When I saw that Brian Wilson was playing an outdoor concert in Kelvingrove Park I decided to buy tickets. They were a bit pricey at £67 each (including fees) but he is a legend and he is one of the last musicians from his era that still play. The Kelvingrove Auditorium is a great venue and it's unusual to attend any sort of outdoor concert in Glasgow.
I felt a bit sorry for Wilson. He's an old man, in his mid 70s, and he has had problems with his health for 50 years. It's a shame he still needs the money from playing concerts and I do hope that he enjoys the live performances. His band is great and includes fellow original Beach Boy, Al Jardine, as will as well as his son, Matt Jardine. Jardine Jr has an amazing voice and did a lot of the tricky harmonies in the songs.
Generally Brian would sing the first verse of a song and then the rest of the band would step in and take over with Brian just adding a bit of keyboard and occasional vocals. The 12 piece band take a wall of sound approach to the classic songs and the arrangements are great.
We got two sets and a six song encore. The first set included California Girls, I Get Around and In My Room as well as about 16 other Beach Boys classics. After a short break they came back and played all of Pet Sounds before the final encore which included Good Vibrations, Surfing USA, Barbara Ann and Love & Mercy. Wilson seemed re-energised for both Pet Sounds and the encore.
His voice is shot now, he sounds a bit like Dylan and he looks tired but he wrote these fucking amazing pop songs and I feel lucky to have seen him and a competent band knock these tracks out in a Glasgow park. We went home smiling and singing Beach Boys songs. I don't know if Wilson will ever play in Glasgow again but I'm glad I splashed out for the tickets.
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