Beach Boys superstar Brian Wilson brought his Pet Sounds: The Final Performances tour to Caesars Windsor on Sunday night (Nov. 25) and the reaction from the sold-out Colosseum crowd was split down the middle. While some enjoyed the music and the band, many couldn’t help but notice a distant and hurting 76-year-old Wilson up there doing the best he could.
For Beach Boys fans it was an incredible setlist, with 17 surfin’ classics and the complete Pet Sounds album played in its entirety from the opening notes of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” to the closing sounds of “Caroline, No.” For general music fans it was all a bit confusing.
Throughout most of the show, Wilson sat at his piano and was very static, pained, and spaced out. He mostly stared blankly into nothingness. He did sing a lyric here and there, but often missed cues, mumbled, or sang off key. For many, it was sometimes hard to watch.
For Beach Boys fans it was an incredible setlist, with 17 surfin’ classics and the complete Pet Sounds album played in its entirety...
Surprisingly, none of this means that the show was a disaster. Make no mistake, these songs are legendary and Wilson has a band of crack musicians who made the California journey all that much better. But the reality is, Wilson was due for a long break to recover, heal, and deal with his demons.
Wilson’s band was the 11-piece L.A. power-pop band The Wondermints — including keyboardist Darian Sahanaja, guitarist Nick Walusko, multi-instrumentalist Probyn Gregory, and drummer Mike D’Amico. The band also includes saxophonist (and musical director) Paul Von Mertens and guitarist/vocalist Rob Bonfiglio (who is married to Wilson’s daughter, Carnie Wilson). Along with Al Jardine, a co-founding member of The Beach Boys, and Blondie Chaplin, who logged time with the group in the early ’70s, the unit arguably performed Beach Boys music better in concert than The Beach Boys ever did. And despite his health, the band seemed to enjoy playing with the legend.
In May, Wilson underwent back surgery and returned to the road. Judging from the pain he was obviously in, he may have needed some time to recover before continuing to perform live – a case in point was that he had to be accompanied to his piano and he never stood up during the encores. He was also escorted to the backstage meet and greet prior to the show. At no point did he show enthusiasm for being in Windsor, although they added an extra song to the lineup that they hadn’t performed on tour that year: “Little St. Nick.”
With all the negatives aside, The Wondermints are an incredible band and the songs are masterworks of '60s pop. Wilson was indeed a musical genius, but even geniuses need and deserve their health.
