A Beach Boys Concert Photo Album

The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Concert Tour!

We arrived a little before 4:30 eastern to the Bethel Woods Center for the Performing Arts.  We had been to the premises earlier to take in the Woodstock Museum and enjoyed a pretty good lunch from the small cafe on site, mostly because there is not a lot to do around the area of Bethel.


We were among the first 5 or 6 to be there so fairly quickly I gave the boys their goodies (T-shirt, commemorative ticket, meet-and-greet tag on a lanyard, and a fabric tote bag) and we moved to the shade because it was a sunny afternoon.
 

  It was about 5 o'clock or so that they let us in and marched us around to the seating area in front of the stage.  I equate Bethel Woods to Merriweather Post Pavilion as they are both a stage with permanent roof and seating and then lawn space on a hill surrounding.  We were seated in about the 5th or 6th row and warned repeatedly about no cameras or video.

The Beach Boys minus Al were on stage with the backup band.  They greeted us, and did a few numbers and talking generically out to the audience...they didn't make any real connections to audience members but did some general statements.  As we were walking in they were practicing Kiss Me Baby, and after we left they continued to work on it...I got the sense that was the REAL soundcheck rehearsal.  Mike ad libbed a bit of the Everly Brothers' "All I have to do is Dream", just a line or two.  

They ran through "Wendy" for Bruce...After Al got to the stage they worked on Help Me, Rhonda".  "Please Let Me Wonder" was nice.  The real treat for me was hearing David Marks practicing "Getcha Back".  They asked him if he knew the words yet and as he was practicing he realized he didn't really have it yet.

After that, we were herded around to the backstage area and lined up to a staircase to a back patio.  Inside the patio was a backdrop and the Beach Boys set up with 4 stools and a chair for Brian.  We were about halfway in the line.  Quickly it was our turn.  I asked the VIPNation contact, Tara, to please make sure there were two shots, one with my boys and one without.  Bruce directed the boys to come sit in front and I went behind, right between Al and Brian.

Mike noticed that I was wearing a "Carl Wilson Foundation" polo shirt and said "Cool Shirt", which made all of them turn around to really look at me for a second.  I made a small noise about how I'd been supporting it from the beginning, and told them that this was the 16th time I'd seen them, and 4 times for Brian.  That got a few impressed looks.

On my "way out" I paused next to Jeff (who was there to look after Brian, I assume) and said to him 'Thank you for all you've done to make this possible'.  He said something like "You're Welcome."

And that was my experience meeting them.  We were shortly "released" and had a chance to go to the general souvenir stands and food kiosks.  I bought the boys the 50th Anniversary cap and we had some dinner and a little later I let them have a snack just before showtime. I warned them I was not getting up for the bathroom or other interruptions!

Soon enough it was time for the show, about 7:30.  Did I mention yet that our concert seats were in row A (second row) in the middle section, basically a tiny bit left of center?  Simply awesome seats, as the pictures will attest.

At intermission, we tried to make our way to the left side of bathrooms and it was too many people....but we went to the right side and took care of things, and got back to our seats JUST as the house lights dimmed...

The concert was about 3 hours long with the intermission of about 20 minutes.  They played 48 songs and it was an excellent representation of their entire career.  Of course there were a couple of songs they played at earlier concerts that I'm sad to have missed, but there were other moments that were unique to "my" concert, like David's first time singing "Getcha Back"...which I think Brian forced him to do partly as a joke, from Brian's very QUICK introduction...like he wasn't giving him time to back out! Awesome, because David did a few things vocally which made it his version of the song.

Leading into "Add Some Music" from the intermission, with the principal Boys around Brian at the piano, seeing HIM direct their vocals...that was a great moment.

A word about my video clips...the Video Gestapo were in full-force because I had a staffer just a few feet from me; that's why at the end of California I had to bring it down to my lap, and the other snippet you see the long-haired hippie guy bopping along as much as you see the Beach Boys...I wanted to capture the audio most of all...you get the idea of what it was like to be second row. Hippie guy had a video recorder and the Gestapo was on him about 5 times during the performance.  He obviously was into it as much as I was and he was considerate of not hopping up in front of me a lot...I let him have at it at the end and for the encores--who can sit at the high-energy end of a concert anyway?

Hearing "California Saga: California" live was really a dream come true for me.  Been a favorite for years.  Sorry to say you can hear me singing along on the beginning of the video!

I knew they had done "All This is That" at earlier shows and I was hoping it didn't get cut...and I wasn't disappointed.  This was the one song I really wanted to get a video of.  I really didn't know the song that well prior to the Unplugged Tour in November 1993, but seeing them do it live really shocked me, and it's been a 
favorite ever since.  They didn't disappoint...I thought it was a real highlight because it showed all of them, with Jeff filling in for Carl.

The moving 'sing alongs' to "Forever" and "God Only Knows" were fitting rememberances of the departed Wilsons.

This was not a packaged hits show...it was one show of a living, evolving tour of a band.  Maybe it's a swan song, or the latest great chapter, but I'm really glad I had a chance to see it, and I hope they release a high-quality Bluray and CD of the best of the tour, so that they can capture all the great songs that were done over the course of the tour.

This was a great Father's Day present to experience this with my sons, and I hope they will realize what a piece of Pop history they were able to see first-hand.

The Beach Boys at Bethel Woods, June 17, 2012 Setlist

The Beach Boys at Bethel Woods, NY.  June 17, 2012.

Soundcheck:

Small snippet of the Everly Brothers, fairly sure it was All I Have to Do is Dream.

Please Let Me Wonder

Wendy

Help Me, Rhonda

Getcha Back—David Marks first time on lead and he didn’t have all the words yet.

Concert:

1. Do It Again

2. Little Honda

3. Catch A Wave

4. Hawaii

5. Don't Back Down

6. Surfin' Safari

7. Surfer Girl (Vocals - BB & Jeff only)

8. Wendy (LV-Bruce)

9. Marcella (LV - Brian)

10. Then I Kissed Her

11. Kiss Me Baby (LV - Brian/Mike, Jeff)

12. Getcha Back (LV- David—first time on Tour!)

13. Why Do Fools Fall In Love

14. When I Grow Up –with new end tag –“It’s Kinda Sad...”

15. Darlin’ (LV-Darian)

16. Disney Girls

17. Please Let Me Wonder

18. Isn't It Time

19. It's OK (Tag vocal - Brian)

20. California Saga: California (LV: "On my way" Brian; 1st vs Mike; 2nd vs Al; 3rd vs Mike & Al)

21. Cottonfields

22. Be True To Your School

23. Don't Worry Baby (LV - Jeff)

24. Little Deuce Coupe

25. 409

26. Shut Down

27. I Get Around

Intermission

28. Add Some Music To Your Day (LV - mostly Brian)

29. Heroes & Villains (SMiLE arrangement)

30. Sloop John B.

31. Wouldn't It Be Nice (LV - Al)

32. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times (LV Brian Counter Al)

33. Sail On, Sailor (LV - Brian)

34. All This Is That ("Two Ways" vocal - Brian; "Jai Guru Dev" fade - Jeff)

35. That's Why God Made The Radio

36. In My Room (Vocals - BB & Jeff only)

37. Forever (LV - Dennis recording)

38. God Only Knows (LV - Carl recording)

39. Good Vibrations (LV - Brian)

40. California Girls

41. All Summer Long

42. Help Me, Rhonda

43. Rock & Roll Music

44. Do You Wanna Dance (LV - Brian)

45. Surfin' USA

encore

46. Kokomo (Carl LV - Jeff)

47. Barbara Ann

48. Fun Fun Fun

So we had a nice trip to Hershey Park last weekend, and I learned a few things:

• It takes more time than you think.

We were there a day and half in Hershey, PA, and we could have easily spent another full day at the Park itself. I couldn't imagine doing something like DisneyWorld without 4 days.

• Don't try and do too much and get exhausted

We did pretty well on this one--even though we pushed dinnertime way back for us, the kids didn't get whiny. They enjoyed the pool at the hotel as much as the waterpark, and it was less walking for me!

• Follow any reasonable advice from a trusted source on how to "do" a park--at least think about what things you'd like to see or do in advance.

Everywhere we went, while we waited some, we had lines that doubled behind us! Our luck held really well. We had to wait in the waterpark the worst, which brings me to...

• Do waterparks on a separate day if you have the time

It was a pain to schlep back and get changed.

• If you mix water and non-water rides do spring for a locker

Totally worth the money.

It was a great feeling to have an activity with the kids that we could do on one tank of gas. The boys got to ride their real first roller coasters outside of community carnivals, and they always enjoy the novelty of a hotel room.

Yesterday, we finished up our dinner quickly and went out into the backyard to see the International Space Station and Space Shuttle (docked together) up in the night sky.

We weren't sure with the trees, light pollution, and lots of landing planes (we live near an airport) if we'd be able to pick it out, but sure enough, at the appointed time there was a bright point of light moving pretty quickly across the sky. Spoose and I thought there was a bit of smudginess to the light, like it wasn't reflecting off the total mass of the objects. With small binoculars I swear that the one dot of light was really two.

The boys at least pretended to be interested, and after we came back inside #1 and I looked up the ISS and Shuttle on the internet and spent about a half hour watching videos and looking at pictures.

For at least a few minutes, I felt like I was back in high school dreaming of entering the astronaut program.

Cool Stuff from the Concert--



Our badge:

Our Wristband:

My Ticket:

The Entry That Made It Possible

-----Original Message-----
From: John Tilden
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 8:30 PM
To: 'contest@brianwilson.com'
Subject: That Local Lucky Old Fan Tour Contest--Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C.

Brian,
I would love for the opportunity to see you perform "That Lucky Old Sun" on 11/18 at the Warner in Washington, D.C. I live about an hour away in Maryland. I've been fortunate to see you perform a couple of times, and it has always involved driving for several hours.

I saw you for the first time at the Beacon in New York City, where I happened to be in-state for a friend's wedding, and made the trip to NYC in between wedding activities. My wife had never seen me so excited.

I saw you in Philadelphia after a friend and I drove up from Baltimore just so we could see Pet Sounds with an orchestra. We were stuck in the pouring rain on I-95 for hours on the way home, but it was sunny inside the car!

I saw you perform "Smile" in D.C., but I happened to be in New York five hours away because of a commitment I'd made before your tour was announced. I had a full weekend, drove home, then drove into D.C. to see the show. It felt like it was over in a blink. I cried during the show, but my wife was kind enough not to notice.

That was all before I had my kids.

I've never been disappointed by your shows. I saw the Beach Boys 14 times, but never with you in attendance.

I may have the only kids (8 & 6) that know "Barnyard" better than they know Disney songs!
I got That Lucky Old Sun direct from your site, to say "thank you" for still putting out interesting music for all these years.

Unfortunately, this time around I can't spend the money on a ticket for your Warner concert. I love your music, but it's important to my young boys that I show them that I can sacrifice things that I would love to do, so that they know when I tell them "no" to something because they don't have the money right then when they want, that it applies to Daddy, too.

Even if I'm not selected, Brian, thank you so much for all of the wonderful music you've given the world.

John Tilden

Brian Wilson.com Screen Shots:

To be completist, here are screenshots of what appeared on the web about the contest...








My Name in Lights:

My Post to the Community (what I've posted on the blog here earlier):

Short Videos of the Concert:

These are just snippets. I was too busy enjoying most of it to waste the experience on filming, which is why I recorded two "fun" songs that I didn't really care to concentrate on.

Concert Opening:

Johnny B. Goode:

Barbara Ann:

That Lucky Old Fan:

My Experience Meeting Brian Wilson

Okay, here is my stream-of-consciousness version of a fantastic night. We dropped the kids off, ate a quick meal, and then proceeded down to D.C. in the end of rush hour traffic. The parking garage I tried told me they’d be closed before the show was over, but I ended up realizing that there was street parking available at 6:30. So Christine (my wife) stayed with the car while I went to the box office to see if we were going to be allowed in early to meet Brian. The tickets weren’t even at the box office yet, so I went back to the car, waited until 6:30, then we killed a few minutes in the Barnes & Noble on 12th Street.

At about 6:45 we went back and the tickets were there. Since the directions said we were to meet Brian pre-show, I called Chuck and “the other” Christine (friends from the Pet Sounds Mailing List) to let them know to come over.

We struck up a great conversation with Dan and his family as we were waiting and I gave them wristbands, too. Turned out that they had the seats right next to ours!

I’m not sure when we got ushered in to meet Brian. “The other” Christine missed the pictures but was able to see Jeff and also meet post-show.



So.…it felt great to be treated special and we were ushered into a small side room backstage. Jeff Foskett greeted us and Brian was sitting on a stool. He shook our hands and then we got pictures, both with the pro photographer and with our personal cameras. Dan & family and Chuck & Molly were also able to get pictures. Brian was also very gracious in signing some things for us. Then, we got a picture backstage of all of us. Darian was also backstage at that time and talked to us.

Brian wasn’t in a talkative mood, which was actually OK with me because I was a bit shell-shocked. Jeff noticed that I was wearing my Carl Wilson Foundation polo shirt and commented “Cool shirt”.





That was pretty much the pre-show time, which was just for me and my “party”.


The concert was a LOT of fun. There were a couple of free spirits behind us (but not immediately behind us), one guy that clapped and hooted a lot, and a girl who was doing some kind of arty-pretentious version of “the swim”. I’m not sure but I think the band was laughing at them throughout the night. Several of us in the first rows (we were in row C dead center, which was really the fifth row—PERFECT seats) had either cameras or camera phones going. I got a few pictures and some brief video, just enough to jog my memories. Christine helped write down the setlist (she was very understanding the whole night) and tried to take some audio with our cellphone but I don’t think it will come out very well.



At the intermission Christine and Molly thought it really funny that the women’s room line was fast and the men’s room was really backed up. I still had two wristbands left, and feeling the Good Vibrations I went up to the 'nosebleed' seats in the back of the theatre (well, the farthest rows in the balcony, there really aren't bad seats in the Warner), and found Rick and Tory sitting there. I told them who I was and offered them the backstage passes, which got Tory really excited.



I made my way back to my seat, and got to experience TLOS live. I realize I haven’t said much about the music yet. This is the fourth time I’ve seen the BW band and each time I’m just blown away. The Warner seems to be a hard place to get a good mix in, but the vocals, the arrangements, were just fantastic. Look at that first set. Just awesome. I realized I knew every word of every song in the first set, and I was surprised that I knew most of TLOS already. “Can’t Wait Too Long” with the montage of the Wilson brothers on screen was just awesome—I had never seen most of the pictures shown, and I’ve got just about all of the books published about Brian and the Beach Boys.



Brian did seem a bit tired. Jeff helped double his lead vocal in a few spots which seemed impromptu, and Brian got mixed-up with his TelePrompter a couple of times. Who the heck cares—it was great to see how that band cares about him and the love in the theatre was real.



Jeff Foskett was a real gentleman to us and it’s just so obvious how much he cares for Brian. After the show there was a brief meet-and-greet where a radio station contest also went backstage. I realized I didn’t have Brian sign my Smile CD cover before the show, so he signed that for me and I got a picture with Jeff. Then Nick invited us through the backstage back to the side of the stage where most of the rest of the band was hanging out. I got to tell Darian my little story about the first time I heard Smile, and asked him if he still had the iBook with all the 60s-era music on it (he does). I also got to thank Scott for creating TLOS, and got autographs from some of the rest of the band. Nelson was a really nice guy. Taylor had been signing her CD up front, but I missed her there, so he took my copy back to her dressing room and she signed it for me.



















I realized I had left our coats back in the meet-and-greet area, so I went back and got them by myself, and then Christine & I walked out with Chuck & Molly into the loading dock. Chuck and I realized that the equipment cases still had “The Beach Boys In Concert” Brother Records emblem on them (we figure they might have been Jeff’s) so we took a few last pictures. They went to the Metro to their hotel, and we drove home.


It was such a wonderful experience. I got to have one of the best nights of my life, and I was able to share it with some other good people, too. Thank you to Brian and the Band for making it all possible!!

Brian Wilson

Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C.
November 18, 2008 8:00 p.m. until about 10:22 p.m.

Main Vocalist: Brian Wilson
BW Band included: Jeffrey Foskett , Darian Sahanaja, Scott Bennett, Probyn Gregory, Nick Walusko, Taylor Mills, Paul Mertens, Nelson Bragg, Mike D'Amico, Brett Simons, St. Charles Strings from Washington, D.C.

SETLIST:

California Girls
Girl Don’t Tell Me
Dance, Dance, Dance
Surfer Girl
In My Room
Salt Lake City
All Summer Long
Please Let Me Wonder
Add Some Music To Your Day
The Little Girl I Once Knew
Do You Wanna Dance
Do It Again
Sail On Sailor
Marcella
I Get Around
Wouldn't It Be Nice
(Brian announces Jeff on Full Lead Vocal)
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations
INTERMISSION—20 minutes
That Lucky Old Sun
Morning Beat
Room With A View (Narrative)
Good Kind Of Love
Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl
Venice Beach (Narrative)
Live Let Live/That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)
Mexican Girl
Cinco De Mayo (Narrative)
California Role/That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)
Between Pictures (Narrative)
Oxygen To The Brain
Can't Wait Too Long
Midnight's Another Day
That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)
Going Home
Southern California
ENCORE 1—Jeff introduces Band
Johnny B. Goode
Help Me Rhonda
Barbara Ann
Surfin' USA
Fun, Fun, Fun
ENCORE 2
Love and Mercy

Test Post...it's been a while and my domain hosting account changed....

I was at that party, but left early. I think most of Harborfields was there! Matt Bender was the drummer and they were Art Skyd (Dykstra backwards--they were Mets fans), not Squid!

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Mariah Carey's HS classmates rooting for her at Grammy's
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BY CHRISTINE ARMARIO
STAFF WRITER
It was spring 1987. Mariah Carey and her Harborfields High School classmates were gathered for a graduation party at a friend's house. A student band, Squid, was playing in the background. And between sets, Carey nervously asked if she could sing a song.
Mark Brummer, one of the band members, recalled how he had written out the lyrics to the U2 song "With or Without You" and held them beside her for reference. "She was very eager and energetic to be given a chance like that," Brummer wrote in an e-mail interview. "We struggled through it a bit, but she did quite well considering that none of us rehearsed it."
That performance marked the first time many of her classmates would become aware that Carey had her eyes set on the stars. Now those former classmates say they will be rooting tonight for the eight Grammy nominee -- even if they haven't kept in touch.
"I want her to win every single Grammy," said Jeanmarie Sarro, a high school friend who lives in East Rockaway. "I listen to her music. My kids listen to her music. My 7-year-old thinks she's the diva to end all divas."
Sarro described Carey as a popular, pretty student who never boasted about her talents. "Did she ever break out in song? Never," she said. "She would go to a party and did not dance. It was the '80s. There was no way she was going to funk out to Duran Duran."
Raised by a single mother, Carey reportedly moved 14 times before finishing high school, and was one of the school's few minority students.
"Now that I'm an adult looking back, I don't think that she had all the financial advantages that we all had," Sarro said. "I think she had a nice high school experience because she had friends and we all loved each other. I wish her nothing but the best."
Former teacher .Edward Hartling recalled when some faculty members first heard Carey on the radio. "We were shocked," he said. "No one in the high school even knew she had that interest."
Neither Sarro nor Brummer have kept in touch with Carey. "We've been trying to get in touch with her for some professional pointers and suggestions in the realm of the music world," Brummer wrote. "We've even tried sending her some of our band's CDs, but as one might imagine, it's .extremely difficult .contacting her.
"I can but only hope that someday she returns the favor and allows my current band a chance to perform at one of her shows," he added. "Tongue in cheek but a man can dream can't he?"
Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Inc.
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This article originally appeared at:http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-licar0208,0,5549996.story