Gig review: Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

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THE question is: does Gershwin need re-imagining, even if it is by a musician who could be argued to be his peer in popular songwriting? Brian Wilson’s answer is to cover Gershwin’s best loved songs in his musical image and smother them in his trademark dreamy cascade of tenor harmonies and easy listening arrangements, were implemented with precision by his supremely talented nine-piece band, plus string quintet.

The pleasant but rather odd results encompassed a bossa nova lounge take on ’S Wonderful, an all-out surf rock makeover of I Got Rhythm and a maximalist pub barbershop version of They Can’t Take That Away From Me, which drowned out the nuanced emotion of the song. The ensemble summoned some swagger in the arrangement and delivery of It Ain’t Necessarily So but Wilson was a weak, stilted vocal fit for classics such as Summertime and Someone To Watch Over Me which have already been definitively rendered by some of the greatest voices of the 20th century.

He fared better when shaping two unpublished Gershwin pieces, allowing him to put his own stamp on The Like in I Love You and Nothing But Love with no detrimental comparison to previous interpretations.

Despite all the work which has gone into this project, the crowd were far more enthusiastic when Wilson returned to the comfort zone of his own Beach Boys material, turning the second half of the show into a non-stop surfing party.

Wilson chose to dedicate his most beautiful song, God Only Knows, to the 9/11 victims and their families, then brought out the girls – Rhonda and Barbara Ann – for the encore, which climaxed with the glorious uplift of All Summer Long, possibly the most carefree song ever written and delivered here by a band truly in harmony, comfortable yet not complacent.

fiona shepherd