I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: December 4, 2018] Brian Wilson

I have never been a huge beach Boys fan.  They’re just not my thing–especially the early stuff.  And yet, at the same time, I know all of their hits and will undoubtedly sing along to every one of them.  So the thought of seeing Brian Wilson (especially at the stage in his life) never really appealed.

And then he announced this short tour in which he and his band and special guests would be doing The Christmas Album, I was on board because I love his Christmas album What I Really Want for Christmas.  It’s probably my favorite Christmas album.  So as soon as I saw the show was in Englewood (the closest place to my house, but not exactly close) I bought S. and I tickets.  She is a bigger Beach Boys fan than I and has seen them live before.

Not being a huge Beach Boys fan, however, meant that I didn’t know that “The Christmas Album” was the name of the Beach Boys Christmas Album from 1964.  So it wasn’t the album that I wanted–boo!  But I guess I should have realized that a showed billed as Brian Wilson presents The Christmas Album Live with special guests Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, would not be exactly what I thought it would be anyhow.  I mean I’m still not exactly sure who Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin are.

A friend of mine used to work a theater and he said the last time Brian Wilson played there, they wheeled him out onto the stage with the curtain down, so that when the curtain went up, he was already seated at his piano.  That didn’t happen for us.  Brian needed help getting to the piano and that was the beginning of an “oh is this too sad to watch” night.

Basically, the night went something like this: Brian would occasionally sing.  Sometimes when he sang he sounded great–just like Brian Wilson.  But many times, he sounded pretty bad.  And more often he missed a lot of his cues for lyrics, coming in in the middle of a line.  And it was very sad to watch.  But when he was on, and there were a few key moments when he was, it was pretty cool.

Having said that, his band was spectacular.  Musically, they were dynamite and the vocal harmonies were just outstanding.  It could have easily been The Beach Boys, instead of eight or nine touring guys.

And here’s the rub.  If this was a show billed as “Random dudes play Brian Wilson songs” they would probably charge $20 and it would be great.  But because Brian Wilson is in the line up, they can charge over $100 (the best seats were more than that) and it won’t even sound as good.  I admit I probably wouldn’t have gone if he wasn’t there–and yet he was easily the worst part of the show.

S. and I were both vaguely uncomfortable about the whole thing.  Brian sat there, reading lyrics off a teleprompter and sitting in front of a “piano” which honestly musty have had no keys, because who could trust him?  Most of the time, the lights were dimmed on him, which was a nice thing.  Although when he did sing, you held your breath wondering what you’d get (“God Only Knows” was utterly cringeworthy).  And yet everyone around us seemed to really enjoy themselves–they lady in front of me could hardly be kept in her seat.

And yet, when they started it was relief we felt.  The decorations were lovely and it got us right in the spirit of things. Because the band sounded amazing and Brian sang “Little Saint Nick” and it sounded just like Brian Wilson!

Since I don’t know the Beach Boys Christmas Album (although I’m sure I know each song), I didn’t know if they were doing it in order or not.  They played the first side in order and then mixed in some other songs as well.

Al Jardine, it turns out, is a co-founder of The Beach Boys, and his guitar and singing were terrific.  He was the main dude for the show, doing most of the talking and some of the singing.  The band played songs from a rejected Beach Boys album, including Jardine’s “Christmas Time Is Here Again,” which I found to be the least enjoyable song of the night, actually–very slow and unfamiliar.

All instrumental for the show was Darian Sahanaja whom Jardine described as knowing more about the Beach Boys than Jardine does.  he also had the best, weirdest sweater I’ve seen.

The rest of the songs from side one were done well.  Hearing the opening harmonies of  “The Man with All the Toys” was thrilling.

“Christmas Day” is one of my favorite of his Christmas songs, so it was great to hear him.  I loved how he sang the “ding dong ding dong day” part, and I forgave that he couldn’t get all the high notes.  But the fact that Wilson forgot the words to “Frosty the Snowman”–Really? Who forgets the words to that?–Was pretty shocking.

But making up for that was singer Rob Bonfiglio, who is Wilson’s son-in-law, married to Carnie Wilson.  He could hit those falsetto harmonies like nobody’s business, like in “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

I absolutely love “Christmasey” so I was thrilled that they played that.  I was a little surprised they didn’t play “All I Really Want for Christmas” though.

The Beach Boys version of “We Three Kings” is one of my least favorite Christmas songs of all time.  It is so slow and dirge-like and so freakin depressing.  But live, the upped the tempo and added more instrumentation and it sounded beautiful.  So I appreciated them updating that for me.

I really have no idea who Blondie Chaplin is (an article says he was in the Beach Boys from ’72-’73, but gives no other information).  He was certainly fun, but he sounded so out of place for the Beach Boys who are all about delicate harmonies.  Blondie was like a rocker dude, wailing on the guitar and adding a lot of theatrics.  He sang “Merry Christmas, Baby” and “Run Rudolph Run,” two Christmas songs that I don’t particularly like anyway.  He also sang “O Holy Night,” which I found kind of wrong because his style of singing doesn’t really work for that song, and he and the band turned “Blue Christmas” into a reggae song, which was just fine.

After “Run Rudolph Run” it was still pretty early but it felt like they were running out of Christmas songs.  I didn’t realize they’d be playing some hits, too.  So that was cool (and they didn’t play “Kokomo”!)

It was pretty great to hear “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”  But I really have to question them allowing Brian to sing “God Only Knows.” It’s probably his most beautiful song and his mumbled speak singing was, frankly, a travesty.

But the other songs are mostly group contributions and sounded great.  Blondie came back out for “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B,” “Help Me, Rhonda” and “Barbara Ann.”  S. loves “Sloop John B.” so it was awesome that they played that.

I was super psyched that they busted out the theremin for “Good Vibrations” but how disappointing that it was tucked in the back of the stage and the guy playing it was hard to see.  I had actually forgotten about “Help Me, Rhonda” which Jardine sang (and sounded great) and “Barbara Ann.”  They’re not songs I love, but by this point in the night I was totally into the whole vibe and they were great to hear.

After “Surfin’ U.S.A” and “Fun, Fun, Fun” (I wonder how many other Beach Boys songs I know which they didn’t play), they closed the night with a few more holiday songs.

They all sang a beautiful “White Christmas” and then everyone gathered around the piano for a gorgeous a capella rendition of “Auld Lang Syne.”

There was no way that Brian was leaving and coming back, so we knew there’d be no encore.

It was a weird night, full of joy, beauty and sadness–revelling at what is gorgeous and bemoaning that which is lost.  Which is a pretty decent summation of the Christmas season.

The review from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ended this way:

We know [Brian’s] not being held hostage to perform and he certainly doesn’t need the money, so clearly he wants to revel in his legacy, just as Dylan does, but with lots more vocal help.  As audience members, we either value being in the presence of greatness or we don’t. From the looks of it, Brian Wilson may not be on this particular wave for very long, so we might as well enjoy it while we can.

That’s kind of our take as well.  It would have been better to have seen him in his prime.  But this was the first time he’d done these songs.  So I’m glad we saw him before he couldn’t do them anymore.  Even if he didn’t do all that much.

But really the music and the band were excellent, so it was more joy than sadness.

1. Little Saint Nick
2. The Man With All the Toys
3. Santa’s Beard
4. Merry Christmas, Baby
5. Christmas Day
6. Frosty the Snowman
7. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
8. Christmasey
9. What I Really Want for Christmas
10. On Christmas Day
11. Blue Christmas
12. We Three Kings of Orient Are
13. Christmas Time Is Here Again
14. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (If Only in My Dreams)
15. Winter Symphony
16. O Holy Night
17. Run Rudolph Run
18. Wouldn’t It Be Nice
19. God Only Knows
20. Sloop John B
21. Good Vibrations
22. Help Me, Rhonda
23. Barbara Ann
24. Surfin’ U.S.A.
25. Fun, Fun, Fun
26. White Christmas
27. Auld lang syne