The Beach Boys started their sold-out British Tour with two shows at the London Palladium on December 1, 1968. This next recording is the first concert from that day. The setlist is trimmed down to only 11 selections with songs like "Friends," "Little Bird," "Surfer Girl" and the medley of five early hits being shown the door. Bob Farmer wrote a glowing review of the shows in Disc & Music Echo, mentioning how polished the performance was and how the band "were a brilliant and faithful reproduction of all we've come to expect of them on record." He goes on to say, "If there was any doubt about the on-stage ability of this recording ensemble, forget it. In fact, don't dare suggest it." This was a time when their popularity was certainly waning in the US, but Britain was very friendly and open to our guys. The addition of "Bluebirds Over the Mountain" and the guts to end the show with a song that was unreleased at the time ("All I Want To Do") shows a band with great confidence that they can not only survive these years with Brian taking a more part-time role, but could also grow and evolve on their own.
As recently as 2001, in the liner notes to the Concert/Live In London twofer CD reissue, these December 1st shows were said to be the source of the Live In London album released in the UK in 1970 and in the US in 1976 under the name Beach Boys '69 (The Beach Boys In London). This is not the case as we will see in the next and final entry.
