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I thought I would give you a little report on the Al Jardine show I saw Saturday night in Las Vegas.
It was at the Tuscany Hotel for a convention involving Mazda dealers. Basically, a ballroom show with between 100-150 people maybe. Might have been more but the opening band Radio 1 from San Diego probably wasn't the best choice for the demographics of the audience. Many got up and left during that act. Green Day type band.
The band seems to have adopted the surfing motive. The picture on the ticket had Al carrying a surf board and the band arrived each member wearing a typical hawaiian shirt. Although the one Tom Jacobs was wearing was really great. Talked to him a little bit after the show about the shirt. Got to look for one of those. It was a Beach Boys private label shirt.
The set list was pretty much a typical Mike and Bruce setlist to be honest with a couple of notable exceptions. The medleys were in the same places. It was basically in the same order too. Although Al joked a little bit about whether they should do Kokomo. They did a totally kick ass version of Little GTO that was the best I have ever heard.
The venue was pretty small and the first band had virtually drowned the vocals with the music so I was a little worried about sound quality, but that didn't seem to be an issue for Al's band. No Wilsons or Billy Hinche, but Al was there with his sons. In addition, Mike Meros, Ed Carter, Richie Canata, Tom Jacobs and Bobby Figueroa. I didn't catch the name of the lead guitarist who was set way back in the stage.
The band sounded excellent. The music was incredibly well done. Having the live sax parts with Richie is such a plus for the band. Matt seems to have been born to sing BB music. His vocals were top notch.
My oldest son, who was with me and has been to a number of shows with Mike's band, really thought the music was better presented by Al's band and said for him, it was the vocals Matt added. Al used some of the same humor we are used to hearing from Mike saying stuff like this song is from the 90's, the 1890's. Asking the audience if they wanted to hear any of those old crappy car songs etc... We learned Al's opinion on the recall in California, "vote no, we don't want an actor as Governor. We want him to make more movies."
Two musical treats I hadn't heard live in a while were Runaway and Sea Cruise. Runaway still sounds great.
All in all a most enjoyable time. More beach balls than people were available.
After the show Al signed autographs and talked. Got a couple signatures on the tickets. Tom Jacobs gave me a nice pic that has both Al Jardine and the Beach Boys inscribed on it.
I really enjoyed the show and thought about the 100's of BB fans who would love the chance to see him live and the fact that the room was virtually empty for the show. Too bad.
Contributed by: Dave Marshall, as posted on the PSML