canuckaudiog
On a quest for high fidelity
Hey guys!
I thought I'd share a little bit of my thoughts on this concert, as I just got back from the event.
For anyone who isn't familiar, basically its the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys coming together. They formed a band as the Beach Boys officially (as other monikers before, however) in 1962.
A little prelude. As far as the original members go, of them, two are now dead. Dennis Wilson died in 1983 and Carl Wilson died in 1998. Carl played lead guitar and was part of the high range harmonics and Dennis sang lead in some of the songs (can't recall exactly which ones right now) as well as played drums. Unfortunately having neither of them around does change the way the Beach Boys present their sound, so before going into this event I decided to leave all expectations aside as I was not sure how they were going to tackle these obstacles.
For the concert, there were 5 members who are associated with the Beach Boys present. Brian Wilson, which needs no introduction, as well as Mike Love, Bruce Johnston (whom wrote a few songs), David Marks (played guitar for them in place of Al Jardine for a couple of years), and Al Jardine. To me this was a big thing because they all decided to get back together after so many years and put their differences aside. Besides, it's just for fun, positive, happy time music right? Anyhow, now onto the main event.
First off there was a back-up band. I can't recall the exact members but if you want to know the information is on the internet. They had most of Brian Wilson's band play as their back-up with some people being supplied elsewhere by Mike Love if I recall right. In total there was about a dozen people playing up on stage at a time, depending on the song and instruments required. This I believe set a good challenge to retain their original sound, but at the same time opened up opportunities for Brian Wilson to play with the sound in a different way and present their old hits in a new light.
Overall, this was a fantastic event. Very well executed and balanced. They played so many of their old hits, some of their more unknown tunes, and some of the new ones. Mostly oldies though. I was quite surprised at not only how coherent it was, but how well the new voices harmonized together and also how much Brian Wilson participated! As some of you may know Brian is scared of stages - he does not like playing at concerts. This was the first time he has toured on stage with the 'Boys for over 20 years. However he actually played lead in quite a few and at least sung in every single song in some way or another. Unfortunately his voice is not quite the same as it used to be, but he still has some of it and it sounded good. The other members, Mike Love and Al Jardine still sounded the same as they always have. Very impressive for their age. Some of their songs did end up sounding different with Brian not having the same voice as he used to as well as Carl not being present, but the person filling in for Carl's spot did a very good job and sounded quite close to him so overall the original sound and "good vibrations" were still there. I didn't feel once at all during the entire time that I was listening to someone other than the Beach Boys, no, this was them for sure and they were playing quite well.
If you've got a chance to check this event out, don't think that because it's not just the original Beach Boys that you're missing out. No, this was an amazing event and they played very well and true to their style. Nothing was missing, and the people that filled in did an excellent job retaining the true Beach Boys sound.
All in all, very well done. I'm grateful to have been able to see the Beach Boys in at least some iteration before they completely decide to go their separate ways, and in this iteration it was very well done and sounded excellent. I and everyone else there enjoyed themselves immensely - you could tell with the standing ovation for almost 5 minutes at the end!
Anyone else who has went feel free to post your thoughts and feelings about the concert.
I thought I'd share a little bit of my thoughts on this concert, as I just got back from the event.
For anyone who isn't familiar, basically its the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys coming together. They formed a band as the Beach Boys officially (as other monikers before, however) in 1962.
A little prelude. As far as the original members go, of them, two are now dead. Dennis Wilson died in 1983 and Carl Wilson died in 1998. Carl played lead guitar and was part of the high range harmonics and Dennis sang lead in some of the songs (can't recall exactly which ones right now) as well as played drums. Unfortunately having neither of them around does change the way the Beach Boys present their sound, so before going into this event I decided to leave all expectations aside as I was not sure how they were going to tackle these obstacles.
For the concert, there were 5 members who are associated with the Beach Boys present. Brian Wilson, which needs no introduction, as well as Mike Love, Bruce Johnston (whom wrote a few songs), David Marks (played guitar for them in place of Al Jardine for a couple of years), and Al Jardine. To me this was a big thing because they all decided to get back together after so many years and put their differences aside. Besides, it's just for fun, positive, happy time music right? Anyhow, now onto the main event.
First off there was a back-up band. I can't recall the exact members but if you want to know the information is on the internet. They had most of Brian Wilson's band play as their back-up with some people being supplied elsewhere by Mike Love if I recall right. In total there was about a dozen people playing up on stage at a time, depending on the song and instruments required. This I believe set a good challenge to retain their original sound, but at the same time opened up opportunities for Brian Wilson to play with the sound in a different way and present their old hits in a new light.
Overall, this was a fantastic event. Very well executed and balanced. They played so many of their old hits, some of their more unknown tunes, and some of the new ones. Mostly oldies though. I was quite surprised at not only how coherent it was, but how well the new voices harmonized together and also how much Brian Wilson participated! As some of you may know Brian is scared of stages - he does not like playing at concerts. This was the first time he has toured on stage with the 'Boys for over 20 years. However he actually played lead in quite a few and at least sung in every single song in some way or another. Unfortunately his voice is not quite the same as it used to be, but he still has some of it and it sounded good. The other members, Mike Love and Al Jardine still sounded the same as they always have. Very impressive for their age. Some of their songs did end up sounding different with Brian not having the same voice as he used to as well as Carl not being present, but the person filling in for Carl's spot did a very good job and sounded quite close to him so overall the original sound and "good vibrations" were still there. I didn't feel once at all during the entire time that I was listening to someone other than the Beach Boys, no, this was them for sure and they were playing quite well.
If you've got a chance to check this event out, don't think that because it's not just the original Beach Boys that you're missing out. No, this was an amazing event and they played very well and true to their style. Nothing was missing, and the people that filled in did an excellent job retaining the true Beach Boys sound.
All in all, very well done. I'm grateful to have been able to see the Beach Boys in at least some iteration before they completely decide to go their separate ways, and in this iteration it was very well done and sounded excellent. I and everyone else there enjoyed themselves immensely - you could tell with the standing ovation for almost 5 minutes at the end!
Anyone else who has went feel free to post your thoughts and feelings about the concert.
