Even the old sound young
The oldest crowd that I had ever seen for a show at Merriweather has gathered together on a beautiful night on the lawn. The grass was littered with lawn chairs, so in that sense, it was a lot more like Wolftrap than I would have otherwise thought; too bad you could not bring your own booze and picnic. The lawn was pretty full but considering how many lawn chairs there were, the show was not even close to selling out. We found a good spot towards the back middle section. As is acceptable at every other concert at Merriweather, when the band came out, we stood up. Pockets of others were doing the same, though most people were sitting. This wasn’t a popular move with a handful of people us; we replied that we would stand and dance a bit, then sit a bit. Later, another guy wasn’t having any of it and told us that we better sit down because EVERYONE behind us was pissed. His string of curses and homophobic insinuations certainly didn’t make us feel any more like sitting either. Shortly thereafter, everyone on the lawn stood up anyway.
Anyway, back to the show, though the Beach Boys are very much an ensemble of musicians and vocals, Mike Love was the front man for the group, introducing the songs and band mates. He also did not miss a single opportunity to hock various Beach Boys merchandise, everything from CDs to sweatshirts. He must have mentioned that items were available in the merchandise tent a dozen or more times throughout the night. It was frankly kind of tacky. He also said they were selling signed copies of their new record with all of the original band’s signatures. Kind of misleading because, obviously Carl and Dennis couldn’t have signed it, so it was unclear who these “original” members were. I must say that considering how old they all are, it was amazing how great they sounded. Even though Brian Wilson looked lost on stage (as he did last year), he and the rest of the boys still know what notes to hit. They played two solid sets, cycling through all of their hits and a half dozen covers. They also included a few tributes to Carl and Dennis that featured recordings of vocal tracks sung by them. Dennis’s tribute song was “Forever.” Personally, I would have preferred an Uncle Jesse tribute, but I guess Full House fans are not their target demographic.
Setlist:
Set 1:
Do It Again
Little Honda
Catch a Wave
Hawaii
Don't Back Down
Surfin' Safari
Then I Kissed Her (The Crystals cover)
It's OK
This Whole World
Kiss Me, Baby
Isn't It Time
Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers cover)
When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)
Darlin'
Please Let Me Wonder
Be True to Your School
Cotton Fields (Lead Belly cover)
Disney Girls
Ballad of Ole' Betsy
Don't Worry Baby
Little Deuce Coupe
409
Shut Down
I Get Around
Set 2:
Add Some Music to Your Day
Heroes and Villains
California Saga: California
Sloop John B
Wouldn't It Be Nice
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
Sail on, Sailor
In My Room
All This Is That
That's Why God Made the Radio
Forever
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations
California Girls
All Summer Long
Help Me, Rhonda
Rock and Roll Music (Chuck Berry cover)
Do You Wanna Dance? (Bobby Freeman cover)
Surfin' USA
Encore:
Kokomo
Barbara Ann (The Regents cover)
Fun, Fun, Fun
Although I knew the evening was wasn’t going to compare to being in the front few rows at Wolftrap for Brian Wilson, as I was the previous summer, I was still looking forward to seeing the entire group of surviving Beach Boys on stage for their 50th Anniversary tour.
The oldest crowd that I had ever seen for a show at Merriweather has gathered together on a beautiful night on the lawn. The grass was littered with lawn chairs, so in that sense, it was a lot more like Wolftrap than I would have otherwise thought; too bad you could not bring your own booze and picnic. The lawn was pretty full but considering how many lawn chairs there were, the show was not even close to selling out. We found a good spot towards the back middle section. As is acceptable at every other concert at Merriweather, when the band came out, we stood up. Pockets of others were doing the same, though most people were sitting. This wasn’t a popular move with a handful of people us; we replied that we would stand and dance a bit, then sit a bit. Later, another guy wasn’t having any of it and told us that we better sit down because EVERYONE behind us was pissed. His string of curses and homophobic insinuations certainly didn’t make us feel any more like sitting either. Shortly thereafter, everyone on the lawn stood up anyway.
Anyway, back to the show, though the Beach Boys are very much an ensemble of musicians and vocals, Mike Love was the front man for the group, introducing the songs and band mates. He also did not miss a single opportunity to hock various Beach Boys merchandise, everything from CDs to sweatshirts. He must have mentioned that items were available in the merchandise tent a dozen or more times throughout the night. It was frankly kind of tacky. He also said they were selling signed copies of their new record with all of the original band’s signatures. Kind of misleading because, obviously Carl and Dennis couldn’t have signed it, so it was unclear who these “original” members were. I must say that considering how old they all are, it was amazing how great they sounded. Even though Brian Wilson looked lost on stage (as he did last year), he and the rest of the boys still know what notes to hit. They played two solid sets, cycling through all of their hits and a half dozen covers. They also included a few tributes to Carl and Dennis that featured recordings of vocal tracks sung by them. Dennis’s tribute song was “Forever.” Personally, I would have preferred an Uncle Jesse tribute, but I guess Full House fans are not their target demographic.
Set 1:
Do It Again
Little Honda
Catch a Wave
Hawaii
Don't Back Down
Surfin' Safari
Surfer Girl
WendyThen I Kissed Her (The Crystals cover)
It's OK
This Whole World
Kiss Me, Baby
Isn't It Time
Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers cover)
When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)
Please Let Me Wonder
Be True to Your School
Cotton Fields (Lead Belly cover)
Disney Girls
Ballad of Ole' Betsy
Don't Worry Baby
Little Deuce Coupe
409
Shut Down
I Get Around
Set 2:
Add Some Music to Your Day
Heroes and Villains
California Saga: California
Sloop John B
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
Sail on, Sailor
In My Room
All This Is That
That's Why God Made the Radio
Forever
God Only Knows
Good Vibrations
California Girls
All Summer Long
Help Me, Rhonda
Rock and Roll Music (Chuck Berry cover)
Do You Wanna Dance? (Bobby Freeman cover)
Surfin' USA
Encore:
Kokomo
Barbara Ann (The Regents cover)
Fun, Fun, Fun
I'm doing a blog post about renovations at Merriweather Post Pavilion and would like to use your first photo in this post as an illustration (with credit to you, of course). Is that OK by you?
ReplyDeletei wsa there for this one as well. Thanks for documenting! :)
ReplyDelete