Reminiscing from London
Apr 9, 2020 15:32:58 GMT -5
via mobile
Cam Mott, Silken, and 1 more like this
Post by oliversb85 on Apr 9, 2020 15:32:58 GMT -5
Hi there everyone,
I’m new to the board and actually came here primarily to research some details on an 70’s concert featuring the Beach Boys, for a documentary film I’m producing. Incredibly your fan community came through with just the information we were looking for in no time...really remarkable!
But while I’m hear, it gives me the chance to reminisce on an unforgettable experience I myself had a few years ago.
So being a fairly young guy (34), I thought my chance to see the (remaining) Beach Boys live had gone long long ago. I was lucky to have caught Brian in concert while on holiday in Ireland once (I think 2005) and thought, y’know that was such a special show and I’m grateful to have seen the legend himself and heard some of those special songs just the once.
So a few years later when they announced the 50th reunion tour in 2012, I was amazed the chance might finally have come to pass. However at that point I was pretty broke and predictably all the tickets for the one UK show were super expensive, selling out in a flash. To add to this, the venue they were set to play, Wembley Arena, is a pretty sterile arena and not my favourite (no disrespect to those who went to that show, I’m sure it was ace!). But for me, all a bit of a bummer.
Fast forward a few months and by then they’d announced a second UK show at the Royal Albert Hall - FAR more historic and atmospheric - and on the night of the show, I went down the hall ticketless, but hoping to get lucky. In managed to bag a ticket right up in the gods, the only standing section in the venue, for £50.
Having gone solo and somewhat speculatively, I got a beer, rested on the balcony and was just happy to be there, having no idea what we were in store for...
The next 3+ hours and 61 songs (I mean, WTF?!) were amongst the most joyous, uplifting and giddy I’ll ever have. Hit after hit after hit just kept coming. Then beer was discarded and I ended up dancing and boogying with total strangers all around (those standing tickets invaluable as it happens), like a teen school disco.
And the sight of these ageing musicians, sharing a stage despite the palpable tension and years of acrimony, and combing to produce those harmonies and melodies that are as iconic as Mount Rushmore yet as fresh and warming and alive as the Spring sunshine, well...it was pretty emotional.
Every know and again I’ll bring up a few of the rave, five star newspaper reviews that appeared the next day and remember how even the cynical, world weary journalists there to review just-another-show, couldn’t help but be elevated and moved by the music we all shared. Magical.
I’m new to the board and actually came here primarily to research some details on an 70’s concert featuring the Beach Boys, for a documentary film I’m producing. Incredibly your fan community came through with just the information we were looking for in no time...really remarkable!
But while I’m hear, it gives me the chance to reminisce on an unforgettable experience I myself had a few years ago.
So being a fairly young guy (34), I thought my chance to see the (remaining) Beach Boys live had gone long long ago. I was lucky to have caught Brian in concert while on holiday in Ireland once (I think 2005) and thought, y’know that was such a special show and I’m grateful to have seen the legend himself and heard some of those special songs just the once.
So a few years later when they announced the 50th reunion tour in 2012, I was amazed the chance might finally have come to pass. However at that point I was pretty broke and predictably all the tickets for the one UK show were super expensive, selling out in a flash. To add to this, the venue they were set to play, Wembley Arena, is a pretty sterile arena and not my favourite (no disrespect to those who went to that show, I’m sure it was ace!). But for me, all a bit of a bummer.
Fast forward a few months and by then they’d announced a second UK show at the Royal Albert Hall - FAR more historic and atmospheric - and on the night of the show, I went down the hall ticketless, but hoping to get lucky. In managed to bag a ticket right up in the gods, the only standing section in the venue, for £50.
Having gone solo and somewhat speculatively, I got a beer, rested on the balcony and was just happy to be there, having no idea what we were in store for...
The next 3+ hours and 61 songs (I mean, WTF?!) were amongst the most joyous, uplifting and giddy I’ll ever have. Hit after hit after hit just kept coming. Then beer was discarded and I ended up dancing and boogying with total strangers all around (those standing tickets invaluable as it happens), like a teen school disco.
And the sight of these ageing musicians, sharing a stage despite the palpable tension and years of acrimony, and combing to produce those harmonies and melodies that are as iconic as Mount Rushmore yet as fresh and warming and alive as the Spring sunshine, well...it was pretty emotional.
Every know and again I’ll bring up a few of the rave, five star newspaper reviews that appeared the next day and remember how even the cynical, world weary journalists there to review just-another-show, couldn’t help but be elevated and moved by the music we all shared. Magical.
