Brian at The Hollywood Bowl Sept 12, 2008

[My3kGT]

Brian Wilson, Hollywood Bowl, Friday September 12 show,

Brian continues to surprise with this show at the Hollywood Bowl.  Based on the set list from the Oakland show of a week before, I expected to hear the usual set of BB classics as the opener, then a full rendition of TLOS.  For whatever reason, that was not to be the case. 

The show started at 8:30 with a performance by the LA Philharmonic Orchestra.  Brian came on at 9:00, and opened the show with “Forever She’ll Be My Surfer Girl”.  I did not take notes on the set list so this is coming from memory.  The first set also included, I believe, “Lucky Old Sun”, “Going Home”, “Midnight’s Another Day” and “Can’t Wait Too Long” and concluded with “God Only Knows”.  Brian was in good spirits and generally more animated than usual.  He also took a shot at some humor, dedicating the “Row Your Boat” sing-along to his ex-wife and sister-in-law, the “Row-vels.”  The first set was very short, only 20 minutes long.  The orchestra backed up the band for the first set.   

After a 20 minute intermission, the band returned without the orchestra and launched into the usual BB classics.  He did perform “Our Prayer” and the “cantina” version of H & V from Smile.  Somewhere in the middle of the set Brian got up and walked off stage.  At first everyone though this was another planned break (but the band never moved), but Taylor Mills ran across the stage and brought him back.  I guess is Brian’s way of going into the encores, but it looked very odd, more like he just wandered off the stage.  The show ended at about 10:30 with “Southern California” as the closing song.

The show was not a sell out, 10K plus, the Bowl has a capacity of 17K.  Considering the nightmare of So Cal traffic on Friday evenings I can see why many opted for the weekend shows.

I will admit I was rather disappointed in this show, as I fully expected to hear “TLOS” performed in its entirety, which I thought was the point of this tour.  Also, it was a very short show, only about 70 minutes total.  The music itself was excellent as always, it just seems there should have been a bit more of it.  I have checked to local papers but I haven’t seen any reviews of the two weekend shows to find out if this was the set list for all three performances or not.  Again, this was not a bad show but delivered less than I expected.

[c-man]

Yeah, the Hollywood Bowl shows were advertised on brianwilson.com as a "hits" show with "selections" from TLOS, wheareas the other shows on this tour are advertised as "Full TLOS performances".

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

What a rip.

[onkster]

I was at the Saturday show, which appeared to be totally sold out.

Pretty much the same set, minus "Row Your Boat"--and his current family was in the front row instead of the Rovell sisters.  (And hey...how come I never see them at the Sherman Oaks Target any more??)

Brian was in very good voice, and perhaps too good of a mood.  He tended to rush his vocals a bit, which looked like it was throwing off his band a little.  For MAD, his first line..."Lost my way"...came in a full bar early!  But then he picked it up and all was fine.  On "Our Prayer", he reached the first top note before everybody else, which was weird, but then...everything was fine afterward.

I too would have liked to have heard all of TLOS, but the Bowl crowd always feels a tad too laid back to be patient for something like that...and I have to say, despite having heard "Good Vibrations" and many of the other standards way too many times, that damn band just kicks ass on it all and makes it seem fresh even to these tired ears!

It was a pretty enjoyable, if brief, show, but a nice way to end another Cali summer. 

[Mr. Wilson]

Yea i was at friday show + enjoyed it very much..BW was on that nite

[Kamandi]

Just adding some additional observations to the friday 12 show. I had never been to the Hollywood Bowl before and this was a great introduction, to hear the LA Philharmonic and then Brian Wilson and his band. Brian seemed a bit tired but relaxed. He dedicated "Row Your Boat" to his "ex-wife, because her name was ROW-vell". I looked with the binoculars to see the current wife's reaction but she didnt turn around.

It was a very mixed crowd. One thing that lingers is there was a young girl, maybe late teens early twenties, who was with her family, not a BW fan but as the concert went on she got way into the music and Brian, to the point where she would mimic his awkward hand gestures during the songs. Not in a sarcastic or mean way but in a tender manner with a look of such compassion to ol' BW as if it was some way to connect with him. My description doesnt do the actual event justice but it was something to experience.

The high end crowd in the front tried to bail out early, which seemed so disrespectful. Only a few of the BB circle stayed seated, the current family and the ex. However the "beat the crowd" folks were prevented from leaving due to the fireworks and bottlenecked at the exit.

Overheard a old hipster type while leaving the Bowl "I wish they would have done the fireworks during Good Vibrations. I would have really lost my crap!" except he didnt say crap.