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| From | "John L. Micek" <jlmicek@mindspring.com> |
| Subject | SMILE in Philly. |
| Date | Sat, 9 Oct 2004 11:15:40 -0400 |
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Morning All.
My wife and I are freshly back from Philly and our jaunt to see Brian
Wilson at the historic Keswick Theatre in suburban Montgomery County.
What can I say about this show??
In a word: transcendental.
Brian and his excellent backing band took the stage shortly after 8
p.m. Standing in a circle at stage right, they played a short acoustic
set of Beach Boys favorites, including, but not limited to, a stunning
version of "Add A Little Music To Your Day," that was so beautiful that
it damn near left me in tears. And if you ever doubted it, after last
night, it's crystal clear that 'Mints' leaders Probyn Gregory and
Darian Sahanaja have a deep and abiding love for Brian's music. The
harmonies were crisp and spot-on -- augmented, as they were, by a
lovely female backing vocalist who I think might be a distant relation
of Haylie Mills.
The second part of the main set was strictly Beach Boys favorites, "God
Only Knows," "California Girls," and a bunch of others (forgive me --
no pen, thus no setlist) that was augmented by Brian's decision to
perform Dennis' lovely "Forever," and Carl's "Soul Searching." The
surprise addition of these two rarities -- esp. "Forever," brought the
crowd to its feet. He also played "Imagination," from his 1998 solo LP
and "Getting In Over My Head," from his solo platter earlier this year.
That latter record, on disc, sounds absolutely moribund, but here, it
sounded lively and vibrant.
After the first set ended, Brian and his band took a 20-minute
intermission and then came back and played "Smile" from start to
finish. I'd just bought the record, and I'd heard the bootlegs down the
years, but nothing prepared me for what I was about to hear. This
record is epic in every sense of the word. It's been structured into
three movements and themes, esp. the main melody of Heroes and
Villains, surface, then disappear, then recur, linking the whole work
together. On "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow," simulated flames (billowing cloth
with lighting inside) leapt up from the stage. Lots of folks in the
crowd had on toy plastic firemen's hats -- just like in the sessions
way back when. And the woodwind player (ex of Poi Dog Pondering) and
one of the guitarists, whose name escapes me at the moment, brought out
a length of firehose and pretended to fight the fire.
Highlights included "Cabinessence," "Blue Hawaii," and "Plymouth Rock
Roll Over." The Smile set was capped off with an absolutely orgiastic
version of "Good Vibrations," that again brought the crowd to its feet
and kept them there.
For the encore, guitarist Jeffrey Foskett (himself no slouch in the
vocal department) introduced each member of the-now 18 piece band
(augmented by the Stockholm Strings and Horns. Yes, they're actually
Swedish), and they played a set of surf favorites, including "Surfing
Safari," "Get Around," "Help Me Rhonda," and a bunch of others.
Finally, Brian came out and sang "Love and Mercy" to cap off the show.
Total running time -- just about 3 hours. And it was, by far, the best
$57.50/ticket that I have ever spent.
What to say about Brian? It's clear he no longer has the voice of the
angels he once had. But he can still sing. And he seemed in great
spirits last night. There were some friends in the crowd whom he waved
to a couple of times. At the end of the night, he leaned quickly into
the microphone and gently admonished everyone to "Drive Safely," before
he literally skipped off stage with his band.
As he does most shows, Brian stayed firmly behind a piano that remained
unused for most of the night. Contrary to rumour, however, it was
plugged in, because he played several really lovely runs on it. On the
Beach Boys set at the end of the night, he actually got up to play
bass, thumb-style, with the rest of the band.
If you've the opportunity, go see this tour. I swear, you will not
regret it.
John
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