The 50 Greatest Concerts of the Last 50 Years

For decades, Brian Wilson avoided even talking about Smile, the psychedelic follow-up to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds he shelved under the stresses of drug abuse and psychiatric problems. At a 2002 Pet Sounds show in London, though, someone said to the promoter, "How can we possibly top this?" The idea of a Smile tour came up. "We all kind of chuckled," says Wilson keyboardist Darian Sahanaja. But 20 months later, after poring over the old Smile tapes, Wilson walked onstage and finally delivered on his decades-old promise of a "teenage symphony to God," bringing rock's most famous unheard album back to life. From the first celestial harmonies of "Our Prayer" much of the audience was in tears. Backstage afterward, Wilson was exultant, shouting, "I did it!" A.G.