On Tour: 1968 - Part 1

This is the first post in a four-part series on the digital-only live release On Tour: 1968.  On December 14, 2018, the band put out this 114-track set consisting of eight concerts from a very productive, though commercially underwhelming, period.  It's one of my favorite years in the history of the group.

The first five shows come from their July 1968 US tour and the last three are from London that December.  The band augmented their sound by bringing some extra musicians with them.  There are no liner notes with this set, but digging around the Internet suggests we have Daryl Dragon on organ, Ed Carter on occasional bass and lead guitar (in the fall), possibly John Guerin on drums for two songs in the summer shows, Mike Kowalski with some percussion (in the fall), and a horn section of unknowns.  These guys really flesh out the sound and add a lot to the performances.

We start things off with a show at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago on July 5, 1968.  The Beach Boys released their Friends album two weeks earlier, Dennis Wilson had a gang of unsavory characters living at his house, and Brian and the guys had been working on some beautiful recordings the world wouldn't hear for over 20 years with names such as "We're Together Again," "Old Man River," and "Walk On By."  This 43-minute recording starts in the middle of "Darlin'" from Wild Honey.  They play the usual songs like "Help Me, Rhonda," "California Girls," and "Surfer Girl" before playing both sides of their three-month-old single: "Friends" b/w "Little Bird."  Mike introduces "Friends" saying "we're going to do a song of ours, a bomb of ours."  They pull off an excellent performance and it sounds like it was very well-received by the crowd.  "Little Bird" is next featuring Dennis on lead.  These songs are not common occurrences in Beach Boys setlists so it's cool hearing them when they were new.  The guys run through the same medley of five early hits they were doing in 1966 and nobody even tries doing the falsetto parts.

Another highlight is hearing both sides of their soon-to-be-released single: "Do It Again" b/w "Wake The World."  The horns take the place of the high vocal parts in "Do It Again."  Afterwards Mike had a funny comment where he said, "Anybody heard it lately?  Not counting just now."  This is likely about lack of radio support, though the song would go to #1 in the UK.  "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations" are nicely executed and appreciated by the audience before launching into "Barbara Ann."  Mike then says "I'm going to introduce Ernie and the band," but unfortunately doesn't.  Ernie Small was considered a "touring bandleader" at the time.  Mike closed with "they're going to demonstrate to you their abilities on their own for a few minutes here and we'll be back shortly."  The band then plays us out.  I'm unaware if the Beach Boys came back on stage.  This is where the Chicago recording ends.

The second show in this collection is from three days later, July 8th, at the Memorial Auditorium in Fargo, North Dakota.  I'm assuming the show started with "Darlin'," though it's not included here.  We begin with Al singing "Help Me, Rhonda" and the setlist is nearly the same as Chicago.  The only changes are that the band instrumental takes place after "Wake The World," "God Only Knows" is played after "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" instead of before, and "Johnny B. Goode" is featured at the end.  The horn section does a great job on "Little Bird" and the intro to "California Girls."  The Chicago performance was much better than this Fargo show (the second of two that day).  "Surfer Girl" is very weak vocally, there's some goofing around during "Friends," and many cues are missed in the medley.  The beginning of "Johnny B. Goode" is butchered and there seems to be odd guitar problems throughout that song.