The Beach Boys were great for most of the 1960s and 1970s, but by 1982, they were definitely in musical decline. One reason was the loss of Dennis Wilson, who was not only the band's drummer but also a key songwriter and lead vocalist. He had a lot of personal demons, and tried to fight them with an increasing level of drug abuse. He died in December 1983 by drowning, after blacking out in the ocean from drinking. But if he hadn't died then, he probably would have died soon thereafter, because he was on a downward spiral. Wikipedia's entry on him notes, "By the last year of his life, he had virtually lost his normal speaking voice, struggled to sing, and had forgotten how to play drums, often missing Beach Boys performances in the process."
So given all that, I was surprised that not only was Dennis Wilson the drummer for this entire concert (he got mentioned by name a couple of times during the banter), but he certainly did a good job on drums. However, it's noteworthy that he didn't sing lead vocals on any songs, as far as I can tell. With his involvement here, I consider this possibly the last good recording of the "real," full Beach Boys. (True, Brian Wilson wasn't at this concert, but he rarely took part in their concerts.) Other band members would die or leave later, so even though the Beach Boys are still technically going as I write this in 2024, the band is but a shadow of its former self.
In the early 1980s, Dennis Wilson was far from the only band member having troubles, especially with drugs. They had effectively become an oldies act by this point. But, as an oldies act, they were firing on all cylinders in this concert, with a dizzying number of classic songs to perform. They managed to cram in a ton of them because they did a lot of partial versions in medleys.
Note, by the way, that this performance must have taken place very late at night. The night before, the Grateful Dead was the last act, and they didn't get on stage until about four in the morning. I'm sure it was similar with the Beach Boys. They made some passing references to how late it was in the banter between songs.
This album is an hour and 13 minutes long.
087 talk (Beach Boys)
088 California Girls (Beach Boys)
089 I Can Hear Music (Beach Boys)
090 Sloop John B (Beach Boys)
091 Darlin' (Beach Boys)
092 Dance, Dance, Dance (Beach Boys)
093 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Beach Boys)
094 talk (Beach Boys)
095 In My Room (Beach Boys)
096 Do It Again (Beach Boys)
097 talk (Beach Boys)
098 409 (Beach Boys)
099 Shut You Down (Beach Boys)
100 The Little Old Lady from Pasadena (Beach Boys)
101 Little Deuce Coupe (Beach Boys)
102 I Get Around (Beach Boys)
103 talk (Beach Boys)
104 Runaway (Beach Boys)
105 talk (Beach Boys)
106 God Only Knows (Beach Boys)
107 Come Go with Me (Beach Boys)
108 talk (Beach Boys)
109 Be True to Your School (Beach Boys)
110 talk (Beach Boys)
111 Surfer Girl (Beach Boys)
112 talk (Beach Boys)
113 All Summer Long (Beach Boys)
114 Help Me, Rhonda (Beach Boys)
115 talk (Beach Boys)
116 Rockin' All Over the World (Beach Boys)
117 Rock and Roll Music (Beach Boys)
118 talk (Beach Boys)
119 Surfin' Safari (Beach Boys)
120 Surf City (Beach Boys)
121 Surfin' U.S.A. (Beach Boys)
122 talk (Beach Boys)
123 Good Vibrations (Beach Boys)
124 Barbara Ann (Beach Boys)
125 Fun, Fun, Fun (Beach Boys)
126 talk (Beach Boys)
alternate:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/mwdZWH99
The cover photo comes from this exact festival, though it probably was taken backstage. It only shows Carl Wilson, the band's lead guitarist and one of the key lead singers. By chance, this was the only good photo of anyone from the band, so I decided to use it, even though all the other band members are left out. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the help of the Palette program.
I didn't say it before, but thanks so much for this! Actually my wife is a bigger BB fan than I am, but I had tickets to their show last night in Vegas, so we went (Sept 6, 2024). The Venetian theater is a great venue and the sound is great, when when you're in the back row, as we were. As usual, I brough my little Tascam 'pocket recorder' to capture the show, which sounds good - better with a little tweaking. When I'm don't with it, I'll let you know. It's an audience recording, but as I said the venue is very nice and not too large. Thanks again, G.
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