Brian Wilson Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Concert Photo Dump

On Sunday, October 8, I drove to Peoria, IL to attend a stop in the Brian Wilson Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Tour. I scored second row tickets at a reasonable price and was finally able to do one of the many things I had been wanting to do for a few years - see Brian Wilson in concert. I had missed catching this tour earlier, but the recent death of Tom Petty reminded me to do things now and not have regrets later.

I know that Brian Wilson does not have the voice he had back when the Beach Boys were cranking out surf and hot rod songs, but I was not going to miss this chance to see a true musical genius and legend when he was so close.

The concert was great, starting with many popular Beach Boys songs, a performance of the Pet Sounds album, then a finish with more Beach Boys songs, ending with Brian Wilson's solo "Love and Mercy." Al Jardine's son, Matt, sung the old Brian Wilson high parts in most of the songs, while Wilson sang songs still in his range, including some originally sung by Mike Love. For me, the most touching moment of the night was hearing and seeing the legend sing "In My Room," a song that was inspired from the abuse he suffered from his father.

Some pictures I took at the concert:

The Stage

Brian Wilson

Former Beach Boy Al Jardine

Blondie Chaplin

Matt Jardine

The band

Set list from the concert

A true musical genius

Tom Petty: No Shadow of a Doubt

I, like many other rock and roll music lovers across the United States and the world, was shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Tom Petty. I was a HUGE Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fan in the 1980's, going to several concerts, several venues, several tours. One of my biggest regrets this year was not going to see them when they were at the University of Illinois last May. Unfortunately, my daughter was graduating from college that weekend, there was a special gathering for the people in her program, and I had been working my tail off cleaning up my mother's house. The last thing I wanted to do that weekend was fight the crowd at the State Farm Center. I can always catch them a little later down the road, I thought.

Still hurting from the violence in Las Vegas and on the train from my son's apartment in Seattle to the airport, I saw the news of Petty's heart attack. Talk about another punch to the gut.

Petty was a true rocker in every sense -- a rebel who did have a clue. I am posting an example of the brilliance and energy that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers brought to every concert. Note the great synergy in the song -- every instrument contributing to the sound, the lead and back-up vocals ...

RIP Tom Petty. The beauty of music in the world is now a little bit less than it was. Thank you.