On Friday, May 26, 2017, I was fortunate enough to attend the “Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Tour” featuring Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, and Blondie Chaplin at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, CA. They were backed by a solid group of musicians, including Al’s son, Matthew Jardine, who convincingly handled the falsetto parts on many of The Beach Boys‘ classic hits. The concert was divided into two halves, the first including quite a lot of their Top 40 hits and the second embarking on a trip through the songs from Pet Sounds. The show concluded with a six song encore to make a total of 38 songs played live. I know that some of these songs are short, but it felt like I certainly was getting my money’s worth! The full set list is up on Setlist.fm. I borrowed the title of one of the songs for the title of the blog.
What an absolute honor to be in the presence of this incredible genius of a man, Brian Wilson and to be able to hear him sing and play. His singing ability has been affected over time and while I never expected him to sound perfect it was saddening to feel that passage of time in his loss of breath control and vocal range. I experienced a strange contrast while I watched the show — my heart was heavily feeling the length of a lifetime while simultaneously enjoying the feel good music bursting forth from these fine musicians.
If you are reading this, you probably already own Pet Sounds, but if you stumbled upon this review and have somehow missed out on hearing (it happens to the best of us), go get it now!