rector Darian Sahanaja beautifully executed the
vocals for “Darlin’”, which Carl Wilson had originally sung. Not content playing just classic hits,
there were appealing selections such as “One
Kind of Love”, “The Right Time”, and “Sail Away”
from Wilson’s new solo album aptly titled No Pier
Pressure.
As the main set drew closer to finishing, the
house was treated to one of my personal favorite
compositions of all time. From the original Smile
Sessions and later resurrected in 2004 on Brian
Wilson Presents Smile, “Surf’s Up” is a wondrous,
beautifully constructed, and intricate melody that
upon hearing leaves your soul feeling satisfied
and inspired. Before beginning the song Wilson
told the crowd that it was “very complicated and
might take 20 minutes to play.” It was certainly a
transcendent and spiritual experience seeing him
play and sing this song, a song he wrote at just 24
years old.
Closing out the main set were essential Beach
Boys hits. Heard in many film soundtracks and
on radios around the world “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
was a celebration of love and happiness that inspired the crowd to dance and sway in the aisles
while singing along to all the words. Prefacing “God
Only Knows” by saying “This is the best song I ever
wrote”, Wilson’s performance and interpretation of
the song was as masterful and emotional as ever.
The psychedelic masterpiece “Good Vibrations” was
the final song of the set and featured a spooky and
famous Theremin/Tannerin
part played by the super talented multi-instrumentalist
and Keene, NH native Probyn
Gregory. As Wilson left the
stage and the band played
out everyone knew there was
more coming.
Kicking off the encore with
the bouncy “All Summer Long”
the band did not stop playing
as they segued into the Al Jardine classic “Help Me Rhonda.”
Rocking out “Barbara Ann”,
“Surfin’ U.S.A.”, and “Fun,
Fun, Fun” the encore finally
came to a close when Wilson
asked the crowd if they had
seen Love and Mercy, the new
biopic starring Paul Dano and
John Cusack as the younger
and middle aged versions of
Brian Wilson. The crowd responded in the affirmative.
The film has received rave reviews and Wilson himself was
very happy with it, with mem-
Winter • 2015
bers of his band providing consulting and coaching
for the film’s soundtrack.
As with every show the final song of the night
was “Love and Mercy” from Wilson’s 1988 solo debut album Brian Wilson. A very pretty and touching song that asks for and promotes connecting with
the best in humanity. After all, that is what the
music of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys is really
all about--love, connection and good vibrations. ■
Photos courtesy of facebook.com/officialbrianwilson
cidermag.com • CIDER
MAG • 7