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Brian Wilson at the Royal Festival Hall
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.