was packed on Monday night for — a sure sign that there’s a big difference between the Beach Boys of the last few decades and the Beach Boys of 2012, currently celebrating their 50th anniversary with original member Brian Wilson on piano and vocals.
The Boys sans Wilson are still a heavy-hitting act. There’s a lot of hits in there to keep the fans dancing — or shuffling, at least, as it is a considerably older crowd. But the addition of the legendary songwriter for this tour added a certain legitimacy to the outing. Wilson is the great artist, the amazing mind behind so much of the Beach Boys’ harmony-rich aesthetic. And his presence was the reason many of the fans were there last night.
But Wilson also isn’t his same old self. The mental illness that changed Wilson forever — and largely removed him from live performance — still has a hold on him. It’s hard to explain Wilson’s stage presence these days, but he’s a changed man — and as an artist, his vocals and charisma are more hit-or-miss than his colleagues’.
That said, the best part of Monday’s show at Red Rocks was the second set’s opening jams, which focused on Wilson. First came a loving “Add Some Music To Your Day,” followed by the “Smile” takeout “Heroes and Villains” — which had Wilson at his peak, singing on-pitch and handing the challenging harmonies and change-ups in the mini-suite with ease.
Then came the heartbreaking, Wilson-fronted “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times,” a song title that served as the name for a documentary on Wilson — and a “Pet Sounds” song that is as revealing as it is tender. They stayed with “Pet Sounds” for a truly warming, monumental take on “Sloop John B,” and that led into a solid “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”
If you’ve seen the Beach Boys sans Wilson in the last few decades, surely it was a memorable show. Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks are professionals who have carried the torch with aplomb. But this tour can’t help but be very different — as it should be, marking the band’s 1961 roots.
The first set — with it’s “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfer Girl” and covers that included Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers’ “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” — was good fun, a nice warm-up. But the second set, especially with its focus on Brian Wilson and its tribute to his late brothers Dennis (“Forever”) and Carl (“God Only Knows”), was where it was at.
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Ricardo Baca is the founder and executive editor of , the co-founder of The UMS and an award-winning critic and journalist at The Denver Post.
John Leyba is a Denver Post photojournalist and regular contributor to Reverb.
