellence delivered perfection.  And I was front row centre with my wife???  Pinch me.  When they got to 'Vegetables' we hauled out a bunch of well done  'fake' veggies.  Carrots.  Tomatoes.  Green Peppers. etc and got the folks sitting on either side of us to join us in holding these props skyward.  Taylor Mills saw it and nudged the guys on either side of her to check it out.  They all laughed and we all felt great.  A possitive connection.  Pinch me.  It was just a blessing...pure and simple.  I wanted Brian to know...to get...to completely understand HOW MUCH this meant to 'us'...how much HE meant to 'us'...how important this moment was for ALL of us...including him.  I hope he did.  I hope he KNEW that we weren't just cheering and yelling and stomping and clapping for an encore...which he and the gang dutifully delivered.  [twice]

Encore:
39.Do It Again
40.I Get Around
41.Help Me, Rhonda
42.Barbara Ann
43.Surfin' U.S.A.
44.Fun, Fun, Fun


Much more well deserved fanaticism...and then...

Encore 2:
45.Love and Mercy

THAT'S it.  The BEST Beach Boys related concert I ever attended.  And all I had to do was show up.  Brian, et al, did ALL the rest.

That was flippin' beautifully written......brought a tear to my eye....nice one.

[Lonely Summer]

Just the ONE best show, or many?  I can't compete with the insiders here, so I will just name 2, both 1983: the group playing after a Mariners game in the old Kingdome, May - only time I saw all 6 guys together; and Carl, a month later, at a club in Seattle. If I had to narrow it down to just the one, it would be Carl's solo show, because it was such a unique experience, and he and his band tore it up that night. Wish I had a recording of that show.

[Custom Machine]

So so so many great shows over the years. If I had to pick one it would be Dec. 3, 1971, Long Beach Arena.

[Ram4]

The C50 show in Milwaukee 2012 was special for me, I was front row with Brian a few feet away. 

[mojoman3061]

The best for me: Brian at Jazzfest (the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival), 24 April 2005, 4 months before Katrina.  Before the show, Brian was interviewed by Harry Shearer.  The show opened with "Our Prayer," and the voices were beautifully in tune, giving the chords that "ringing" quality.  I noticed that the vocalists did a wonderful job with intonation throughout the show!

I was surprised to see a woman among the backup singers.  I didn't know anything about personnel before I got there, although I knew the SMiLE material from the 1980s vinyl with liner notes allegedly by James Watt.  The female voice didn't detract from the Beach-Boy-like blend.  At some point, Brian named all his family members.  I felt so happy for him that he'd gotten to a place where he could finish SMiLE, and I was grateful for the opportunity to hear it from him.

My first:  The Beach Boys at Pinewood Bowl, Lincoln, Nebraska, 15 June 1995.  This is in a city park.  Christopher Cross opened.  The Beach Boys Cheerleaders were part of the act, which I thought was a bit much.  Mike introduced the backing musicians; the only name I remember is Mike Kowalski.

My missed opportunity:  Carl at Mabel's, Champaign, Illinois, 6 September 1981.  This was a club near the University of Illinois, where I was a student (a music major, in fact).  I didn't make the show, for reasons I don't remember anymore.  There was a record shop nearby called Soundworks, and the guy there told me Ricky Fataar or Blondie Chaplin (don't remember which; he was in Carl's band) had been in the shop.  Ricky or Blondie told the record shop guy that He'd heard SMiLE and it was great.

[Matt H]

The best for me: Brian at Jazzfest (the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival), 24 April 2005, 4 months before Katrina.  Before the show, Brian was interviewed by Harry Shearer.  The show opened with "Our Prayer," and the voices were beautifully in tune, giving the chords that "ringing" quality.  I noticed that the vocalists did a wonderful job with intonation throughout the show!

I was surprised to see a woman among the backup singers.  I didn't know anything about personnel before I got there, although I knew the SMiLE material from the 1980s vinyl with liner notes allegedly by James Watt.  The female voice didn't detract from the Beach-Boy-like blend.  At some point, Brian named all his family members.  I felt so happy for him that he'd gotten to a place where he could finish SMiLE, and I was grateful for the opportunity to hear it from him.

My first:  The Beach Boys at Pinewood Bowl, Lincoln, Nebraska, 15 June 1995.  This is in a city park.  Christopher Cross opened.  The Beach Boys Cheerleaders were part of the act, which I thought was a bit much.  Mike introduced the backing musicians; the only name I remember is Mike Kowalski.

My missed opportunity:  Carl at Mabel's, Champaign, Illinois, 6 September 1981.  This was a club near the University of Illinois, where I was a student (a music major, in fact).  I didn't make the show, for reasons I don't remember anymore.  There was a record shop nearby called Soundworks, and the guy there told me Ricky Fataar or Blondie Chaplin (don't remember which; he was in Carl's band) had been in the shop.  Ricky or Blondie told the record shop guy that He'd heard SMiLE and it was great.

Are you sure it wasn't Billy Hinsche that was in Carl's band?

[Lonely Summer]

The best for me: Brian at Jazzfest (the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival), 24 April 2005, 4 months before Katrina.  Before the show, Brian was interviewed by Harry Shearer.  The show opened with "Our Prayer," and the voices were beautifully in tune, giving the chords that "ringing" quality.  I noticed that the vocalists did a wonderful job with intonation throughout the show!

I was surprised to see a woman among the backup singers.  I didn't know anything about personnel before I got there, although I knew the SMiLE material from the 1980s vinyl with liner notes allegedly by James Watt.  The female voice didn't detract from the Beach-Boy-like blend.  At some point, Brian named all his family members.  I felt so happy for him that he'd gotten to a place where he could finish SMiLE, and I was grateful for the opportunity to hear it from him.

My first:  The Beach Boys at Pinewood Bowl, Lincoln, Nebraska, 15 June 1995.  This is in a city park.  Christopher Cross opened.  The Beach Boys Cheerleaders were part of the act, which I thought was a bit much.  Mike introduced the backing musicians; the only name I remember is Mike Kowalski.

My missed opportunity:  Carl at Mabel's, Champaign, Illinois, 6 September 1981.  This was a club near the University of Illinois, where I was a student (a music major, in fact).  I didn't make the show, for reasons I don't remember anymore.  There was a record shop nearby called Soundworks, and the guy there told me Ricky Fataar or Blondie Chaplin (don't remember which; he was in Carl's band) had been in the shop.  Ricky or Blondie told the record shop guy that He'd heard SMiLE and it was great.

Are you sure it wasn't Billy Hinsche that was in Carl's band?

Billy was in Carl's band when I saw them, June 1983. No Blondie or Ricky to be seen.

[Andrew G. Doe]

First show: Wembley Arena, June 1980. All six present, in body if not actually in spirit. But... Brian could have mooned the audience and got a five minute ovation. Ten, if we'd known the next time would be 22 years later.

Best show [BB]:close call... 1993 - last UK tour with Carl, great show... 2008 - Mike & Bruce hit it out of the park... 2012 - the Very Last Beach Boys Show Ever, and one of the best.

Best show [BW]: first night of Smile in London. l don't care how much better the second night was, it will never, ever be the first night... and emotionally, that first night was off the scale. Close second was the TLOS premiere.

Worst show [BB]: Wembley 1991. Appalling sound and a performance so perfunctory as to be insulting.

Worst show [BW]: Hampton Court 2005. Again, a mix with holes you could drive a tank through, a woefully under-rehearsed band and Brian on auto pilot.

[mojoman3061]

About my missing Carl in September 1981:  As I remember it, the guy at Soundworks told me it was one of the two guys who'd been in Flame and joined the BBs in the early '70s.  He named the one he meant; I don't remember anymore which one.  Whoever it was, he'd been in the shop and told the record shop guy that he'd heard SMiLE and it was great.  I am certain of the story that I've italicized here.

He definitely did NOT say that Carl Wilson had been in the shop.

I don't know if I've ever heard Billy Hinsche's name said out loud (I'm not sure how Hinsche is pronounced).

[Andrew G. Doe]

HIN-she

[KDS]

Relatively new to this Beach Boys world, so I've only been to three. 

But the best is still the C50 Merriweather show I saw in June 2012.  I was only a casual BB fan until that fateful night.

[bonnie bella]

My first one, which is still in the future....   

[KDS]

My first one, which is still in the future....   

Bonnie,

I told you on the other board, but if you get a chance to see a Mike and Bruce (and sometimes David) show, do it. 

Granted, Brian and Al aren't there, but you'll get to hear great versions of classic songs done with respect. 

[bonnie bella]

Yes, it appears that Mike Love and I work like repelling magnets.  He arrives in my country as I arrive in his.

But if I were here, I would go and fight all that repels.

[The Shift]

Some of the best:

BW Hollywood Bowl Pet Sounds orchestral gig, 2000 - VDP conducted his own BW suite and graciously chatted to me at the after-show party until security removed me. Marred only by drunken folks in nearby seats singing along out of tune and drunk. Otherwise mind blowing.

BW Glasgow Pet Sounds gig 2002 - his first proper uk solo gig and an absolute rush. We danced, the band thrilled, and magical things happened.

BW RfH gigs same year (was it 4 or 6 of them) when fans came together like a family and the music united us all.

2004 Smile UK gigs in London, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool and Birmingham (10 in all) - history made

BBs Knebworth 1980 - my first; superb night.

BBs C50 shows in London (2) - possibly be best gigs ever attended.

BBs 2015 shows in Manchester and London - the tour on which for me the "touring" Beach Boys proved they were the real deal  - simply stellar.

[NateRuvin]

I saw M+B at Ravinia in Chicago in 2014. My friend and I had lawn seats, so we could hardly see the stage, but we were having a great time nonetheless. All of a sudden, these three girls come up to us, and offer us their tickets, claiming they only came to see the temptations (who had played before the BBs). How could we resist?

It turns out the seats were incredible! We were three rows back from the stage, and from now on I've claimed---

We were so close we could see Mike and Bruce's wrinkles!

It was a great night, and the band sounded fantastic. Highlights were Bruce singing Disney Girls, Jeff on Why Do Fools Fall In Love, and BELIEVE IT OR NOT- BRUCE PLAYED BASS ON GOD ONLY KNOWS. I couldn't believe my eyes.