From NME:
Brian Wilson triumphs in Glasto sunshine Sun king - Brian Wilson is
a Glasto hero The legendary BRIAN WILSON brought a taste of the
Californian sunshine to the GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL today (June 26)
with a set full of BEACH BOYS classics in front of a massive crowd
of sweltering devotees.
People were spotted surfing across the front of the stage as the
singer, making his first appearance at Worthy Farm, blasted through
hit after hit, delighting festivalgoers enjoying the beautiful
weather.
Wilson told the crowd: "We brought the Californian sunshine" and
later even managed to get the crowd to sing the nursery rhyme `Row
Row Row Your Boat'.
Among the hits inciting mass hysteria were 'California
Girls', 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' and a monumental 'Good Vibrations',
which had virtually the entire crowd singing along.
One fan, Michael Clewley, told NME.COM: "That's the show of the
weekend and certainly one of the greatest ever Glastonbury
performances."
The set was:
'Then I Kissed Her'
'Don't Worry Baby'
'Dance Dance Dance'
'Darlin''
'In My Room'
'Little Surfer Girl'
'The Little Girl I Once Knew'
'Wouldn't It Be Nice'
'All Summer Long'
'Little Saint Nick'
'I Get Around'
'Sail On Sailor'
'Marcella'
'Our Prayer'
'Heroes And Villains'
'God Only Knows'
'Sloop John B'
'California Girls'
'Good Vibrations'
Encore:
'Do It Again'
'Help Me Rhonda'
'Barbara Ann'
'Surfin' USA'
'Fun Fun Fun'
Publication date: 2005-06-26 19:52:00
And this appeared in the UK Guardian:
7pm update: It's a long journey from living life in a sandbox in
your front room in LA to playing a vast, muddy field in Glastonbury.
Especially for Brian Wilson, whose well-documented and all-but-
terminal nervous breakdown in the mid-1960s reduced the rest of his
life, in some people's eyes, to one perpetual bad trip.
Wilson is wearing a Hawaiian shirt with the Beach Boys motifs of sea
and sand, and a thousand mile stare that seems to ask: "Who are all
these people and what are they doing in my front room?" He shows
little emotion as he sits at his keyboard. He looks like a botox
casualty, his face frozen into a mask of numb confusion. His dark,
staring eyes betray a life turned into fragments. But his autocue-
fed banter is gentle enough.
"We thought we'd bring some Californian weather with us," he says,
his voice still quite boyish and high. Blue skies and sunshine
create the perfect backdrop to what becomes the most life-enhancing,
mood-altering of performances. Even the keyboard player, who has
obviously seen all this before, takes to a surfboard and rides on
the hands of the crowd. For everyone else, indulging in dance moves
last seen on Ready, Steady, Go! in 1964 seems to suffice.
There's no shilly-shallying for Wilson, who dives into one classic
Beach Boys song after another. Luckily, he's got eight lifeguards on
hand, in the form of his backing band. They provide not just the
peerless harmonies that swoon over every song, but a sturdy scaffold
of support for Wilson's sometimes fragile voice. With their
essential help, he glides through the emotional turmoil of Don't
Worry Baby, then turns into a fun-loving teen again on Then I Kissed
Her.
When Wilson pulls off a solo, however, it's a thing to treasure, the
years of depression and drug abuse washed away to reveal the young
genius who changed the nature of pop music. God Only Knows runs
shivers up and down your spine; All Summer Long feeds on an acutely
felt sadness.
That these songs, full of their teen dreams and adolescent
anxieties, could be performed so convincingly by a man recently
turned 63 is testament to the maturity and adventurous nature of
Wilson's music.
California Girls and I Get Around still sound as exciting as the
first time you ever heard them. In My Room remains the most poetic
and heart-wrenching explanation of just what goes on behind the
slammed doors of juvenile bedrooms.
But to really enjoy watching Wilson, you have to separate the man on
stage from his music. Otherwise it feels uncomfortably like freakish
fun. Forget asking yourself if he actually has any idea where he is
(and the inclusion of a Christmas song suggests not) and instead
concentrate on the magnificence of the exquisitely blended
harmonies, the joy of Barbara Ann and pioneer spirit of Good
Vibrations.
Wilson has the power to turn a corner of England into an all-
American beach hop, almost turning the mud beneath our feet into
perfect, golden sand. And you can't get more godlike than that. Some video highlights of a few bands that played:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/glastonbury2005/watchandlisten/
