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When Brian Wilson took to the stage at Lou Adler’s Roxy on the Sunset Strip in April 2000, the tiny, 500-capacity venue was filled with love.  Friends (Nancy Sinatra, Jackie DeShannon, Don Was), fans (Jon Bon Jovi, Bette Midler, Lindsay Buckingham), and family members (daughters Carnie and Wendy, nephews Jonah and Patrick, wife Melinda) packed into the venue to see the Beach Boys’ leader reinvent himself as a solo artist.  Though a famously recalcitrant live performer, he’d embarked on his first full solo tour in 1999 and emerged triumphant.  The Roxy shows on Friday and Saturday, April 7 and 8, 2000 would cap off that extraordinary first run of solo shows.  A double live album was released just months later through Brian’s newly-minted website and subsequently expanded in 2002.  Now, in time for the original concerts’ 25th anniversary, an even more greatly expanded edition of Brian Wilson’s first concert album, Live at the Roxy Theatre, will arrive from Oglio Records on November 7 in 2CD, 3LP, and digital formats.

Live at the Roxy Theatre found Brian accompanied by a stellar cast of musicians, most of whom he would continue working throughout his touring years.  These included Darian Sahanaja, Nick Walusko, Mike D’Amico, and Probyn Gregory of The Wondermints; singer-guitarist Jeffrey Foskett; woodwind player Paul Mertens; bassist Bob Lizik; drummer Jim Hines; vocalist Taylor Mills; and keyboardist Scott Bennett.  This group gave Wilson the confidence to develop a wide-ranging setlist touching upon both Beach Boys hits and rarities as well as new material.  “Wilson hasn’t been comfortable on a stage since 1966, yet the Wondermints and assorted colleagues give Wilson a studio-like surrounding to play each song with strict devotion to the originals,” wrote Variety in its glowing review. “Generally, it takes an energetic appreciation society to generate such a copious shift in attitude toward a life’s work, but here is Wilson, seemingly secure, performing marvelously balanced sets that allow each tune to shine in its individual glory as well as be seen as a piece of a big picture.”

Those tunes included two new songs, “This Isn’t Love” (co-written with Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher and sung by Alan Cumming as The Great Gazoo in the live-action Flintstones sequel Viva Rock Vegas) and “The First Time” (a solo composition demoed in the early 1980s).  Lesser-known Beach Boys songs performed at the Roxy included “Back Home” (from 1976’s 15 Big Ones but written years earlier), the Sunflower pair of “This Whole World” and “Add Some Music to Your Day,” and Surf’s Up‘s beautifully melancholy “‘Til I Die.”  The band shone on the instrumental pair of “Let’s Go Away for Awhile” and “Pet Sounds” from that seminal 1966 album, while Brian’s affecting tribute to his late brother Carl, “Lay Down Burden,” was reprised from his 1998 solo album Imagination.  Brian further gave the audience a treat with a performance of his favorite record, The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” as well as a snippet of The Barenaked Ladies’ tribute “Brian Wilson.”

Live at the Roxy Theatre was originally expanded in 2002 with the addition of an interview and the hits “Sloop John B,” “Barbara Ann,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” and “Help Me, Rhonda.”  The 25th anniversary 2CD set adds “Fun, Fun, Fun” (typically Wilson’s final encore before his signature signoff “Love and Mercy”) from the 2002 Japanese-exclusive CD and another five previously unheard On Tour bonus tracks which take Wilson’s live journey far beyond the Roxy.  These include the Jeff Lynne co-write “Let It Shine” from 1988’s Brian Wilson; the Wilson/Andy Paley “Soul Searchin'” from 2004’s Gettin’ in Over My Head (originally intended for and recorded by The Beach Boys); “Southern California” from 2008’s That Lucky Old Sun; The Beach Boys’ “Drive-In;” and Brian’s frequent encore favorite, Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”  The Roxy bonus tracks have not been resequenced within the main program of the show.

The anniversary editions of Live at the Roxy Theatre are adorned with a new cover; the original album artwork is included within the package.  The 3LP version, with each LP on a different colored vinyl LP within a lift-off-lid rigid box, adds a 12 x 24″ poster.  Note that the slightly truncated 3LP set only includes “Soul Searchin'” and “Southern California” from the On Tour bonus tracks and drops “Fun, Fun, Fun” as well.  The digital download version is also cut down with none of the On Tour bonuses.

Audio has been remastered for all formats.  Brian Wilson’s Live at the Roxy Theatre set the stage for his Pet Sounds tour and then, at long last, the debut of SMiLE.  Oglio released Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live in 2002; perhaps an expanded edition of that concert album will finally premiere Van Dyke Parks’ lengthy symphonic overture based on Wilson’s themes.  In the meantime, the 25th anniversary Roxy celebration arrives on November 7; many of the musicians heard on this release are still out on the road playing with Al Jardine as members of The Pet Sounds Band.  You’ll find the track listing and pre-order links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Brian Wilson, Live at the Roxy Theatre (BriMel 1001, 2000 – reissued Oglio, 2025)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1

1. Little Girl Intro
2. The Little Girl I Once Knew
3. This Whole World
4. Don’t Worry Baby
5. Kiss Me Baby
6. Do It Again
7. California Girls
8. I Get Around
9. Back Home
10. In My Room
11. Surfer Girl
12. The First Time
13. This Isn’t Love
14. Add Some Music to Your Day
15. Please Let Me Wonder
16. Band Intro
17. Brian Wilson
18. ‘Til I Die
19. Darlin’
20. Let’s Go Away for Awhile
21. Pet Sounds
22. God Only Knows
23. Lay Down Burden
24. Be My Baby

CD 2

1. Good Vibrations
2. Caroline No
3. All Summer Long
4. Love and Mercy

Bonus Tracks (originally released on Oglio/BriMel/Victor (Japan) CD VICP-61788/89, 2002)

5. Sloop John B
6. Barbara Ann
7. Wouldn’t It Be Nice
8. Help Me, Rhonda
9. Fun, Fun, Fun

On Tour Bonus Tracks (previously unreleased)

10. Let It Shine
11. Drive-In
12. Soul Searchin’
13. Southern California
14. Johnny B. Goode
15. Interview with Brian (Interviewer: Alan Boyd)