Christopher Cross and Friends (MIke Love) last night

[Gregg]

Wow, this was a great show here in Austin at the ACL Moody Theatre last night! Featured guests were Mike Love, Michael McDonald and Eric Johnston. He performed several solo numbers, backed by a sax/keyboard player, keyboard player, drummer, the amazing Will Lee on bass and 2 female bg vocalists. He also had a 20-piece string secion conducted by the Austin Symphony conductor, Peter Bay. Eric Johnston joined him for a few tunes during the first half. What an amazing guitarist!

After intermission, Christopher started by describing his love for the Beaach Boys and their harmonies, and then introduced Mike Love. Not surprisingly, Jeff Foskett joined him as well. Another male vocalist joined the two female bg vocalists too. Will Lee also added some bg vocals during Mike's set. They started with Kokomo, with Christopher doing Carls part beautifully. Then a very nice surpise followed. Mike turned to Christopher and said, "Now this is your favorie Beach Boys song, right?" Christopher nodded. He then went on to explain the origin and meaning of the lyrics. They performed "All This is That" beautifully, again with Christopher singing Carl's part. He totally nailed it, especially the falsetto at the end.

Mike then said something about his "cousin Carl Wilson, who died in 1983...". I don't remember exactly what he said because of his senior moment goof. Christopher also praised Carl, saying, "It takes me and Jeff together to equal one Carl Wilson." They then launched into "Good Vibrations", with both Christopher and Jeff doubling the lead vocal. This brought the crowd to their feet and the place erupted at the end. The band did a phenomenal job covering all the instrumental and vocal parts. It was definitely the highlight of the evening.

Michael McDonald then came out for his set. Jeff moved back on stage right in front of Will Lee, joining the 2 female singers on bg vocals. What I found so funny was that during this set Jeff could not resist turning around to watch Will Lee - totally animated, jumping and swaying, a complete master of his instrument. Jeff was like a little kid in awe of and giddily enamoured with the energeic virtuosity that was happening right next to him. The female singer next to him kept tugging at him trying to get him to turn forward with them. Needless to say, Michael McDonald killed. His voice and range is still amazing. He started with "What a Fool Believes", then did "It Keeps You Runnin'", and then "Takin' It to the Street", complete with an extended gospel piano intro. They then did "Ride Like the Wind", with Michael providing his classic bg vocal part.

Unfortunately, we had to leave before the show ended. It was about 11pm by this point and we had a babysitter on a school night.    There was probably an encore. Guess we'll have to wait for the Austin City Limits broadcast in March or the DVD to find out.

It was really a fantastic concert filled wih lots of great tunes performed by some extremely talented musicians. I highly recommend checking it out if you have the chance.

[Emily]

After intermission, Christopher started by describing his love for the Beaach Boys and their harmonies, and then introduced Mike Love. Not surprisingly, Jeff Foskett joined him as well. Another male vocalist joined the two female bg vocalists too. Will Lee also added some bg vocals during Mike's set. They started with Kokomo, with Christopher doing Carls part beautifully. Then a very nice surpise followed. Mike turned to Christopher and said, "Now this is your favorie Beach Boys song, right?" Christopher nodded. He then went on to explain the origin and meaning of the lyrics. They performed "All This is That" beautifully, again with Christopher singing Carl's part. He totally nailed it, especially the falsetto at the end.

That sounds really fun. Thanks for sharing it.
Can you clarify the above paragraph? I'm not sure if the "favorite Beach Boys song" referred to "Kokomo" which they'd just sung or "All This is That" which they were just about to sing.

[Gregg]

Yeah, sorry, that was a little unclear.

It was definitely "All This is That"!

[AndrewHickey]

After intermission, Christopher started by describing his love for the Beaach Boys and their harmonies, and then introduced Mike Love. Not surprisingly, Jeff Foskett joined him as well. Another male vocalist joined the two female bg vocalists too. Will Lee also added some bg vocals during Mike's set. They started with Kokomo, with Christopher doing Carls part beautifully. Then a very nice surpise followed. Mike turned to Christopher and said, "Now this is your favorie Beach Boys song, right?" Christopher nodded. He then went on to explain the origin and meaning of the lyrics. They performed "All This is That" beautifully, again with Christopher singing Carl's part. He totally nailed it, especially the falsetto at the end.

That sounds really fun. Thanks for sharing it.
Can you clarify the above paragraph? I'm not sure if the "favorite Beach Boys song" referred to "Kokomo" which they'd just sung or "All This is That" which they were just about to sing.

His favourite is All This Is That -- he said this at the Albert Hall shows last year, when he guested with Mike, Bruce & David. He does do an extremely good job on the song, though I'm not very familiar with his music (and what little I've heard has not been to my taste).

[Emily]

Ah - good choice! Thanks, guys.

[HeyJude]

Always wondered what happened to that 2006 "Christmas" tour with Al Jardine, Christopher Cross, and Jim Messina. Probably wouldn't be my immediate choice for such a show, but it certainly would have been interesting.

I think Christopher Cross also popped up during the C50 televised show from Japan, and of course Brian's weird 1998 "Imagination" show.

[KDS]

Always wondered what happened to that 2006 "Christmas" tour with Al Jardine, Christopher Cross, and Jim Messina. Probably wouldn't be my immediate choice for such a show, but it certainly would have been interesting.

I think Christopher Cross also popped up during the C50 televised show from Japan, and of course Brian's weird 1998 "Imagination" show.

Yep, I think Cross sings the Carl part on Kokomo at the Japan C50 show. 

[Emdeeh]

Thanks for the report -- I will definitely look for this to show up on Austin City Limits. Which reminds me, is there ever going to be a wide release of BW's Soundstage show from last year on DVD/BluRay? I missed the boat on the PBS-only distribution.

[KDS]

Thanks for the report -- I will definitely look for this to show up on Austin City Limits. Which reminds me, is there ever going to be a wide release of BW's Soundstage show from last year on DVD/BluRay? I missed the boat on the PBS-only distribution.

Good question.  Haven't heard a thing about it since the PBS sale.

There's a copy on Amazon, but it's going for a hefty price of $65.00. 

[HeyJude]

Thanks for the report -- I will definitely look for this to show up on Austin City Limits. Which reminds me, is there ever going to be a wide release of BW's Soundstage show from last year on DVD/BluRay? I missed the boat on the PBS-only distribution.

I've been surprised they both haven't released it widely, and have stopped selling it online through PBS.

I bought a copy from PBS right after it went on sale, and didn't track precisely how long it was for sale. But it's been gone for awhile now I believe.

There is one third-party Amazon seller selling a copy for $65. I think my autographed copy with an (unneeded extra) copy of NPP ended up being $40. So $65 for a now technically "out of print" item isn't actually *that* bad of a price gouge for a third-party Amazon seller.

You could also sell off the loose extra disc from the combo pack, which ever one you don't need, and get some of that money back.

[HeyJude]

I suppose you'd have to go through some of the checkout process to make sure it's still available, but it looks like you can still get the "Soundstage" Blu-ray/DVD combo with a pledge of $72:

https://secure.wttw.com/catalog/detail?productid=PBRIAND