Al Jardine - 2023 Tour Thread (Plus Archived 2018-2022)

[HeyJude]

Allright, tour is back on. Let's see some setlists and reviews!

As I mentioned elsewhere, someone needs to demand "Santa Ana Winds."

[Emdeeh]

A fun show in Atlanta tonight. They were loose, but sounded good. We had a good time -- lots of hardcore fans there who love the music. No "Santa Ana Winds," but we got "Lookin' at Tomorrow" and "Vegetables." Al played the guitar solos at this show. I can post a setlist tomorrow.

[Tony S]

Thanks for the report, please post the set list, though it sounds like the same as previous shows. Anything different added?

[RubberSoul13]

I'll be making it to Annapolis after all tonight! SO excited. We're the center table right in front of the stage. I'll be a few feet from Al for this whole experience. Can't wait! I'll be sure to get a setlist on here if no one else does later tonight...I'll be in the Black C50 shirt if anyone would like to say hello!

[Emdeeh]

Here's the Atlanta setlist:

1. Surfin' (with Al on standup bass)
2. Surfin' Safari
3. Surfer Girl
4. Don't Worry Baby
5. I Get Around (segueing into...)
6. Little Deuce Coupe
7. Sloop John B
    a. Kingston Trio version first
    b. BB version, with a lovely acapella reprise of the first verse
    c. a verse from the SBJ book version (audience prompt)
8. God Only Knows (Matt on lead, with Carl pics on the vid screen)
9. California Girls
10. Good Vibrations
11. Lookin' at Tomorrow
12. Vegetables
13. Heroes & Villains
14. California Saga / California
15. A Postcard from California (Matt sang Glen Campbell's part)

Encore:
16. Surfin' USA
17. Barbara Ann
18. Help Me Rhonda

In between "Vegetables" and H&V, Al sang a snippet of one of the BB's TM songs while talking about the Maharishi. I get the two songs confused, maybe someone else remembers which one he sang.

No merch table last night (the merch didn't get shipped in time), so it was a free-for-all post-show rush to the front of the stage for autographs and selfies.

[bossaroo]

great show last night in Atlanta despite the somewhat predictable setlist... Al's list is actually laminated which tells me it's fairly permanent. the show is "scripted" to some degree with the songs more or less in chronological order. Matt and Jeff would prompt Al every so often or an image would pop up on the screens to help jog his memory. of course Al was as absent-minded as always and often forgot an anecdote to introduce a song, or he'd go off on tangents and need a little help getting back on track. he also botched lyrics and guitar parts throughout, but this is part of why we love Al isn't it??  

it was Transcendental Meditation he played a snatch of. he talked a bit about TM being a useful thing, and about how Maharishi recruited The Beatles to get The Beach Boys interested. according to Al, Maharishi asked The Beatles who was the biggest group in America and they said the BBs. he said they split up, with John & George going to some of their hotel rooms and Paul & Ringo going to the others, in order to convince them to try TM. this was the night before the Unicef concert in Paris, according to Al. he said Brian was already doing TM in L.A. before that. he wrote Transcendental Meditation with its loud horns and "dirty sevenths" that Al said sounded like the opposite of what TM is all about  he also said he'd never do TM Song as it's too embarrassing!

as expected, I was in total awe of the man's voice. it's just amazing. Matt is no slouch either and sometimes he'll sing some of Al's old parts on things and if you close your eyes it's hard to tell who's who. I had no idea I would basically be sitting at Al's feet. he even sang half a verse of Susie Cincinnati when I shouted for it, but stopped and said he couldn't get through it. earlier in the night, they all said they should add Surf's Up to the show but I just don't see it happening.

I do wish he'd try some deeper cuts and steer clear of some of the hits, he even made a comment before doing Barbara Ann about how it wasn't one of his favorites but it was a big hit so he felt obligated. I just don't think anyone would miss that one in particular, especially considering the type of show this is or the fact that it's a cover song. but these guys all seem to think they can't do a single show without it! oh well

regardless of the carbon copy setlist, I'd see this show again and again if I could. it's gonna be a different experience every night due to Al's inability to stay on-script, and the stuff he comes up with is pure gold... not to mention the sound of his voice. and of course it wouldn't be an Al show without several "darns", some "gosh darns", and even a "for gosh sakes". he did not disappoint. thanks for keeping it clean Al Jardine!





don't tell Mike!

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

Great review, thanks! I'll be seeing Al's show at NYC's City Winery next Sunday. Can't wait.

[baseball95]

Saw Al tonight in Annapolis, agree 110% with the fantastic review above so no need to repeat. I’ll just mention a few differences Al played snippets of At My Window and a great somewhat full version on Take a Load Off Your Feet. He also made a small did at Mile saying they were all sill friends despite the multiple lawsuits. Al said he had had half an adult beverage backstage so there was no telling what would happen 

I too wish he’d go a little bit deeper into the catalogue, the fans at these show are definitely hardcore as they yelled out for At My Window and Take a Load Off, and Al in almost shock obliged. Matt even commented how needy the fans were for deep cuts haha. We really are Matt! Someone also yelled out for Winds of Change and that got a big reaction out of Al saying he’d learn it and come back there just to play it.

No matter what fantastic night literally sitting in front of Al and if any of you have a chance to go it’s an intimate experience i would highly recommend. A truly unique night of Beach Boys music.

[RubberSoul13]

Baseball summed it up...you must've been the table to the left of me! I was in front of Matt.

I'll add my interaction with Al & Matt post show with hopes of insight...Al seemed very hard of hearing, I had to repeat everything multiple times, but he was sweet as could be and Matt would repeat things for me too. I thanked both of them for doing these types of shows and said the fans indeed want to hear more deep cuts. I brought my copy of "Keeping the Summer Alive" to have signed because I love the cover art and it would give me a chance to name drop "Santa Ana Winds" I suggested that it would fit really well in the closing portion of the show when Al talks all about California and Matt actually said to Al that would be a really great idea and Al agreed. Albeit, they're surely just being nice in the moment however, it's obvious that Al has the knowledge of the back catalog. While his years are often off, he knew "At My Window" was Sunflower..."Take a Load Off" was Surf's Up etc.

It was a superb evening. I'd love to see him come around again with a deeper setlist for sure. The crowd definitely would've eaten it up.

[RangeRoverA1]

Terrific reviews, jolly envious! Thanks to take the time to write them down, every!

[astroray]

From Atlanta -  https://youtu.be/c9mNl5wOxtU

[KDS]

Baseball summed it up...you must've been the table to the left of me! I was in front of Matt.

I'll add my interaction with Al & Matt post show with hopes of insight...Al seemed very hard of hearing, I had to repeat everything multiple times, but he was sweet as could be and Matt would repeat things for me too. I thanked both of them for doing these types of shows and said the fans indeed want to hear more deep cuts. I brought my copy of "Keeping the Summer Alive" to have signed because I love the cover art and it would give me a chance to name drop "Santa Ana Winds" I suggested that it would fit really well in the closing portion of the show when Al talks all about California and Matt actually said to Al that would be a really great idea and Al agreed. Albeit, they're surely just being nice in the moment however, it's obvious that Al has the knowledge of the back catalog. While his years are often off, he knew "At My Window" was Sunflower..."Take a Load Off" was Surf's Up etc.

It was a superb evening. I'd love to see him come around again with a deeper setlist for sure. The crowd definitely would've eaten it up.

He also threw it a little bit of Transcendental Meditation after his story about TM.  So, it was neat to hear the little snippets.   I think at one point, Matt quipped "We need to come back here and play a deep set."   That would be awesome if they did. 

I had the same impression with Al's hearing when I went to get my copy of Postcard signed at the end of the night.  He seemed to be having issues with his monitor all night as well. 

All in all, great show. 

[Tony S]

Would love to see someone post Looking At Tomorrow.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

From Atlanta -  https://youtu.be/c9mNl5wOxtU

This is lovely!

[KC41]

I just posted "Lookin' At Tomorrow ( A Welfare Song ) from Atlanta on Youtube.

Here's the link.

https://youtu.be/EHh0Gh4AZhU

[Tony S]

Thanks Much! I'll check it out.

[Tony S]

Really good once Al got going with it after the early snafu. Watching these videos what really strikes me is not only the clearness of Al's voice, but just how much Matt brings to the table. Their voices blend perfectly. Hope they continue to add songs like At My Window and Santa Anna Winds, even at the expense of the car songs and Barbara Ann. Just so much good stuff to offer, they sound great!

[myonlysunshine]

Will have a more detailed review later, but Al and company just performed Santa Anna Winds!

[RubberSoul13]

Will have a more detailed review later, but Al and company just performed Santa Anna Winds!

NO Way!!!!!!! Thank you Al and Matt! Wish I could have heard it!

...to my fellow boardies, you're welcome! 

[myonlysunshine]

Just got back home a little while ago. Fantastic concert, Al and company sounded great. I didn't record any videos aside from a snippet of Help Me Rhonda, but I did take a bunch of pictures. Just going off of memory here, but I believe the setlist was identical to the previous shows with the major exception of the addition of Santa Anna Winds, which I mentioned above, and the removal of Transcendental Meditation. However they kept the lead-in to Transcendental Meditation (the story about how The Beatles told the Maharishi that The Beach Boys were the most popular American band at the time, which led the Maharishi to want to recruit TBB, etc.).

After the show Al went to the merchandise station to sign autographs. I got my Smile Sessions LP cover signed by him along with my CD of A Postcard from California. Al was extremely nice to my father and I. My father told him how he was in the audience during The Beach Boys' famous 1971 concert at the Fillmore East with the Grateful Dead, and how big of a fan I am of the band now. As for me, I complemented Al on his great performance of Santa Anna Winds. I tried to name-drop this message board to see if he or anyone else reads it and if all the members on here had any bearing on choosing to play the song tonight, but he didn't seem to respond to the name of this message board in particular (although its possible he might not have heard me correctly), but it was cool to get to talk with him and tell him what a big fan I was nonetheless.

By the way, being a deep cut and so infrequently played in concert, for the duration of Santa Anna Winds Jeff Ross held up a piece of paper with the words of the song written on it.

My view of the stage:






Sloop John B:


Good Vibrations:


Vegetables:


Santa Anna Winds, with Jeff Alan Ross holding up the piece of paper with lyrics:


Matt on Don't Worry Baby:


The stuff he autographed for me:




Here's a snippet of Help Me Rhonda I recorded during the encore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJTFmIv7zOw

A few other observations: As others who have attended previous concerts have mentioned, it was definitely an older crowd compared to the Brian and Mike concerts I've attended. There's a chance I might have been the youngest person in the audience, although I can't say that for sure (I'm 28 fwiw). But I was definitely one of the youngest people in the audience. I also noticed there weren't too many people besides me who were dressed in anything Beach Boys-related. I was wearing a Brian Wilson Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Hoodie and a t-shirt that had The Beach Boys Smile logo on it, but the only other person I saw who was dressed in Beach Boys/Brian Wilson gear was one guy sitting somewhat near me who was wearing a blue and white striped shirt – a replica of the ones the band wore in the mid-60s.

[Tony S]

Hope somebody posts the Santa Ana Winds video on You Tube. Must be 40 years since I've heard that one performed live.

[HeyJude]

Hope somebody posts the Santa Ana Winds video on You Tube. Must be 40 years since I've heard that one performed live.

It would indeed be exactly 38, as the BBs only ever did the song on select dates on the 1980 tour. Nothing before or after.

I *believe* Al was slated to perform the song back in the early 2000s when he was scheduled to play the "Pop Overthrow Festival", but that gig got canceled. I also believe Adam Marsland considered pitching the song to Al when they backed Al at a gig, but some other guy in the band didn't like the song (??), and that ended up being the gig where Al first revisited "Honkin' Down the Highway."

[Tony S]

I have a couple of the live versions from 1980 on a couple of boots; the Boys actually did a pretty good job on it. Must have sounded great on just acoustic last night, with Matt's harmony. Hope it's gets posted to You Tube shortly.

[HeyJude]

I had a chance to hear Al's rendition of "Santa Ana Winds." While it certainly sounds (and looks based on the pics) like a rather impromptu performance without rehearsal, his voice sounds f***ing amazing. It still never ceases to amaze me. You'd swear it was recorded back in 1980. I literally can't think of another 75-year-old who sang in the early 60s who still sounds like that now.

[Tony S]

I agree with you Jude Al sounds great. I hope someone posts the video of Santa Ana winds on YouTube I would really like to see it. I thought looking at tomorrow was tremendous and so was the harmonies on Sloop John B.