21 Jul 2001
From Andrew Hickey
Warwick...

Great gig... honestly... I'm very surprised to hear myself say that... Bruce Johnston came to meet a group of us from Beach Boys Britain in a tiny hotel bar before the show. He spent about half an hour talking to everyone, and I was really impressed with the fact that he would do that. Absolutely charming man... He seems to agree with some on this list that Brian's show isn't all it's cracked up to be, and he thinks that Brian should be with the band that's touring as the 'Beach Boys'. He says Brian hasn't the voice to carry a whole show any more, and relies too much on his 'prop keyboard'. He also asked me to remove Blondie and Ricky's names from the front of the BBB site - they were 'only hired members' according to Bruce...
He also spoke about the lawsuit (he seems to feel himself involved, spoke about Al suing 'us') but also didn't seem to hold any grudges against Al. Signed a lot of autographs as well, and told me I looked like a young Carl Wilson, which was nice ;) . The band line up was:
Mike - vocals
Bruce - vocals, occasional keyboards
Adrian Baker - rhythm guitar, vocals
Chris Farmer - bass, vocals
Scott Tutto/Tutton (something like that) - lead guitar
John Cowsill - keyboards, vocals
Tim Bonhomme - keyboards
Mike Kowalski - drums
set list (may not be exactly the right order, but very close):
Medley - California Girls/Do It Again (Mike)
medley - Dance, Dance, Dance (Mike)/Do you Wanna Dance
(Bruce - dedicated to Dennis)
Surfer Girl (Adrian Baker, with Bruce taking the middle eight)
Don't Worry Baby (Adrian Baker)
Then I Kissed Her (Chris Farmer)
Darlin' (John Cowsill)
Cottonfields (Chris Farmer)
Rock 'N' Roll Music (Mike)
Why Do Fools Fall In Love (Adrian - Mike talks before about how the a capella ('which means nude' - only bit of really old patter he used tonight) intro was come
up with by 'cousin Brian. I don't know what he was smoking, but this is really great'.)
I Can Hear Music (John Cowsill)
Sail On Sailor (Chris Farmer)
God Only Knows (Bruce - he dedicates the song and the band to 'the great Carl Wilson')
Sloop John B (Bruce and Adrian first verse, Mike second verse, all three third verse)
Wouldn't It Be Nice (Adrian and Mike - the rain stops at this point and the entire crowd start dancing)
Good Vibrations (Adrian and Mike)
Kokomo (Mike, with John Cowsill. Bruce introduces it by pointing out it was number one in lots of countries. The crowd remain unimpressed)
Help me Rhonda (John Cowsill)
I Get Around (Mike and Adrian)
Barbara Ann (group)
Fun Fun Fun (Mike - Bruce sang the falsetto on this one)
encores:
Surfin' Safari (Mike)
Surfin' USA (Mike)

Farmer and Cowsill were great, and Bruce was pretty good. Mike's vocals were even more nasal than usual, but he was a great, charming frontman. He's dropped
all the stuff about 'Brian's a genius because he stays home while we're out here' and comes off very well, and he can still handle the bass vocals. Kowalski was
dreadful, he can't keep a steady beat at all, and AB was better than I expected, but he's no Foskett or Matt Jardine.
I would definitely recommend that anyone in two minds about seeing this band go and see them. I don't think there was a single BB fan there who didn't enjoy
themselves immensely, even the ones who aren't fans of Mike. Bruce talked about them coming back to the UK next year on their own and including more rarities in
the set once they've proved they can put on a good show. Well they've proved it to me at least...

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