I don't often post reviews on this blog, though I'd like to do more. Here's something I just posted on my Facebook page, however.
Been meaning to post on this. Before heading to Gainesville for daughter Samantha's graduation, Robin and I went to the Straz Center to see the Beach Boys perform as part of their 50th reunion concert tour. It was, in a word, remarkable, and we had fabulous seats in the middle of the sixth row, thanks to some assistance from pal Michael Kilgore.
I suppose the more knowledge you bring to a Beach Boys (or any group's) concert the more you appreciate the performance (or, conversely, the more you are disappointed). In my case, I was deeply familiar with (and in fact knew all the lyrics to) all but two of the 43 songs performed. I usually knew what song was coming after the first note. That was sort of disturbing to realize, of course.
The remaining live members of the original early 60s version of the group have reunited for this tour, putting aside legal grievances and artistic disagreements for purposes of celebrating the music. And. Wow. It was an incredible evening, from the opening "Do It Again," to the closing "Fun, Fun, Fun." The song selection (always problematic when you've had so many hits and produced so much excellent music that -wasn't- a hit, though often brilliant artistically) was something I might have dreamed up for the band myself, given the chance. Personal favorites like "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Forever," "The Little Girl I Once Knew," "Heroes and Villains," "Surf's Up," "All This and That," "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times," "This Whole World" and a heart-breakingly beautiful version of "Disney Girls" were balanced against the surfing/hot rod hits and "Kokomo" and "Good Vibrations."
Al Jardine (I wrote a section-front piece on Al many years ago for the St. Louis Globe Democrat. He was great to interview) was terrific. Mike Love was still moving around (some) at age 72 and sang just fine; Bruce Johnston struggled on "Wendy" and then was terrific on "Disney Girls"; original band member David Marks who left, returned, left and has now returned again, was great on guitar and some vocals; and the troubled genius, Brian Wilson, was mostly quiet -- even mopey -- sitting alone at a white piano while the high falsetto parts that once were his were performed admirably, even beautifully, by Jeff Foskett. And then, every now and again, Brian sang and on several songs it was to weep, hearing him do that, knowing the past, seeing the future for the group. Everyone was my age, unless the grandchildren came along, too. And we all "got" it, all of it. Several thousand of the cognoscenti were there, with almost no one yelling for some favorite hit while something beautiful, though not a hit, was being performed.
It was wonderful.
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