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Post by carllove on Jun 21, 2022 16:31:30 GMT
A highlight for me - Blondie singing Wild Honey!
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Post by lonelysummer on Jun 22, 2022 2:33:39 GMT
Again, it gets back to some people just wanting the opportunity to worship at the feet of the master. I felt that way about Chuck Berry and Little Richard; but I would have felt ripped off if they didn't deliver a good performance. The other part of it is people who are fans of his band. I don't deny that they do a great job playing those old songs; but I don't feel any connection with them the way I do with Brian and Al. I'm not gonna cough up big bucks to see Brian just sit at the piano, and Al to sing lead on one song in two hours. Mike Love may be an evil @$$hole - at least that's what I've been told for 40 years - but he can still engage an audience, can still sing the songs decently; and his current band is at least as good as Brian's. In a way, I'm kind of thankful that the main men of my other favorite band, the Kinks, have hung it up. Dave never did sound good again after his stroke in 2004; and Ray seems to be retired now. Hasn't toured in 6 or 7 years now. The wonderful thing is you have that choice to pay to see Brian Wilson live, or to not. Some fans want to take any opportunity to see these legendary songs performed by a top band with Brian Wilson there in the flesh, and that's fine. And that gets back to my point - they just want to be in the same room as the man for a couple hours; breathe the same air he's breathing. "Hey, maybe some of that genius will rub off on me". A friend once got a guitar pick from Carl Perkins and sent it to me. So I stupidly used it and it broke during the first song! No magic there!
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Post by kds on Jun 22, 2022 12:20:18 GMT
Thanks for the videos, Carllove. I'm guessing the balloons are for Brian's birthday?
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 22, 2022 12:21:16 GMT
Seconding the thanks. What were your thoughts about the show? I'd love to hear how it went from your perspective.
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Post by carllove on Jun 22, 2022 14:46:58 GMT
My honest feeling about the Brian Wilson concert - It was ok. It had some great moments, and some not so great.
It started with everyone singing Happy Birthday to Brian, on a stage covered with gold balloons, which must have been special for his Birthday, because I haven’t seen them in other videos from this tour. Brian was seated directly facing the audience at a white piano. I thought that felt odd and a bit creepy. I guess that’s one way of trying to disguise the fact that Brian isn’t playing the piano. I didn’t enjoy the hits medley from California Girls to Don’t Worry Baby, because it felt more like a tribute band singing and playing The Beach Boys, since Brian pretty much didn’t sing and you couldn’t hear Al either.
Then Blondie came on stage and sang Wild Honey, Long Promised Road and Sail On, Sailor and I was in my happy place! Blondie interacted with the audience, shredded his gold topped Les Paul and sang great. He was all over the stage and changed guitars in between songs. He told the story about Brian writing a song with a “shuffle groove” that ended up being Sail on Sailor. Since no one else on stage hardly ever moved, Blondie’s energy was what was needed to pump things up.
The band then played Wouldn’t It Be Nice and Sloop John B, which again, I love Matt, but once again it felt like a tribute band, because I couldn’t hear Al at all during Sloop. Then they introduced God Only Knows and I was so happy to hear Brian sing it. I’ve seen several other recent performances of Brian on You Tube singing (or not) during this song, and I have to say this was his best performance. That alone was worth the price of admission.
Then we get to see the only combined performance with the Chicago horns adding some punch to Darlin. Darian Sounded great and I am glad I got to see him perform live.
Another highlight - They played Hero’s and Villains! I was so mesmerized I didn’t get a video. I just wanted to drink it in. That is such a great song live. I can’t even describe how great it sounded. It didn’t matter who was singing, because there was Brian on stage on his Birthday and I was hearing one of his masterpieces played by his band, live.
They perform Good Vibrations, followed by a hoarse Al singing Help Me, Rhonda. I think Al is starting to loose his voice. That was a bit disappointing to me. I thought his voice was eternal.
No Love and Mercy. We got Surfin USA and Fun Fun Fun to end the show. I was really disappointed that was how it ended. I really wanted to hear Brian end the show with Love and Mercy. At least I got God Only Knows.
Chicago was good - but Robert Lamm’s voice isn’t what it used to be either. What I did notice was how important the video boards behind the band are. The whole Brian Wilson set, it was just the profile of Brian in black and white with his name on top. Just the cool graphics that Chicago used, pumped up the energy. I enjoyed the vintage shots and videos that Mike’s band used when I saw The Beach Boys earlier this year.
I am glad I went. There were indeed some very special moments. In my honest opinion though - I actually enjoyed The Beach Boys performance earlier this year, more than I enjoyed The Brian Wilson concert. Mike and Bruce still sing their own leads and do it remarkably well for their age. Even though much of it is corny, Mike’s audience banter makes everything better. I’m not a big Mike fan, but he can put on a show.
Still - I will always have the memory of hearing the great Brian Wilson sing God Only Knows on his 80th Birthday. I will treasure that memory, no matter how bittersweet, forever.
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Post by kds on Jun 22, 2022 15:20:38 GMT
I can't remember, was this your first time seeing Brian and his band?
Maybe Al was just having an off night. At least that's what I hope. Is he not singing lead on Sloop anymore?
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 22, 2022 15:42:43 GMT
Maybe Al was just having an off night. At least that's what I hope. I think that while his voice has held up better than anyone else's from the band, it has also shown more wear in recent years. Nature is nature, after all. Hopefully that specific show was just a matter of an off night, a sore throat, etc., but realistically he's going to turn 80 in less than 3 months.
People were saying "Al sounds the same as he did in the '60s!" back when he first rejoined Brian, in 2006 or 2007 or whenever that was. And he did sound amazing then. But that was more than 15 years ago now.
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Post by carllove on Jun 22, 2022 15:47:43 GMT
I can't remember, was this your first time seeing Brian and his band? Maybe Al was just having an off night. At least that's what I hope. Is he not singing lead on Sloop anymore? Yes - I have never seen Brian and his band before. Brian wasn’t performing with The Beach Boys in mid 1986 when I saw them the first time. I was just glad to get to see him once in my life. I’ve never seen Blondie either, so that was a real treat.
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Post by kds on Jun 22, 2022 15:50:34 GMT
Maybe Al was just having an off night. At least that's what I hope. I think that while his voice has held up better than anyone else's from the band, it has also shown more wear in recent years. Nature is nature, after all. Hopefully that specific show was just a matter of an off night, a sore throat, etc., but realistically he's going to turn 80 in less than 3 months.
People were saying "Al sounds the same as he did in the '60s!" back when he first rejoined Brian, in 2006 or 2007 or whenever that was. And he did sound amazing then. But that was more than 15 years ago now.
Father Time is undefeated. While going down a bit of a live BB YouTube rabbit hole this past weekend, I was taken aback a bit by how good Mike's voice sounded from one of the 2012 reunion shows. I know it's been a decade, but it sounded far better than most of what was released on his recent run of solo albums from 2016-19.
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Post by carllove on Jun 22, 2022 15:51:10 GMT
Here is a bit of Al’s performance. Yes, sadly, he no longer takes the lead on Sloop John B 😞
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 22, 2022 15:51:50 GMT
I can't remember, was this your first time seeing Brian and his band? Maybe Al was just having an off night. At least that's what I hope. Is he not singing lead on Sloop anymore? Yes - I have never seen Brian and his band before. Brian wasn’t performing with The Beach Boys in mid 1986 when I saw them the first time. I was just glad to get to see him once in my life. I’ve never seen Blondie either, so that was a real treat. I'm so glad you got to see him at least once, but I do feel bad that you only got to see him at this late date. He really was so much better during that post-Smile run. He wasn't a great singer or performer, but he was far better circa TLOS, for example.
I might just be nostalgic--and no offense to the current band at all, they're great--but I felt there was something special about the bands in that era, as well, with Scott Bennett, Jeff Foskett, Taylor Mills, Nelson Bragg, Nick Walusko, and Jim Hines. Sometimes I think how amazing it is that the same band has been with Brian all these years ... then I realize how much turnover it's actually had.
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Post by kds on Jun 22, 2022 15:54:30 GMT
I can't remember, was this your first time seeing Brian and his band? Maybe Al was just having an off night. At least that's what I hope. Is he not singing lead on Sloop anymore? Yes - I have never seen Brian and his band before. Brian wasn’t performing with The Beach Boys in mid 1986 when I saw them the first time. I was just glad to get to see him once in my life. I’ve never seen Blondie either, so that was a real treat. That's I'd thought you said previously, but I couldn't remember. One thing I've noticed in attending Brian shows from 2015-2020 has been an drop in the overall energy level of the show (other than Blondie's appearances of course). When I first saw him in Philly in 2015, the whole band was just on fire. When I last saw them in 2020, the band just seemed a lot more stoic overall. I don't want to say it seemed like they were going through the motions, but compared to the show I saw in 2015, and especially compared to the show from 2005 I found on Youtube, that's just the impression that I got.
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Post by kds on Jun 22, 2022 15:55:27 GMT
Yes - I have never seen Brian and his band before. Brian wasn’t performing with The Beach Boys in mid 1986 when I saw them the first time. I was just glad to get to see him once in my life. I’ve never seen Blondie either, so that was a real treat. I'm so glad you got to see him at least once, but I do feel bad that you only got to see him at this late date. He really was so much better during that post-Smile run. He wasn't a great singer or performer, but he was far better circa TLOS, for example.
I might just be nostalgic--and no offense to the current band at all, they're great--but I felt there was something special about the bands in that era, as well, with Scott Bennett, Jeff Foskett, Taylor Mills, Nelson Bragg, Nick Walusko, and Jim Hines. Sometimes I think how amazing it is that the same band has been with Brian all these years ... then I realize how much turnover it's actually had.
I feel like the band lost of bit of pep with Bragg and Bennett each left.
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Post by carllove on Jun 22, 2022 16:07:21 GMT
I'm so glad you got to see him at least once, but I do feel bad that you only got to see him at this late date. He really was so much better during that post-Smile run. He wasn't a great singer or performer, but he was far better circa TLOS, for example.
I might just be nostalgic--and no offense to the current band at all, they're great--but I felt there was something special about the bands in that era, as well, with Scott Bennett, Jeff Foskett, Taylor Mills, Nelson Bragg, Nick Walusko, and Jim Hines. Sometimes I think how amazing it is that the same band has been with Brian all these years ... then I realize how much turnover it's actually had.
I feel like the band lost of bit of pep with Bragg and Bennett each left. Yeah - other than Darian and Blondie - the band felt very low energy. Heroes and Villains was the exception, but other than that, not a lot of excitement. I actually enjoyed Mike’s band more. A lot of pep there.
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Post by kds on Jun 22, 2022 16:15:10 GMT
I feel like the band lost of bit of pep with Bragg and Bennett each left. Yeah - other than Darian and Blondie - the band felt very low energy. Heroes and Villains was the exception, but other than that, not a lot of excitement. I actually enjoyed Mike’s band more. A lot of pep there. I'd have to say that the last Mike and Bruce show I attended (Dec 2018) was better than the last Brian show I attended (Jan 2020). At this point, having seen all the bands in recent years, with the exception of the Friends and Family Band, if I had to chose one band to see, it would probably be Mike and Bruce at this point. Just to be clear, my saying that is not me saying that Brian needs to retire or anything like that. If he's still touring, and people still want to see him, then that's fine.
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