Customer Reviews

Brian Wilson: On Tour

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Clocking in at a mere 77 minutes, this DVD provides a nice (if somewhat bland) overview of Brian's transformation from Beach Boy to solo entity, but it's brevity certainly raises some significant questions.

If Brian is truly "back", then why is almost every chapter of this DVD so heavily edited? Why are we presented with so many snippets of songs instead of fully realized productions? Why is the concert footage only culled from the 1999 and 2000 tours?

As it is, "Brian Wilson On Tour", is simply a sanitized PBS-oriented documentary. There is no Beach Boy pathos here, just fun (and art!) on the road. And while it does sometimes feel contrived, this DVD does provide the fan with occasional spontaneous human moments from Brian. My personal fave scene is where Brian is asked to name his favorite tune from different groups ... very cool. However, be warned that this DVD does not offer much in the way of complete songs.

In fact, that's my biggest gripe with this disc: there is not enough unedited concert footage. Almost everything is offered in piecemeal fashion. Heck, even "Saturday Morning In The City" - a "new" track which is advertised on the outside of the package - is presented as a miniscule 30 second piano snippet! VERY MISLEADING PACKAGING!!!

Much like 1995's "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", "Brian Wilson On Tour" is yet another fixed perspective look into Brian's world. How much of this documentary is truth and how much is revision is left up to the viewer to decide.

Only the overworked editor knows for sure.

Those who saw Brian Wilson perform on his 2002 European Tour must have been in doubt whether the former Beach Boys genius was realy happy to be back on stage. Wilson looked sometimes scared and insecure and his great band the Wondermints backed up for him in more than one way. But we see a different Brian Wilson in this DVD. One who is enjoying the appreciation of the public and other musicians like Neil Young and Pete Townsend. Brian is loose and looks happy in this Tour film and seems surrounded with love. Playing some of his and Beach Boys greatest tunes and building up confidence. After the CD's Brian Wilson Live at the Roxy and Pet Sounds Live and the Tribute DVD, this new DVD is another landmark in the attempts to give Brian Wilson the credits he derserves but did not get for his wonderful music from the sixties and seventies. There are beautiful tracks on this DVD and charming backstage views, like Neil Young trying to learn how to play Good Vibrations. Good to see all this happen.

Some misconceptions about this DVD here. Let me clear them up.

1.) Although it was released in 2003, this documentary was filmed in 1999 and 2000, on the very first leg of Brian Wilson's very first solo tour.

2.) The editing has been done at least partly to cut out Joe Thomas and Steve Dahl, both of whom accompanied and (kind of) played with Brian on the first leg of the tour. They both left after BW's trip to Japan.

3.) The best stuff was yet to come. Brian followed this up with the Pet Sounds tour, a summer series of shows with Paul Simon, more Pet Sounds shows in England, and now the SMiLE tour. This DVD is about him coming into his own as a concert performer.

4.) The man isn't exactly magnetic on stage. Sometimes he's dull to watch, esp. in this first tour when he kept his hands on the keyboard. So some creative editing can be excused. Take a look at the Pet Sounds Live DVD to see much more straightforward footage.

5.) This is obviously not the highest budget production. It's mainly filmed on digital video. It gives us a close look at Brian making his music. That's its charm.

If folks stop wanting this DVD to be something it isn't, and accept it for what it is, they'll find a wonderful portrait of a frazzled, eccentric, but still very alive and musical man.

Great concert footage, Brian singing better and better every year and even dancing around on stage.
Short remarks from Neil Young, Pete Townshend and others explaining their love for Brian and his music.

Would have rated this a 5 star DVD, except for the fact that it is only 77 minutes (plus some extra's), while there must be so much more great concert stuff available.

A must for every fan of Brian and his work

I admittedly had very high hopes when I purchased this dvd at a store in New Jersey. I sat through the whole thing and ended up kind of unhappy. I know I'm probably not going to get a lot of "helpful" votes for this review, but this is solely my opinion, and I'm sure a few people will agree with me.

First up, I was expecting a full - blown concert dvd, like the superior "The Beach Boys : Good Timin' - Live At Knebowrth", which featured a low - profile Brian at his worst, but he and the rest of the band gave a pitch - perfect performance. Instead, this is a documentary featuring less than a handful of complete live performances and even the rehearsal footage of some songs are butchered to mere snippets. I was also looking forward to hear Brian perform "Vegetables" in concert. I thought thsi song was so complex and produced nobody could pull it off in concert, and I really looking forward to hearing how Brian did it. Imagine my frustation when it was just shown as a brief a capella performance in a Vegas hotel lobby. I was also mad that my favorite song that Brian sang with the Beach Boys, "Don't Worry Baby", is performed as a joke in brain's dressing room by Ronnie Spector. And the new song on the dvd, "Saturday Morning In The City" is just Brian at the piano singing a 30 - secodn recognition of the song. How's that for your money ? If they really wanted to make a documentary of an artist on tour with some rehearsals and interviews thrown in, they should have done one in vein of the two Elvis documentaries ( "That's The Way It Is" and "Elvis On Tour" ), both of which featured some intervieews and rehearsal footage but mainly focused on Elvis's stage performances.

Still, the complete performances that are featured actually make up for all the dvd's many flaws, particuarly "Fun Fun Fun", "Barbara Ann", his Carl Wilson tribute "Lay Down Burden" and "God Only Knows" ( also dedicated to Carl ). However, if you want to hear a great Brian Wilson live performance, try the 2001 release "Live At The Roxy", which is a two - disc set featuring 30 excellent live tracks ( mostly rare Beach Boys tunes that were never performed in concert before ) plus an exclusive interview with Brian.

I don't think this was a terribly bad dvd. It has some truly astonishing live performances and some very funny offstage moments ( including Brian dancing to "Surfin' Usa" ). But this dvd should have been a complete concert rather than a documentary.

I had extremely high hopes when I heard about this dvd. I was expecting to be sitting at home on the couch watching Brian Wilson perform almost 30 of his greatest songs live in concert. When I did finish watching it, however, I was kind of dissapointed.

My major gripe is that it's not what it what I thought it was. There are only a handful of complete live performances. The rest of the songs are either from rehearsals (and those are just more snippets) or a capella performances by Brian with his friends and with Ronnie Spector that are so pointless, they don't even merit credit on the box. The interviews are tame and never really catch fire (who'd want to see Brian teaching Neil Young the organ part on "Good Vibrations" ?). However, it's not all bad. The live performances that are here - "Fun, Fun, Fun", "California Girls", "Do It Again", "God Only Knows", "Darlin", "Add Some Music To Your Day", etc - are electrifying. But if you want to see Brian work his magic with a live crowd, get "Brian Wilson Live At The Roxy Theater", with 2 discs of Brian dong what he does best.

I really think that this dvd could've been better. Hopefully Brian will release a complete live concert on dvd in the near future featuring hits, rare tunes and solo numbers interspliced with some chatter here and there. "Brian Wilson On Tour" is not that.

Just want to congratulate Brian on the very special new DVD, with so many great moments. The love and respect of his music by so many fellow artists, along with his fans, and family, is truly wonderful, truly moving, and absolutely life-affirming. As David Leaf says, it is an example of an artist re-claiming his legacy. And with this documentary, it is the re-validation of one of the greatest musical geniuses of our - or any - lifetime. Two words for Brian - LOVE YOU!

This time it is true. His singing on "Darlin'" and Surfin' USA" is spot on and emotive. The falsetto of his youth, quite possibly the best in the business, is gone. However, his wonderful band can cover for him in that regard. He looks much more comfortable onstage than he did when I saw him in 2000.

It is pretty funny when he stops "Do It Again" to get the crowd clapping, then yells at them to "Stop Clapping!" 60 seconds later during the bridge.

The DD5.1 and DTS mixes are great! I wish the video was 16:9 rather than 4:3.

I wonder what the surviving Beach Boys are thinking? I can only hope they feel good seeing Brian soak up all the adulation he missed out on in the past 30 years and so richly deserves.

This DVD is amazing! If you have not seen Brian Wilson live in the last few years, performing classic Beach Boys songs as well as some of his solo songs, this DVD is an excellent way to feel what it was like at his concerts. I was lucky enough to see Brian and his band twice, and this DVD brought back all of the wonderful memories of those shows. Some of my favorite moments -performing "Do It Again" early in the program. Brian stops the band during the intro to get the crowd to start clapping, and then the band starts it up again. It is just a great performance. There is also an emotional speech by Paul McCartney inducting Brian into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Later in the DVD, Neil Young asks if he can play the organ part on "Good Vibrations", and learns the part from two of the guys in Brian's band. His comments are so honest and you really get the sense that he was thrilled to be included in the band. There are a number of individual comments by the band on how much they have loved performing Brian's music with him, and how moving an experience it is for all of them. And the music is performed and sung so well, better than the original recordings in my opinion. Buy this DVD for yourself and for anyone you know that loves this great music!

This DVD takes what was really a wonderful tour and hatchets it up into so many pieces the viewer is never allowed to sit back and enjoy a concert. Every song is followed with 3-5 minutes of hijinx, fawning celebrity interviews, or spaced out ramblings from Brian himself. To make matters worse, the song selection features just about every number Brian covered that was originally sung by Mike Love, ignoring many of the gems Brian performed that he actually originated as lead vocalist. If you saw this tour, this mess of a DVD is a real disapointment.