The "BAD" tour seemed to go swimmingly overall. Some fans seemed off-put by some aspects of the expensive "meet and greet" packages, but the topic of the artist-approved "VIP" packages is probably best left for another post.
I can't track down confirmed setlists for the entire remainder of the tour, but it appears nothing else "new" was added to the setlist, just a few things swapped in and out. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken. Wilson Phillips opened Show #3, and joined Brian for "In My Room" during his set. "Break Away" may not have survived past opening night.
Let's hope this lineup stays together and that more dates are added in and around October as hinted by Al.
Speaking of Al, Goldmine caught up with him before the tour started and got an interview with him which can be found here: http://www.goldminemag.com/article/beach-boys-brian-wilson-al-jardine-and-david-marks-plan-live-shows
The ongoing soap opera that is the aftermath of the 50th tour was again touched on:
GM: Of course, I wanted to talk about this summer. How did the tour with Brian and David come about? I’m guessing it was sparked by the reunion last year.
AJ: Yeah, you’re probably right. Brian’s also recording a new album, so it’s an offspringing of that. Although we won’t be doing the new songs on this particular leg of the tour, it’s still due to the fact that I’m obviously participating on his album, and David as well, and we would naturally want to go out, and continue to perform and finish what we started.
We really enjoyed the reunion tour and we’re greatly disappointed that we couldn’t continue performing with Mike [Love]. That was, to me, the epitome — the best thing we could have done for ourselves, for the fans and for the music. It was a perfect reunion, only to stop abruptly. It’s hard to stop or slow down a jumbo jet once it gets going, you know? (laughs) I was going to use the train analogy but, you know, once inertia sets in, who the hell needs it? We didn’t want to go back to the way it was; I didn’t want to go back to the way it was.
It’s as good as you’re gonna get it when you see Brian and David and Al — it’s the heart and soul of the Beach Boys. [We] may not be able to call ourselves the Beach Boys, but it’s the heart and soul of the music. And I think people will really enjoy hearing some new stuff that we didn’t do on the 50th. Then later this fall, after the album’s finished, we’ll probably add a few of those songs. It feels good. it’s a natural thing to continue to do what you were born to do. So why not?
I guess it’s strange to have two groups of touring Beach Boys on the road. It’s silly. But, we’re not calling ourselves “The Beach Boys,” so it’s a clear distinction between the two bands. One’s implied and one isn’t. One’s overtly — it is, and the other is doing just the opposite, I guess. We’re just doing what we do. And then of course everyone knows who we are. At least I hope everyone knows who we are!
We would love to have Mike and Bruce [Johnston] with us. It’s the most natural thing we could do. It’s the way it should be. I hope they change their minds.
GM: It doesn’t sound like there’s bad blood there.
AJ: No, there’s no bad blood. Those are some really nice people. It’s just unfortunate that we’re making people choose between one [group] or the other, in this economy especially. You can only go to so many concerts every year and there’s other music out there people want to listen to, so you have to make choices. Not just Beach Boy choices, but there are a lot of people touring, a lot of reunions happening.
I can't really continue to add much new to the 50th debacle. It's still a total bummer, and comments like this from Al indicate he really "got it" as most of the fans did. He wasn't thinking about the bottom line, or politics. His crime may well have been too much optimism about the reunion continuing, but in the political world of the Beach Boys, that's not much of a crime. I've seen plenty of "post-reunion" band member interviews from other bands where the person is clearly sour about the whole thing and starts bad-mouthing whoever it is they're on the outs with. But Al's comments mirror precisely what many fans feel, and it isn't often, especially in the history of the Beach Boys, that band member seem to really get it and be on the same page as the fans.
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