BEACH BOYS in early 1983 .....

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GoodKitty, Jul 18, 2020.

  1. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pacific
    I've been on this forum for most of three years now ….. It certainly has opened my mind to a lot of music and sparked many deeper interests and pursuits ….

    ….. one of them being the Beach Boys.


    I attended a Beach Boys concert on Feb. 27, 1983 when I was 17 and a high-school senior…. We didn't get a whole lot of concerts, and this was on a Sunday afternoon at an unusual venue that was closer to home than usual, a small-ish stadium used mostly for high-school football and soccer games …. so, I went to it .....


    What did I know about the Beach Boys then ? Not so much, really, but of course their greatest hits were pretty much an inescapable part of American life ….. They sure seemed like "oldies" even then *…. I'm pretty sure I knew the names "Wilson" and "Mike Love" but I doubt I spent any time thinking about who exactly was on stage that day .…. Brian ? Dennis ? not really a concern to this typical Zep/Floyd/Beatles/Stones/Who/Jimi/Doors/Rush/AC-DC/VanHalen kid ….. I just cruised about and found people I knew, got close to the stage for a while or two …..

    ..... and afterwards ..... just didn't give it a whole lotta thought ….. lost the ticket-stub too, and the exact date with it.



    …..Until more recently ….. when I started to wonder things like "hmmm, who was there ?? was Dennis Wilson at that concert ? Wasn't he kicked out of the band ? he drowned later that year...."



    ☆ well, I recently found a few photos from it on the internet ! :pineapple:



    Yep, Dennis was there, in his shirtless glory ! but I still don't know if he played drums or sang a song that day …. sadly, I just don't remember.


    So .... I'm putting this out there to see what the experts here can say about what was going on with the Beach Boys at that time…. inter-band dynamics and such …. Dennis' status ….. Brian's status .....

    I know now that they were mid-way through their then-longest album hiatus (1980-1985) ….. When had Brian last appeared on stage with them ? and who were the sidemen, what were their stories ?

    Also, this was just 6 weeks before Reagan's Interior Secretary James Watt banned them from a Washington D.C. July 4th event ..... "Rock acts are the wrong element" ...... ridiculous !
    When the Beach Boys Faced a Surprising July 4 Ban


    * and about them being "oldies" ….. the five principals averaged only about 39 years then ! :laugh:




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    Last edited: Jul 18, 2020
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  2. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pacific
  3. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pacific
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    I have that recording from Jamaica in Nov. 1982, that's as close as I've gotten to the show I was at ….




    I'm aware of a recording from Pomona CA in September '83, would like to find that one and/or others from earlier in 1983. Recommendations ?
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2020
  4. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy

    Location:
    USA
    It’s cool you got to see them with Dennis (wonder if Brian was there too). But always bitter sweet when it’s after the fact...you appreciate them now but not necessarily then. there’s no going back....unless...someone has the show in video - now that would be cool
     
  5. smitquest

    smitquest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lancaster, NY, USA
    even beyond the live performances, this is an era which is usually glossed over in the histories....what WAS going on? carl and dennis were in and out, brian was in bad shape, but....was there sporadic recording? were carl & denny doing anything together? always curious...

    (great pics, by the way!)

    smitquest
     
  6. dgp17

    dgp17 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Lincoln, England
    Great pix. Some of those must have been among the last of Dennis, sadly. Surprise surprise, there's a pic of Bruce adjusting his microphone.
     
  7. They did themselves no favors with the style of clothes they wore on stage. Maybe for a round or two of golf, but on stage?
     
  8. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

     
  9. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York
    I look at these pics of Dennis and it kills me to know he would be gone by late December of the same year 1983. Good to see these pics though. Years of the fast life have caught up to him even before these photos. Great thread.

    R.I.P. Dennis
     
  10. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy

    Location:
    USA
    This was absolutely a ridiculous entrance to the stage
     
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  11. jwb1231970

    jwb1231970 Ordinary Guy

    Location:
    USA
    Agreed - as good as their music was and is they never as a band were cool in terms of what was going on
     
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  12. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian

    Location:
    .
    It’s an official Beach Boys era called, “The Shorts Years”. :winkgrin:
     
  13. egebamyasi

    egebamyasi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Worcester, MA
    I believe that was the silly hat era.
     
  14. HILO

    HILO Senior Member

    Location:
    Keaau.Hi.
    Let us know if you find a link to the Pomona '83 concert.I have had a recording of the Jamaica concert that is one of my favorites.
     
  15. Psychedelic Good Trip

    Psychedelic Good Trip Beautiful Psychedelic Colors Everywhere

    Location:
    New York
    Interesting time to look back at Beach Boys 1980-1984. I mean all these years later.
     
  16. Cool hand luke

    Cool hand luke There you go man, keep as cool as you can

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Same thing has happened to me, I have been digging in deep to The Beach Boys since joining this forum last year. I had been an early stuff/Pet Sounds fan since early 90's...I did have the "Classics selected by Brian" CD, and those later cuts on it seeped in a little more with each listen over the years. Joining the forum last year sparked my interest in checking into more of the post-PS stuff, and wow, what an eye-opener. Love that the Smiley Smile through Holland run. And just picked up a copy on the first box set....damn.
    Seeing the dynamic of the band, the brothers in particular, is fascinating to me. I have gained a whole new appreciation for Dennis and Carl (what an eye-opener "POB" is). Saw Brian and his band with Al & Blondie back in January, it was one of the most exciting concerts I ever attended. What a sound and a presentation. I hope Brian was glad to be there, it is hard to tell. (I believe he wants to be there.)
    You got to see them all, lucky you! I hear ya on the "can't remember much" though. When Steve Earle opened for a Dylan show I attended in the late 80's, I couldn't tell you a thing about Steve Earle from that night, but about 7 years later I became a huge fan of his, and wishing I had paid more attention back then.
    The pictures you posted are awesome. Look at Dennis, he almost seems like a man possessed. Cool and sad....
     
  17. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    According to this database, Brian would have been present (he was allegedly living in Hawaii at the time receiving treatment from Landy):
    gigs83.html

    Dennis didn't get kicked out of the band until the fall. One suspects had he survived the events of December 28, he would have been allowed back in to the band at some point in '84, presuming he agreed to rehab and other concessions.
     
  18. JuanTCB

    JuanTCB Senior Member

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Damn - Dennis looks kind of rough there but he's the picture of health compared to how he looked even 4 or 5 months later. I didn't realize how quickly he spiraled out of control in '83.
     
  19. Brian Doherty

    Brian Doherty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    What great pix! I honestly has a vision of Denny in his last year that was a lot less robust and buff than that. Sort of saw him drunk-bloated. Interesting to see not the case. Such good photos!
     
  20. Craig Slowinski

    Craig Slowinski Forum Resident

    Location:
    Omaha
    Dennis was with them pretty consistently that year until September. Brian was indeed in Hawaii with Landy's team but played only one show with them in Maui. Judging by the pictures he was not at this show. If you have the Jamaica November '82 soundboard recording, then you have a show with an identical band lineup to the February '83 show you saw: Dennis, Carl, Mike, Al, and Bruce, with Jeff Foskett singing Brian's high parts and playing guitar (he's in one of those pics), Billy Hinsche on piano, Ed Carter on bass (also in one of those pics), Mike Meros on organ & synth, and Mike Kowalski on percussion & drums. All those guys were longtime sidemen. Foskett was in Brian's band until about six years ago, then went back to the Beach Boys, but has had some health issues and sadly may have lost his singing voice. Billy was of course part of Dino Desi and Billy and Carl Wilson's brother in law. Ed Carter and Mike Kowalski started with the band in 1968 and stayed for decades. Mike Meros sadly passed away around 2007. There are several circulating shows from the first half of 1983. The September Pomona show you speak of is historically significant, as it's the last time Dennis appeared with the band (no, Brian wasn't at that show, either).
     
  21. skyblue17

    skyblue17 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Cool, thanks for sharing! Things must have been interesting at this point. Al looks great, though!
     
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  22. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    That is what is interesting because this show is the Maui concert, which Brian allegedly played, yet based on the photos, he doesn't appear to be on stage (although to be fair, there are a number of angles not visible).
     
  23. ShadowNoze

    ShadowNoze Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, Texas
    According to Ian Rusten and Jon Stebbins' "Beach Boys In Concert" book, Brian played the show, but didn't play any shows in March or April.
     
  24. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    There is a clip (not dated) of Dennis looking really bad in the "American Band" documentary, struggling through "You Are So Beautiful." It's pretty awful.

    I'm sure the shows could still be wonderful, but to my mind the early 80s was the saddest era of the Beach Boys. Dennis sinking, Carl forced out for a year, Brian seemingly beyond fixing. I think it's safe to say that nobody at the the time saw Brian's (and the BB's) comeback coming.

    To my mind the turning point was "Getcha Back." Not a perfect record, but an enjoyable one, and a comeback hit with Brian singing. Set the stage for better (and worse) things to come.
     
  25. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    There's some video footage in the documentary The Beach Boys: An American Band that I think may have been a bit later than this concert. Dennis sang "You Are So Beautiful" but he shouldn't have. He looked rough and beaten down and he had totally wrecked his once beautiful voice with substance abuse.
     
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