On Tour: 1968 - Part 2

The next concert on this set comes from the McElroy Auditorium in Waterloo, Iowa on July 10, 1968.  This recording begins after "Darlin'" has started but before the vocals occur.  There is not much to say about this particular show.  It is well-performed and a very good soundboard recording.  Mike repeats some of his dialogue from the previous concerts, but even he isn't as talkative as usual.  He introduces the medley as a "Beach Boys mudley of oldies but moldies," which is funny as these songs are not that old and he would still be performing them 50 years later.  Twice at the end of "California Girls" the lyric is changed to "I wish you all could be California girls."  The list of songs performed is the same as before except "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" is not included.  I don't know if it was dropped that night or edited out of the recording here.  Overall, it's a fine show and a better performance than Fargo.

We catch up with the guys three days later at the Pershing Municipal Auditorium in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Like Iowa, this is another quality show.  Mike is more talkative on this date and gets the audience to laugh a couple times.  The first time is right before "Surfer Girl" where the song is often announced as the first slow song they ever wrote.  Mike says, "Wish we'd turn off these laser beams up there.  They're beginning to sterilize us here.  I'm not taking any chances on this one."  "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" returns tonight and Mike introduces it by saying "we'd like to do this song a capella, which means naked."  There is no band instrumental on this show and there does seem to be a few edits between songs for whatever reason.  I think the horn section was a nice addition to this tour.  It really helps fill in the backing and moves songs like "California Girls" and "Sloop John B" slightly closer to their studio versions.  New songs like "Friends" and "Little Bird" really stand out in these shows.