Article by Dave Read

The Beach Boys, in the persons of Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and replacements for Brian, Carl, Dennis Wilson, and Al Jardine, did an estimable job of re-creating the mid-60s pop music milieu during their concert at Tanglewood for an audience primarily in their mid-60s.

Love was energetic and engaging frontman; there was a big segment of the show when scores of people were allowed to cram the aisle along the stage and he traded high-fives with dozens of them. Then, as the band launched into Barbara Ann, the 1965 cover that was one of the band’s biggest hits, he helped a couple of young girls scramble onto the stage and eventually there were several youngsters rocking out, including one who got paired up with the lead guitarist. (Barbara Ann at 1:25 of the video)

Beach Boys play Good Vibrations and Sloop John B

The two hour show began with the band racing through an 8-song set of beach-specific songs and included dozens of the band’s most popular hits from “back in the day.” Also included were a couple of nicely done covers – California Dreamin’ and Why Do Fools Fall in Love and something new, Pices Brothers, which Love wrote in tribute to George Harrison. Personal favorites Good Vibrations and Sloop John B evoked welcome flashes back to the days of dusty stacks of wax!

July 7, 2013 performance; by Dave Read

Opening weekend of the BSO’s 2013 Tanglewood schedule called for a performance by the Boston Pops with special guest Vince Gill; an ill-timed thunderstorm blew the planned program out the window. Instead of a 2:30 start for the Pops’ set of seven selections and a second set with Gill and his band after a 25 minute intermission, what transpired was a single 85 minute concert.

Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockart led the Pops through a truncated set designed to celebrate the American West. Besides two selections from Rodeo, by the familiar and decidedly unWestern Aaron Copland, the highlight of the set was Carmen Goes Country, a recent gift to the Boston Pops from its former principal arranger and Harmonica Rascal Richard Hayman.

Vince Gill mines the jazz vein

Vince Gill’s setlist included Whenever You Come Around, his paean to wife Amy Grant, and concluded with his lament for his brother, Go Rest High on That Mountain. His compositions were well adapted to the Pops’ accompaniment; often the result was a rich burnishing. The one exception was his new “legitimate jazz song” Faint of Heart, which got the endorsement of jazz diva Diana Krall, who sings it with him on his new album The Time Jumpers.

Placing a song from any musical genre within a symphonic setting is a risk almost always worth taking, at least for the sake of artistic curiosity. But when an artist is already stepping out from the comfort of his genre to experiment in another, taking the further step of giving it a symphonic wrap dulls the point of writing a jazz song in the first place. We look forward to hearing it late some night in a dingy roadhouse joint, which is the milieu it seemed to suggest, beneath the too-lush embellishment of the orchestra.

Gill is a friendly and funny guy who recalled his previous Tanglewood performance along with Amy Grant, when they were guests on a James Taylor program. Mentioning Taylor’s presence for this concert, he said that singing Sweet Baby James with him was a dream come true.

July 4, 2013 performance; by Dave Read

Jackson Browne attracted an immense audience to the 2013 Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, which included Sara Watkins in the 7pm opening slot. This was a much larger audience than attended his 1999 gig on a bill with Bonnie Raitt, but had to be less than the 21K in attendance for his 1977 performance. It had to be less because the BSO agreed to limit ticket sales to 18,000 in the wake of the 24,470 that clogged Stockbridge and Lenox roads and delayed the start of July 17, 2002 performance of the Boston Pops with special guest James Taylor.

Jackson Browne recounted his previous concerts at Tanglewood, which he described as “…James Taylor’s house.” The presence of frequent Taylor sideman Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, and a rendition of Sweet Baby James were further connections to Tanglewood’s favorite popular artist son who is on hiatus from touring while he works on a new album. Read a full review of the concert at masslive.com.

June 22, 2013 performance; by Dave Read.

A Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration with Warren Haynes and the Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart conducting attracted a large audience to Tanglewood on June 22. Scheduled between concerts by Melissa Etheridge and Joan Baez with Indigo Girls, the tribute to the Gratfeful Dead founder and cultural icon was ample reason for a broad swath of baby boomers to spend the whole weekend in the Berkshires. It was an opportunity for the BSO to claim some measure of Haight-Ashbury street cred, with Maestro Lockhart sporting the boldest, brightest, and brand-newest tiedye and there was a groovy light show projected on the Shed facade, which got one-upped by the way more psychedelic burnt orange Strawberry “super moon” rising late in the first set. You can view and listen to plenty of clips from this show on Youtube, where we grabbed a screenshot from one video, here: http://youtu.be/VuaDyBMqo9o.

Photos from Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Tanglewood

Tanglewood goes mainstream?

Fans who lament the absence of James Taylor from Tanglewood’s 2013 summer schedule may be placated by the BSO’s wading deeper into the mainstream of popular music by booking several acts that are on the summer circuit. Even with the eleven “popular artist” shows booked so far this summer (one for Labor Day weekend TBA), Tanglewood is bound to remain sui generis among music venues, especially since the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra occupy all but a few slots on the summer calendar. However, at least for this opening weekend, MASS MoCA was the more relevant musical venue in the Berkshires because of the wildly successful Solid Sound Festival hosted there by preeminent rockers (and Tanglewood veterans) Wilco. With the demise two years ago of the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, which had been held for about ten years on Labor Day weekend, the far end of the summer calendar presents an opportunity for clever programming by the BSO, maybe something sui generis.

The July 26, 2011 Steely Dan concert at Tanglewood attracted close to a capacity crowd that seemed to enjoy the rare opportunity to witness live renditions of all-time favorites such as Aja, Bodisatva, Dirty Work, My Old School, Show Biz Kids, and Reelin’ in the Years. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, calling themselves “jazz-rock ambassadors to the galaxy,” brought their Shuffle Diplomacy Twenty Eleven tour to the Berkshires, not far from Bard College, where they first teamed up in the 60s. They were accompanied by the Miles High Big Band and the Embassy Brats.

Photos of Steely Dan at Tanglewood

Photos by Mark Connolly.

More info: Tanglewood 2011 schedule.