{"id":1925,"date":"2004-10-23T20:00:46","date_gmt":"2004-10-23T20:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=1925"},"modified":"2015-10-20T14:42:06","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T14:42:06","slug":"brian-wilson-verizon-wireless-theater-houston-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2004\/10\/23\/brian-wilson-verizon-wireless-theater-houston-tx\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Wilson – Verizon Wireless Theater – Houston, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by Samuel Barker <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 23, 2004 at 08:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"BrianAfter releasing his album Imagination in 1998, Brian Wilson hit the road to promote it. It was during the shows that people began hearing some of the songs from the “lost” Beach Boys album, Smile. It was this which gave Wilson the desire to finish the album that had, at that point, spent over 30 years sitting on tape.With time to complete Smile, Wilson brought in his backing band and recreated the songs from the masters instead of finishing what he already had on tape. Rather than leave his masterpiece with only a recording to document it, Wilson has hit the road to perform classics from the Beach Boys, songs from Imagination and Smile in its entirety.<\/p>\n

Always the perfectionist, Wilson brought out a collective of musicians and backing vocalists to present his work as he intended it. There were no stripped down versions of any of his songs, only accurate recreations of his works from Smile.<\/p>\n

Opening the set, with 11 backing members huddled in a semi-circle, Wilson did strip it down a bit to give the vibe of what it must have been like in the early days of the Beach Boys, just a group of friends chanting together and playing songs about being young. Beginning with a bit of jesting as Brian stated Surfer Girl was the first song he had ever written, he was asked how he got the keyboard in the car, Wilson answered simply, “I wrote it in my head.”<\/p>\n

This opening jaunt brought a lot of great songs to the front and a bit of fun. Wendy was followed by an off the cuff rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, which led to a quick ‘Goodnight!’ by Wilson. Before anyone could react negatively Wilson’s backing band burst into laughter. This gave way to Good to My Baby, which displayed the beautiful vocal blending of Wilson and company.<\/p>\n

After performing 8 songs acoustically, the group spread throughout the stage for their first song electrically, Sloop John B. For a moment, it was overwhelming to think of how many classic tunes Wilson has penned in his life. While the Beach Boys and Wilson are known as one of the greatest bands to ever grace our world, the sheer magnitude of their catalogue is amazing. While some have made more albums, few have produced this percentage of classics.<\/p>\n

A jaunt through memorable songs like California Girls, You’re So Good to Me and Marcella made the first set come together so perfectly it was hard to imagine a second set was coming up. The only low of the entire first set was the moments during God Only Knows when Wilson’s throat got a little too dry on the high notes and he let an exaggerated cough into the microphone.<\/p>\n

Wilson seemed playful on this night, mocking his miss of the high note, and later even mocking the loud laughter of an audience member. As Marcella ended, Wilson jumped from his chair, spun around and ran off the stage while the band brought it home. This is where we’d normally end, but we still had another set.<\/p>\n

It’s not until you hear Smile that you know how many of these songs leaked their way out or were released elsewhere, but that doesn’t affect the joy of hearing lost jewels and remakes of old classics. Hearing Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains with their original surrounding tracks was epic. For once it was nice to take off the reviewer hat and turn into a fan boy for the night, even though I never intended to.<\/p>\n

Upon listening to the album after the show, it was amazing to see nothing was left out of the performance. Wilson brought his self-proclaimed “teenage symphony to God” to the audience in pristine condition. Very few can pull this off, it takes someone with a superior eye to detail to make something life this happen. Wilson is the man to make it happen.<\/p>\n

After concluding Smile, Wilson wasn’t about to wrap things up as the he and the band went through another mini-set to cap the night off. This was where the nuggets laid, a reward to those who made it through the entire journey. I Get Around, Help Me, Rhonda, Surfin’ USA, Fun, Fun, Fun and Love and Mercy brought the house down. It was inconceivable that a set so full of hits could close itself down with another round of classic radio staples.<\/p>\n

Performing over 40 songs in nearly 3 hours, Wilson and his band brought something that was special to Houston for a night. It’s amazing to think they will do this again and again for the next month or more. For a man now into his 60s, who once suffered from debilitating stage fright, to create a show with no rival is amazing. Willie Nelson’s performances have been called a performance of the Great American Songbook, if so, Wilson must perform the Musical Guide to Teenage America…yeah, it’s not as catchy, but it’s just as good.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Samuel Barker Oct 23, 2004 at 08:00 PM After releasing his album Imagination in 1998, Brian Wilson hit the road to promote it. It was during the shows that people began hearing some of the songs from the “lost” Beach Boys album, Smile. It was this which gave Wilson the desire to finish… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1926,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions\/1926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}