Beach Boys - 05/05/12, Straz Center, Tampa, FL

[hwhynxport]

I usually only use the board to look for a tik but have read stuff on here for years. Now into my 30's on shows seen starting with the '97 Being There tour. Anyway, a few thoughts on the Beach Boys, who do seem to have a love/hate effect on people.

 

First off, a few facts. Like them or not, they're American musical icons & Brian is legitimately a musical genius, savant, whatever you want to say. That outta the way, I had never seen them or Brian until the Smile Tour, when the reviews coerced me to go. Honestly, I thought that was pretty fabulous, and a solid handful of the excellent players he used are on stage for this 50th reunion. Beach Boys songs resonate with me, and I suspect many others, because on some level of the escapism of the beach, whether you live in Manhattan Beach or Manhattan. IMO there's really not much in life as pleasurable as days spent on the beach...reading, surfing, playing over the line, whatever. A good beach day in La Jolla can be just as good as one in Avalon, NJ. So all those songs of CA beaches, girls, convertibles ring true in a helluva lotta hearts.

 

The 50th tour is great because you get them together - finally - and horrible because the skills have eroded badly. Watch the YouTube of them on Fallon to pick up the disharmony. That disharmony is ten fold on stage during a 40 song escapade, and nothing anyone says can counter the very real effect it has on the show. (Some of the reviews have completely left out the poor singing aspect to simply stroll down memory lane). However, the sheer joy of hearing the songs, of the memory those songs evoke for thousands of people as they recollect years gone by...throwing that frisbee, playing catch with your son, meeting your wife, all the things that tie many, if not most of us, to the beach remains as steadfast as ever. Some of the songs are nothing short of chill-inducing, and are performed extremely well. Others, well, not so much. Look, if you saw the Stones in '72, '75 & '81, seeing them on the last couple tours and any headed our way in no way measures up. Period. It's an inarguable fact. Same situation here. But if you have never seen them, and connect with the beach &/or the Beach Boys, absolutely go see them. Regarding the Mike Love anecdotes, I'd say that much of that is fact; I formerly worked for a major Southern Cal promoter, and the guy has plenty of

detractors. Course, so do a lot of people in the music business, and so do a lot of people in general.

 

Remember, if you think they suck, you can always head out and see, for my money, one of the top 3 touring bands in the land: Wilco. Of all the shows I've seen, one was mediocre, and it was definitely (bad) crowd driven.

 

Cheers to all!

TD

[IRememberDBoon]