O2 Apollo, Manchester –
Tuesday 24th May 2016
Usher Hall, Edinburgh –
Thursday 26th May 2016
Royal Concert Hall,
Glasgow – Friday 27th May 2016
The Sage, Gateshead -
Sunday 29th May 2016
Philharmonic Hall,
Liverpool – Tuesday 31st May 2016
Nottingham Concert Hall
– Wednesday 1st June 2016
Brian Wilson had
already been on the UK leg of the tour for a week when we caught up with it in
Manchester and stayed with it until their final show in Nottingham. Our seats
ranged from the stalls (Edinburgh / Glasgow) to front row circle (Manchester,
Gateshead, Liverpool) and mid circle in Nottingham.
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| Nottingham |
Unfortunately,
the Nottingham show was experienced by Minty from the back of the stalls, near
the exit, due to a bad cough and the people on the end of the row were not
willing to swap seats that would allow her to enjoy the show with the ability
to duck out every now and then. The Pets Sounds piece of the Liverpool show was
also seen from the sidelines for the same reason.
Brian’s band
has changed a little since his last UK shows. Missing Scott Bennett and Darian
Sahanaja, the keyboards were manned by Gary Griffin and ex Beach Boy Billy
Hinsche. Matt Jardine (son of Al Jardine) now covers all the falsetto parts
since Jeffrey Foskett departed the Brian Wilson camp for the touring Beach Boys
a couple of years ago. On board for this tour were “special guests” Al Jardine,
a founding member of The Beach Boys with Brian, and Blondie Chaplin who joined
The Beach Boys in the 70’s and is known for his contribution to the Holland
album . So how would this line up sound?
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| Brian with the Pet Sounds drum head - Glasgow |
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| Brian - Manchester |
Brian
shuffled onto the stage at the appointed time, his back pain obviously causing
him discomfort and restricting his movement, and he spent the whole gig sitting
behind a grand piano.
Although most of the vocals are handled by the band,
Brian does still contribute and some nights, this contribution is more than
other nights.
At times he was a little distracted, and seemed to be shoo’ing demons from the front of his
vision (or maybe he thought he still had his Pet Sounds’ fringe and was brushing
it from his eyes!) but for the most part he was fully engaged and enthusiastic,
roaring at the crowd with loud YEAH’s. Indeed, he warmed the crowd up with a “How
loud can the girls yell?….. How loud can the guys yell?”
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| Brian - Liverpool |
Are his vocals like they used to be? No, but
he can still add a lot. At times he was over enthusiastic, and during one show
Al Jardine seemed to admonish him, after which Brian sat like a petulant
toddler who had been put on the naughty step. We did not like seeing this, as
the more Brian joins in and seems happy and relaxed, the more we enjoy it. Al
should have just sucked it up and realised he was not the headliner here!!!
The first
half of the show opened with the acapella “Our Prayer” running into the SMiLE
version of “Heroes And Villains”
before the hits factory of the early to mid 60’s singles. With Al Jardine on
stage for the whole show, he took the lead on many of the songs which was no
surprise given that his voice does not seem to have deteriorated over the
years.
A surprise inclusion at the Manchester show was “Honkin’ Down the
Highway” which was replaced with Al’s “Cottonfields” for the rest of the tour, except
in Liverpool where our ears were treated to “Then I Kissed Her” instead.
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| Al Jardine - Manchester |
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| Blondie Chaplin - Glasgow |
Towards the
end of the first set, Blondie Chaplin came onto the stage, and blasted his way
through “Wild Honey”, “Funky Pretty” and “Sail On Sailor”. His guitar solos resonated around the venue, and he was the centre piece for those last 10 minutes or so, as he wandered around the stage, teasing the crowd at the front, at the side, and capturing their full attention as he rocked out. His Rolling Stones' influences shone through and we will never see "Wild Honey" in the same light again!
In Gateshead, Liverpool and Nottingham, he came on stage
earlier and sang “Surfer Girl” in place of Brian.
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| Blondie sings Surfer Girl - Gateshead |
We got to
hear Brian’s collaboration with Scott Bennett, on “One Kind Of Love” from the “Love
& Mercy” biographical film at three of the gigs – no nod to Scott though.
The second
half was the Pet Sounds album in its entirety, The first couple of shows, Brian
took time to introduce each song with a little anecdote here and there. Mid tour,
Al seemed to hurry him through and by the last show, there was hardly any
speaking. Another incident of Al trying to dictate the pace and “manage” Brian??
Having said that, Brian did interrupt the flow of the album, by doing a round
of “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat” half way through at some of the shows.
Blondie
was back on stage during this part of the show, moving around the stage,
shaking the tambourine like some kind of Shaman, sending out those Good Vibes! So much soul put into a tambourine!
The encore
was pretty standard, with the old favourites kicking off with “Good Vibrations”
and finishing with “Fun, Fun, Fun” before we were sent home with the gentle “Love
& Mercy” after which Brian heaved himself from behind the piano and
shuffled to take a bow with the rest of the band before disappearing off stage.
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| Taking a bow in Liverpool |
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| Paul, Bob, Nicky and Mikey say farewell to Glasgow |
Matt Jardine’s
falsetto was not bad, but we found he was “late” on his parts, particularly when
pairing with Brian. Either they had not rehearsed enough (bearing in mind though
that they had been on tour all year!!) or Brian ducked out of his part early,
expecting Matt to pick up the flow, as Jeff used to do like a master. Whatever
the cause, there were gaps, and first words dropped all over the place. Although, as the tour went on, there was a marked improvement.
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| Gary Griffin and Bob Lizik leave the stage in Liverpool |
Al’s vocals
were spot on, and definitely still the strongest out of all the Beach Boys
former members that still sing today.
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| Al Jardine - Edinburgh |
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| Nelson Bragg - Liverpool |
Musician
wise, the band were tight. Nelson Bragg on percussion had an endless energy,
and the sound was so crisp, you could hear every bell, every horn hoot, every
single piece of percussion, as clear as day.
Probyn Gregory was amazing on the
multi instruments he played, and even had the chance to come down to the front
of the stage and into the spotlight during Pet Sounds for his trumpet piece in “Let’s
Go Away For A While”.
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| Probyn Gregory - Liverpool |
The big drum beat throughout Pet Sounds was delivered by
Mike D’Amico and the drum off on the instrumental “Pet Sounds” was terrific (except
for Nottingham but more of that later).
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| Mike D'Amico on drums - Liverpool |
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| Billy Hinsche - Edinburgh |
Gary and Billy on keyboards and vibes
did a sterling job and were solid replacements for Scott and Darian, even if
they did look like The Pet Shop Boys!
It was great to have Bob Lizik back in
the band on bass, holding that solid rhythm.
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| Bob Lizik - Glasgow |
Nicky Wonder did his masterful bit
of guitaring, switching to baritone for some songs and standing up to Blondie
on some of the guitar solos.
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| Nicky Wonder - Manchester |
Paul Von Mertens, the musical director, and Sax player / flautist / harmonica player also
delighted us with his version of “Monster Mash” which was an unusual addition
to the set from Glasgow onwards.
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| Paul Von Mertens - Gateshead |
The
Nottingham gig seemed to show some tensions in the band. Up until this show,
the interval had been 15 minutes max, in Nottingham it extended to around 30
minutes.
We were starting to worry a bit as Brian had seemed tired and we were
not sure if something had happened.
During the interval, Mike D’Amico came
back, in the darkened shadows of the stage and just sat at the drum kit,
waiting. The drum off between him and Nelson on “Pet Sounds” seemed to be
shorter and lacked energy. Infact, the whole show was lack lustre – the passion we had
seen for the previous shows was missing, that’s for sure.
There were a few good fan meet ups, before and also after the shows. In Glasgow we partied until gone 3am with Nelson & Probyn joining us, and in Liverpool, the party was at the Band's hotel.
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| The Beeb and Mikey D'Amico meet at the Liverpool post show party |
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| Nicky Wonder, Nina, Janine and The Beeb - Liverpool post show |
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| Liverpool post show - The Beeb, Ian McNabb, Nelson and Kerri |
We do feel an
opportunity was lost regarding Brian’s last album, “No Pier Pressure”. With Al
and Blondie involved with that album, it would have been great for a couple of
those songs to have been included on this tour. Opportunity missed for sure.
We travelled around the country for more than half of this tour, and it makes you wonder how tiring it must be to be in this band touring, not only the UK, but the whole world! They may be well looked after in plush hotels and not Travelodge's and Premier Inns, but for guys in their 70's, you have to give credit to Brian and Al in particular. It's a tough job, but we're glad they're the ones who are doing it.
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| The Beeb entertains Nicky Wonder in Glasgow |
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| Pre Show meetup in The Sage, Gateshead |
