February 20, 2004

That was one of the most amazing evenings of my life. Brian is on top form and along with VDPs and the Wondermints they have exceeded all my expectations. Expect many pleasant surprises and forget everything you thought you knew about Smile. It really is as good as we all hoped! -Philly

First of all the atmosphere was utterly amazing - the crowd was so pumped up and so were the band too! Brian showed his sense of humor by teasing us throughout in the first half with a red herring and by building anticipation. The album itself (2nd / 3rd set) flowed so beautifully and slotted together into such an fantastic symphony just like he has always promised. They also took the chance to play with the SMiLE myth (the string section donning fire hats at the appropriate point) and produce lots of unexpected vocal additions and new arrangements to songs previously thought to be pretty much finished. Those many instrumental tracks are far from being instrumental at all. To be honest am quite speechless and don't want to spoil too much for you. -Philly

I was at the Friday show at the RFH and I can't put into words how great it was!!!! I just wanted to say that I thought closing SMiLE with Good Vibes was the perfect ending... after all with an album called SMiLE isn't that part of the point of the album, to leave the listener smiling and happy. Brian has always said his reason for making music is to make the listener feel loved, and as great as Surf's Up is, its more of an epic and thoughtful ending track, and I reckon Brian wanted this album to have a humour thing and leave the listener in a safe warm place.. the whole elements in general tend to give that humourous feel I reckon.. well apart from Fire, which scared the S*** outta me live! but it fits in with the general unexpected way to which the elements was performed... To be honest I'm just rambling, but anyway, I loved a Good Vibes ending, and with the Tony Asher lyrics and Hum-be-do-wah bit it becomes a powerful ender and would also give a way for Brian to incorporate good vibrations into SMiLE in an artistically satisfying way unlike Sloop John B. It was a bold move on his part to change Good Vibrations to be honest, and one that he pulled off more than amazingly! - Vinnie