Brian Wilson Reviews

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Good Points: I love the Pet Sounds album. It is certainly in the top 5 albums for me, and to have the chance to see it performed live by it's creator was fantastic. It was great to see Brian Wilson in such good physical shape (he even took up a guitar at one point in the performance) and great voice. As a bonus we got to hear all of the other hits that made the Beach Boys such a popular band, with the whole audience standing, singing and clapping along to hits such as California Girls, Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda and many many more! The rendition of Pet Sounds was everything I hoped for, and he is supported by a very talented group of musicians, who really gave life to this wonderful performance.

Bad Points: It was quite pricey, but as this is the only time that he was going to perform the entire Pet Sounds album (as part of the 40th Anniversary tour) in England, I suppose that this was great value. I also heard that tickets were going for around £500 on Ebay!
No programme for this unique event! I would have paid top whack to have a physical reminder of this great performance.

General comments: This was a fantastic one-off performance by an artist who decided to try and produce an album to match the 'White Album' by the Beatles. In my mind, Brian Wilson succeeded, and Paul McCartney has been quoted as saying that 'God Only Knows' is his favourite song.

The venue was fantastic, and the stage setting for the 'Evita' which happens Monday - Saturday was even used when the Sax player got up on 'the balcony' to play a solo.

The one-off gig also attracted a number of minor celebs (I think I saw Alan Yentob, Paul Gambachini and Nina Miskow) and some major stars. I was sat 6 seats away from Scarlett Johansson (unfortunately my wife was sat 5 seats away from her), so celeb spotting was the order of the day.