Washington DC July 4, 1980

[Bean Bag]

This is the greatest concert ever.  "We the People."


I have, what I assume is, a rather incomplete recording of this since it has only 14 songs.  Perhaps what I have is just the tracks used from the HBO special, I don't know.  Checking out the info and set-list link at bellegio I see there's a full show -- 22 or so tracks.  

Anyway...EXCELLENT show.  In fact "excellent" doesn't fully capture it.  It's more religious than that to me...it's biblical.  This is it!  There's something about their mighty return in the late 70s and early 80s for me...Denny's powerful drums  "BOOM BAP BOOM BAP" on every song.  Why on earth this isn't legitimately released is criminal.  They're still playing new material, Lady Lynda, etc. which is nice.  1/2 million people, Mike Love in his trucker hat glory, Denny, Brian and Carl, the whole 9.  Although they were off and on during these years, this is right up there with the highest of highs.

[Beach Boy]

Those were the days ... .

Rocking performances, still many new songs & rarities and all 6 Beach Boys onstage with just 3 backing members, 2 if you leave Bobby Figueroa out, because his percussion isn't audible. Every lead-guitar solo came from Carl.     And of course many, many (young) people in the audiences, showing the Beach Boys were still a "huge" band.

[Rocker]

It was a nice show, with some cool songs. But the mix from the HBO-special is just terrible. I think a better mix would probably make the concert better. Still I prefer Knebworth

[Jason]

Such a shame that a year later they were so poor on the 4th of July that it ranked as arguably one of their two or three worst shows ever.

[Andrew G. Doe]

The HBO special is heavily post dubbed. The show was broadcast live on FM - tapes are easy enough to come by. Allegedly. 

[Alex]

Is this show as good as any of their early 70s shows?

[Andrew G. Doe]

No, nothing like as good.

[urbanite]

The July 4th show with Jimmy Page was very good, with a healthy Brian on stage.