Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck at Westbury

Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck at Wesbury

by Fred Velez

I saw Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck at Westbury on October 12. The show began with Brian Wilson and his band which included Al Jardine and David Marks, so we had three of the five surviving Beach Boys, and with Brian’s band, this was more of a real Beach Boys concert than anything Mike Love and Bruce Johnston could possibly present. Brian and company did all the great Beach Boys classics, with Al and David handling some of the lead vocals and Jeff Foskett from Brian’s band taking over the high falsettos Brian unfortunately can’t do anymore. Brian sat at a white grand piano for most of his set and sang lead on songs like ‘God Only Knows’, allowing Al, David and Foskett take most of the load off his shoulders, which I think Brian preferred. The vocal harmonies and musicianship from the band brought the Beach Boys classics to life.

Brian finished his set with ‘Good Vibrations’ then after an intermission the stage was set for Jeff Beck. I’ll admit that I’m not that familiar with most of Beck’s material, and he’s a virtuoso guitarist so he doesn’t need to sing, but I was very impressed by his amazing guitar skills. His band which included a violinist were incredible, making Beck’s set a memorable musical experience. He also did a nice version of the Beatles ‘A Day In The Life’ on just his guitar which blew the audience away. Then Jeff brought Brian Wilson and the rest of his band back on stage and they performed ‘Surf’s Up’ from ‘Smile’ with Beck doing the vocal parts just on his guitar while Brian and the rest of the band just did the background harmonies and it was amazing. Jeff Beck also did his tribute to Les Paul, recreating on his guitar the classic Les Paul sound. And Jeff Beck playing ‘Danny Boy’ on guitar was very emotional.

The entire show was fantastic and it was wonderful to enjoy an evening with these two great musical legends.

Fred Velez, 2013