Last night I got to scratch something else off my bucket list. I got to see Brian Wilson live at the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin. To think I had just bought a ticket a week earlier, and had almost missed the last chance to ever see him live again, as Brian announced this would be his last tour ever. And how can you blame him...
Brian Wilson is an old man. He sits on a stool the whole gig, in the middle of the stage and with a keyboard in front of him he barely touches. Every now and again he seems absent minded, with his head down low, showing the marks of his history of mental illness. Every now and then he actually turns his back to the audience and watches the band play, as if he were merely observant of the rendition of his songs and orchestrations rather than the protagonist. But it hardly matters.
A man like Paul McCartney can still shake up whole stadiums with his showmanship. But Brian Wilson was a modern musical genius who never put as much thought about his showmanship as much as he did with which way the accordion faced the microphone. He belongs in the studio.
Still, when you are the man responsible for such amazing songs as 'California Girls', 'Fun, Fun, Fun', 'Don't Worry Baby' and arguably the best album ever, 'Pet Sounds', people are gonna want to see you live. So, it is an absolute privilege to get to witness the man in person. To hear his vocal harmonies live. To feel the vibrancy of his songs. Then you realise that the placement of Brian Wilson at the centre of the stage behind a keyboard becomes a metaphorical vision of a man sitting behind a desk, writing a metaphorical masterpiece and then stepping back and admiring it, and seeing other people wonder at it amazed. Brian Wilson absolutely defines the role of a songwriter, and the impression you get is that he tours the world taking his songs with him not because he loves to perform or because he craves attention or publicity, not even because he has a political activist motivation - but because he simply wants to see others enjoy them and boast them as his songs, without any malice or greed.
As a matter of fact, at some stage Brian said to the audience - 'with this next number, we're going to show you we are a great band. We may not be the best band ever, but the guys down the road got nothing on us.' It was funny, we all laughed, but then you think 'for god's sake, did the man that wrote Good Vibrations actually just say that? Shouldn't he be saying things like 'we're fucking awesome, 'cos my songs are great, thank you goodnight'?
The theatre setting was strange. Maybe it's different in the States, but here in Europe, people tend to be more quiet and restrained in a theatre. So, while during his Gershwin numbers you really got to admire it, it seemed strangely restrictive during songs like Surfin' U.S.A. and Dance Dance Dance.
I did not give a flying fuck, I danced anyways. I was at the back row near the sound guy and at first I felt awkward being one of maybe only four people getting up to dance, but then I thought 'I am in the same room as Brian Wilson. Life is good right now' and shook it up. Everyone did get up for the encores, and they also got up, randomly, for Do You Wanna Dance. which was kick ass.
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PART TWO (Because this post is about something so important to me that I feel the need to break it up into two parts): the personal part
Unlike a lot of people I know, I got into the Beach Boys much earlier than the Beatles. I guess the reason was very simple; my dad owned a compilation of theirs and didn't own one of The Beatles. Not that my father ever listened to The Beach Boys, and I still don't understand whi he had it, but he had it, so I listened to it. It was almost natural that I should like it.
Going back in time, I remember I must have been about 5 years old when I was in a school play, and we did a dance to the song 'Surfin' U.S.A.' and I specifically remember being so excited about the organ and guitar solo every time it came up!
Okay, so I bought my first copy of Pet Sounds when I was 18, so I wasn't so young. But I remember seeing it in Bell Book and Candle, the best record store in Galway, and my vision going blurry. Before I knew it, I had walked to the counter, paid for the album and starter walking home, because I had spent all my bus money to pay for it, anxious to listen to it. To this day it remains my favourite album all time.
Of course, as I grew up, my love for the Beach Boys just increased. Now I consider them one of my very favourite bands. But I also came came to learn about Brian Wilson himself. His fears, struggles and mental instability that helped him create all those masterpieces. In fact, all those harmonies couldn't have been contained in any ordinary brain - you need to have the brain of a genius to be able to invent so many harmonies at the same time to really create something so ground breaking, and fit it around the rock and roll genre, updating it and leaving a huge mark on the music that came after The Beach Boys.
Brian's vulnerability made me love him even more. Jim Morrison sang about getting wasted. Jimi Hendrix got over by singing about sex. Brian Wilson sang about being a kid, and getting married, and simply being happy. In one of his best songs, In My Room, he sings about how there is one, and only one place where he feels safe. Remember, this was one of the biggest names in world music at the time, and he was openly admitting to being insecure and scared of the outside world. This is something I can easily identify with. Sometimes the future, the outside world and everything that might burst my bubble makes me so nervous that I can hardly breathe. I put on a Beach Boys song, and I find serenity and tranquillity again.
On a more general note, I think everyone should be allowed to see their musical heroes live. Music is still one of those forms of art where live performance matters more than anything. If cinema is the equivalent for films, we know how much they are suffering. The theatre is only for a certain type of crowd, and the more tasteful it is and the less people are going to want to see it. My point is that whether you like Justin Bieber or Brian Wilson, what you get out of a live show of theirs is something that you will never, ever forget. I can think about last night for a whole life and have a smile on my face and a warm feeling cross my heart.
PART THREE: the stand out moments
It started off with the songs from the last record, 'Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin'. It was very sophisticated. I knew all the songs from it, and I must say they sounded much better live than they did on the album, but the theatrical setting and the whole atmosphere that came with it must have helped too.
I really enjoyed them. Of course, when the Beach Boys numbers started rolling in, the audience came from being observant, mature and reflective to being excited and fired up.
The first time everyone got up to dance was with Do You Wanna Dance. Everyone got up after the keyboardist told us to forget about the place being a theatre and get up to dance. It was great, cos up to that point I didn't know whether I would be allowed. I think I sat down twice more after then, and stayed up for the rest of it.
God Only Knows got a standing ovation that seemed to have lasted for ages. I couldn't stop clapping, and neither could anyone else. Word on the internet was that it lasted for two minutes. Hey, I have never seen that happen, EVER! so I had goosebumps.
Heroes and Villains, musically speaking, was probably their best performance of the night. I love the song, but hearing it live was just perfect. Most of those musicians would have recorded this song with Brian for his Smile album a few years ago, so maybe that's why they did it so flawlessly. Nevertheless, I thought it was the best, it was very trippy, irresistibly poppy and just amazing.
I could have cried when Brian Wilson came out at the last encore for many reasons. One, that song 'All Summer Long' is an amazing song, but it's also so nostalgic and made me wish I could have been young then and not now. Two, I knew that now, Brian would definitely be done, and I would probably never see him live again - but he left me with an experience and a feeling of joy that I had hardly ever felt before. It was the perfect song to close the amazing gig with.
Then, in the end, Brian said something that puzzled me. 'Thank you Dublin, see you soon'. I thought this was the last tour, Brian!...
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