My loyal reader will know, by now, of my obsessive devotion to music. Indeed, I’ve been in love with music since the early 1960s when my mum bought me the 7″ vinyl single of the Buddy Holly song Not Fade Away by a little known popular beat combo outfit called the Rolling Stones. I wonder what happened to them? Oh yes, somehow, the Stones are still around, incredibly and impossibly still somehow relevant, even if they are these days little more than a stellar touring jukebox. The recent announcement of tours by other pop ‘legends’ leaves me cold.
In May, the legendary Beach Boy Brian Wilson is set to bring his greatest hits tour to the UK. His stellar band, which includes more real Beach Boys than Mike Love’s touring version, will not disappoint, especially given Wilson’s glorious back catalogue. But I shall not be there at any of the gigs.
In his 78th year, Wilson shambles on stage with the aid of a zimmer frame. He sits behind a grand piano which he doesn’t actually play and his voice is, quite understandably, not what it once was. His band cover Wilson’s weaknesses admirably so it usually sounds great. But is that what I want to hear?
I have seen the great man in concert on many occasions (six, I think), most notably in the Pet Sounds at the Royal Festival Hall gig in 2002 where I sat in front of James Dean Bradfield and met Ray Davies at the interval. For Wilson, who has suffered terribly from mental illness, it was redemption, it was recognition, it was a triumph. Yet, I spent much of the show simply hoping he would get through it. At subsequent shows, I found myself willing him on even more, which was a huge distraction from the music. The last time I saw him for his fifth visit to Bristol in 2016, I concluded I had seen enough. Now, he is coming back again.
A greatest hits tour means what it says. The majority of the setlist will be from Wilson’s most creative period, the 1960s. In recent shows, he has played just two songs from the 1970s and one solo track from the 1980s. All great songs, for sure, but I have heard them all before and I won’t be paying a minimum of £48 to sit at the back at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena and £96 to sit in the stalls. Sod that for a game of soldiers. It’s probably not a rip off because Wilson tours with a large band and crew but I’m not paying that. No chance. I won’t be going to see Genesis, either!
The latter version of the band, featuring Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford has concluded that it’s the right time to hit the road and top up that pension pot one more time. No new music to promote, nor will there be any new music. Expect to hear Turn It On Again, Invisible Touch, Mama and so much more from extensive AOR back catalogue belonging to the three septuagenarians, along with a smattering of Collins’ solo hits and, worse still, some best forgotten tunes from the Mike and the Mechanics era.
You can’t blame them, though, because the comeback tour will sell out in minutes and the dates between the shows already announced have convenient gaps in which to play additional shows ‘due to public demand.’ And they know that we have an insatiable appetite for nostalgia. £100+ per ticket will do little to curb the enthusiasm of elderly pop pickers everywhere. Good luck to them, I say. But, to quote Rick Nelson, ‘If memories were all I had, I’d rather drive a truck.”
Hopefully, neither Wilson nor Genesis, or any of the heritage bands on tour this year, will do anything to tarnish their legacies. None of these gigs would be happening if there wasn’t demand, although I can’t see how for the life of me Wilson will sell out the Cardiff show. I hope in his case it’s not a show too far. I fear it might be.
