MEDIA RELEASE FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2015
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS BRIAN WILSON Performing ‘Pet Sounds’ & His Greatest Hits
TUESDAY 29 MARCH 2016 CONCERT HALL, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
“One of pop’s greatest innovators.” THE GUARDIAN
Experience the songbook of '60s California as The Beach Boys’ co-founder Brian Wilson takes to the Concert Hall stage in a rare performance for the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds on Tuesday 29 March.
The songwriter presents his mythical masterpiece in two acts: Pet Sounds live, followed by his greatest hits. Old-time Beach Boy Al Jardine and long-term member Blondie Chaplin join Wilson’s nine-piece band to resurrect the sun-drenched pop that has influenced The Beatles, David Bowie, Sufjan Stevens and Radiohead. This show completes a momentous year for Wilson, which has included the announcement of his final European tour and release of the critically acclaimed biopic Love & Mercy.
Ben Marshall, Head of Contemporary Music at Sydney Opera House, said: "Brian Wilson is one of the giants of modern music and Pet Sounds is his masterpiece. It is with enormous pleasure that we welcome this towering figure to the Sydney Opera House for this remarkable performance. Pet Sounds is a deep-dive into production virtuosity, phenomenal songs and genuinely affecting, poignant reflections on love, loss, melancholy, faith and being out of time and place. And he plays all the hits, too. This is a musical moment not to be missed."
The essential Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of many albums sculpted from the palette of Pet Sounds, a record praised by Rolling Stone as an “evolutionary compositional masterpiece.” It heralded the first chapter of a soon struggling Wilson, who became mired in decades of seclusion in the studio. Immortalised for taking the surfing summer romance of The Beach Boys into wildly symphonic territory, Pet Sounds was said to be impossible to perform until the Hall of Famer's miraculous comeback in recent years. The LA Times calls Wilson’s refreshed performance “a thing of beauty, capturing the childlike wonder at the heart of Wilson’s music”.
Whether unearthed through AM radio gold or the silver-screen portrayal by Paul Dano and John Cusack, Brian Wilson’s California dream is a joyous celebration, and this titan of modern music returns to bring it to life in the Opera House.
This performance is part of the contemporary music program presented by Sydney Opera House, which includes Father John Misty, Four Tet, Kurt Vile, José González, Hot Chip, Beach House, Sleater-Kinney and the annual Vivid LIVE festival, which has featured Morrissey, Sufjan Stevens, Bill Callahan, TV on the Radio and more. Visit sydneyoperahouse.com/music for further information.
EVENT DETAILS WHAT: Brian Wilson performing ‘Pet Sounds’ & His Greatest Hits WHEN: Tuesday 29 March 2016, 8pm WHERE: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House TICKETS: Tickets from $99 + bf BOOKINGS: Tickets on sale to the general public 10am AEDT, Friday 4 December 2015 sydneyoperahouse.com/music or 02 9250 7777
MEDIA ENQUIRIES Justin Tam Natasha Bowron Music Publicist Communications Strategist Sydney Opera House Sydney Opera House 02 9250 7836 / 0433 541 458 02 9250 7822 [email protected] [email protected]