Brian Wilson - The 2017 Pet Sounds Tour thread!

"Isn't that a nice song? Isn't it great?"

 

I didn't realize this thread was here when I saw first night of this tour the other week....here's what I wrote about it for a BBs listserv....

Over all impressions: he was in very good spirits while also seeming
physically ill---I'm guessing he has some cold or throat issues. Some
actual full on coughs while singing, a bit of hoarseness. Vocally I'd
say he was mid or slightly lower than average, I've seen him over 25
times now so have a fair range from which to judge. His abililty to
hold notes or syllables continues to be pretty much gone, sort of
talk-singing through most of it. He was in the codas of a couple of PS
songs, can't remember which exactly, adding what seem to my memory
totally new little vocal improv bits that are neither from record nor
things he's been commonly doing live.

Setlist surprises: Night Was So Young (Brian lead competent, backing
vox sublime, Brian stepped on one of the "do do dit de-dit de"
transition bits before each verse....) and Feel Flows with Blondie
lead and some amazing antique moog-y keybs sounds from Gary G. The
latter I know I've never seen Brian do, the former MAYBE once back in
the early '00s.

I was sixth row but still, and this might have been me, didn't really
feel a lot of glory until weirdly the encore which had started to just
blur for me after hearing that same batch of songs so many times. It
was the first time the crowd really came to life and that fun-time
stuff can just be.....a whole lot of fun.

Possible bad sign for Brian's performing future: this casino gig was
at best 1/3 full. (I don't have any idea what constitutes "concert
promotion" these days tho there have been billboards for it up and
down the 1-10 for the past few weeks at least.)

Al dedicated Surfin USA to Chuck Berry.

Not a lot of use of Al---his solo leads only California and Rhonda. He
really should be given full leads on, say, "I'm Waiting for the Day"
or "Here Today" I think. While 6 years ago or so when Al first started
appearing regularly with Brian he struck me as one of the few 60s
singers still with nearly all his youthful power, I'd say he's down to
just "pretty good."

Overall, with Jeff Darian and Scott B all gone, I definitely feel that
both some of the general joyful verve and very specifically a lot of
the beauty of the vocal arrangements are much weaker in the band now.
At times focusing on the vocal mix it just really was not sublime, or
even very good---just like a bunch of average voices singing lines
together. The full BBs/Wilson amazingness largely replaced with
adequateness. Having seen Mike's BBs just a few months ago, I think I
can say that vocally he does a better job; instrumentally of course
his band is lacking because of the sheer size of Brian's operation and
the actual horns and interesting percussion.

 

Very nice. I'm pretty sure I've seen this song done at least once-- Think it was the short tour before BWPS was launched.

 

I was hoping Dave Marks would show up.....I had the lucky privilege of talking to him for about an hour a few months back and he said he was on good enough terms with both Mike and Brian that he was generally at least asked to appear when they played in SoCal, but no such luck....

 

Never seen it live. I was lucky enough to get to see 'I'd Love Just Once To See You' on the Lucky Old Sun shows in London, which was really fun and something I never thought I'd hear him do. It's nice that there's still deep cuts being played live though, Feel Flows is another nice addition.

 

Thanks for sharing. Brian in great voice.

Yes Brian, it's a nice song!

 

And your point is?

 

Here's a rehearsal of The Night Was So Young that shows Brian really going for the higher parts in a few places - you can tell when a song engages him, and this rare cut deserves to remain in the set if he keeps trying to knock it out of the park with such enthusiasm:

 

This just made my morning! Damned near welling up here. It's moments like this that absolutely make it worth my while seeing Brian live, those moments when he's into it and engaged. Now who wouldn't pay handsomely for a Love You tour after this and Honkin' Down The Highway last year?

Thanks for posting this; best accompaniment to my morning coffee in a long time.

 

If they brought back Taylor Mills for Let's Put Our Hearts Together, that'd be the icing on the cake.

 

At the Vancouver show on Saturday night (April 8th) there was a spontaneous standing ovation for Brian after "God Only Knows"...it was pretty cool. Of course he told us all to sit down. I think it made him feel good though - he and the band seemed more inspired after that.

You can see the start of the standing ovation at the end of this blurry cell phone video someone made from the balcony (at 3:32):

 

At the Vancouver show Al Jardine somehow accidentally sang: "Now the poor cock cook he caught the fits" in Sloop John B.

At 1:37 in the video below:

 

Not trying to be disagreeable, but that was terrible. You might say that he's just changing the way he sings because of his phrasing, but, really, he's just throwing words out, almost speaking them. Yes, he attempted to go higher on a few parts, but it was very weak. Brian has really regressed live, and I'm surprised more fans aren't troubled by his performances.

 

I stopped seeing him live for this reason. I don't begrudge others who enjoy the shows the ability to attend, but for me, as great as the music is, witnessing that spectacle is just sad. I obviously can't read his mind, but i can't help but think that he'd rather be somewhere else.

 

I saw him in Charlotte,NC in September 2016. He had Blondie Chaplin and Al and Matt Jardine. Would be cool to see David Marks in there. Of course Bruce Johnston is firmly entrenched in the Mike Love camp.

 

I took my daughter to Brian's concert in Vancouver on Saturday night. This is the younger daughter, who is a budding audiophile at 20 and who absolutely loves music. The tickets were quite expensive, but we ended up in the third row. Well worth it! One of the best concerts that I have ever seen in my 53 years on this planet : ).

I am off to dinner with my wife, but I will post some photos from the evening, later on tonight : )

Don

 

I agree with you and Pierino. It's just sad at this point and I wonder how much Brian has to say about doing these tours? Plenty of other ways to let his musical creativity flow instead of croaking out his catalog of hits around the world on stage.

 

Billy Hinsche was 1st chair keyboards: he came back after all this time and of course he knew ALL the parts, he was incredible. A lot of parts were doubled, so there was another keyboardist as well. One part had the horn player on organ + 2 keys. Great to see him out again.

 

When I saw Brian last year, I was first a bit worried that the old hands from the Beach Boys era band (e.g. Billy Hinsche and Matt Jardine) wouldn't mesh well with the solo band members (who were far more precise in their recreation of the studio sound), but the two factions worked really well and I liked the looseness that they and especially Blondie add to the sound.

 

Brian has good shows and bad shows, and they are working him like a dog and he must be tired as hell too.
He is nearly 75 for gosh sakes
He never really enjoyed playing live at any point in his career, but occasionally when he was feeling good,
could bring out the big guns. Brian's magic has always been in the studio, and i think people go to see
the man who created the magic. He is mighty respected, and fans appreciate that.
Real fans know what they could be in for anyways with Brian live.