Brian Wilson Tour Update.....

It figures I get more tied up and unable to post more updates just as the Brian/Al/Dave tour begins. In any event, we’re about two weeks into the tour, and the setlist has slightly fluctuated but has provided a general guideline for how they are programming the shows.

Brian does a set of around 20 songs with Al and Dave (with Blondie featuring on several songs at shows he’s attending), then Jeff Beck peforms his set, followed by various elements of Brian’s band coming on with Beck to do a few songs together, followed by an encore with elements of both bands. Precise setlists are a bit difficult to track down, only because Brian fans don’t seem to be familiar with Beck’s catalog, and a few of the joint set song titles are getting garbled (for instance, I’m seeing “Child is Father of the Man” on some setlists, but it appears they are not performing the full “Smile” track, but rather some coda bits attached to the beginning of “Surf’s Up”).

As planned, Blondie appeared on opening night, singing “Sail on Sailor.” He made a surprise unscheduled appearance at the October 9th Boston show, singing both “Sail on Sailor” and “Wild Honey.” It appears they are trying to cram some “rare” stuff into Brian’s shortened set, and admittedly they are doing about as good of a job as possible of making such a short setlist interesting.

Here is a recent setlist from 10/9 in Boston:

1. Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
2. California Girls
3. Do It Again
4. Then I Kissed Her (Al)
5. Don’t Worry Baby (Jeff)
6. Little Bird (David)
7. Old Man River
8. Cotton Fields (Al)
9. Sail on Sailor (Blondie)
10. Wild Honey (Blondie)
11. Marcella
12. Heroes and Villains
13. Pet Sounds
14. God Only Knows
15. Wouldn’t It Be Nice (Jeff)
16. Sloop John B
17. Help Me Rhonda (Al)
18. I Get Around
19. Good Vibrations
20. Fun Fun Fun
- Jeff Beck’s Set  (which sometimes includes Brian’s band on a Beck track or two)
21. Our Prayer (w/ Jeff Beck)
22. Surf’s Up (w/Jeff Beck)
- Encore (w/ both bands)
23. Barbara Ann
24. Surfin’ USA
25. Danny Boy

Some other random notes: Beck’s setlist on some nights has included his version of “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)” accompanied by Brian’s band. Some other songs rotated in and out of Brian’s setlist: “’Til I Die”, “Darlin’” (with Darian on lead), “Forever” (with Dave on lead), “She Knows Me Too Well”, “Shut Down”, “Little Deuce Coupe” (with Al on lead), “That’s Why God Made the Radio”, “Custom Machine”, “This Car of Mine”, “Surfer Girl”, “Do You Wanna Dance”, “Summertime Blues” (with Dave on lead), and I may be missing a few others. 

The setlist has evolved quite a bit for such a short setlist over only two weeks. It seems they are edging out some of the more common stuff for more esoteric stuff, although there are some fun bits that have been dropped like “Custom Machine”, “This Car of Mine”, and Dave’s first turn on “Forever” with Brian’s band.

It will be interesting to see if Blondie pops up at any more unscheduled shows. Hopefully they can keep this lineup a going concern into next year, as they likely promote the new album with more shows. This lineup doing a full 40-plus song setlist would be amazing. Everybody could get more chances to shine.