I’m going tomorrow at the Hollywod Bowl-- a 19th century stadium that won’t accept mobile tickets, so I actually had to print! 
The BW Band is doing around 18 other tunes.
Is anyone else going to this show? I’m just thinking that “wouldn’t it be nice” to meet a doper, and it has really been too long…
Not going to your show, but we caught the tour back at the end on May.
Excellent! With three Beach Boys!
Al Jardine was there, and Blondie Chaplin came on for several songs. And, yes, that does mean you’ll get some of ‘Holland’, assuming he’s still with the tour.
We picked up almost the last tickets available, so these shots aren’t really that good. (Start at the bottom right)
I saw him here at a sold out show.
Everyone else I went with really liked it . . . I thought it was kind of sad and mediocre.
My one sentence review is: “A rock-solid Beach Boys cover band, with a horrible lead singer.”
Brian Wilson sits behind a piano, immobile, maybe playing it occasionally. He sings . . . occasionally seeming to drop out of verses randomly, while other singers in the band pick up instantly where he trails off.
His stage presence is awful, his banter is occasionally funny, but you can’t help but shake the feeling that you’re laughing at him and not with him.
He never smiled. Blondie Chaplin never smiled, and kind of wandered on and off stage aimlessly. Al Jardine was the only original member who seemed to still belong on stage, or who gave any sense of actually wanting to be there.
Other reviews of this tour that I’ve read don’t paint nearly as sad a picture as I do, so I’m willing to believe that maybe it was a bad night for Wilson (he could not enter or leave the stage without physical help from a gruff roadie who escorted him on and off), but I also think a lot of folks have stars in their eyes.
Solid cover band, and you pay some extra money to watch some old greats who used to have it but don’t any more parade in front of you.
Al Jardine’s son is in the band and hits all the high harmonies really nicely; he was the stand out performer of the show.
I’ve seen Brian just sitting, half zoned out during a show, but this gig he was definitely more on the ball and enjoying it. His voice is obviously not so good these days but he reached, or held, some notes I doubted he would! And, as you say, Matthew Jardine helped a lot on the vocals.
I wouldn’t have said Chaplin wandered on and off aimlessly, he was on when the songs called for his guitar or vocals (mainly the Holland songs) and later for the extended jam-like sections and encores.
I think they did one song off the most recent album, which was so poor I think I just gave it away to charity, which was like a poor copy of a Beach Boys song, but the rest was pretty good, I thought. Much more to the set than just Pet Sounds.
As for not smiling, we were too far away to see but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Yeah. Like I said, I’m sure part of my experience was just being an off night. It’s clear that Brian Wilson is not well, and so I’ll bet there are better and worse shows.
Some friends and I complied a list of bizarre things said during the show by Brian Wilson:
[ul]
[li]“Stop clapping!”[/li][li]“This one has some lyrics. You might find them interesting.”[/li][li]“Paul McCartney called me and told me this is the greatest song ever written.”[/li][li]“This is an instrumental. No singing!”[/li][/ul]
And a very non-sequitur moment of Brian Wilson leading us in a 10 second version of Row Row Row Your Boat.
There was at least one point where Chaplin came on stage, then walked back off again (clearly a missed cue). It just added to the sense of “old addled people who don’t know/care enough to give a polished performance.”
All that said, there were some great moments for sure. In fact, the encore, which was like 10 minutes of back-to-back hits was phenomenal.
(I feel like I’m threadshitting a little, which is not my intent, nor is it to slander Brian Wilson . . . just relaying my experience from one night!)
Which song was that?
The greatest song ever written? God Only Knows. Which is kind of a true story; McCartney has praised that song a number of times (not sure if he actually called up Brian Wilson to tell him so).