Pitchfork: Brian Wilson Announces Extensive Tour

In an effort to take his comeback well into 2005, recently rejuvenated Beach Boy Brian Wilson has announced more dates for his celebrated Smile tour. The road trip, which spanned the globe last year to rave reviews, has seen Wilson and crew (aka the decidedly Beach Boys-inspired Wondermints) play a mix of Beach Boys classics and solo tunes, as well as a full run through of Smile. The group will play a lone date at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 24 before embarking on the extended Smile tour throughout most of the summer. Final details on a handful of the shows are still being ironed out, but according to BrianWilson.com the current lineup looks like this:

04-24 New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz Festival
06-22 London, England - Hampton Court Palace
06-23 Bristol, England - Colston Hall
06-24 Oxford, England - New Theatre
06-26 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
06-27 Liverpool, England - Pops
06-29 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
06-30 Cork, Ireland - Showgrounds
07-02 Berlin, Germany - Kulturforum
07-03 Roskilde, Denmark, Roskilde Festival
07-09 Munich, Germany - Tollwood
07-10 Montreux, Switzerland - Jazz Festival
07-15 Barcelona, Spain - Pueblo Espanol
07-17 Lausanne, Switzerland - TBA
07-18 Monte Carlo, Monaco - Casino
07-20 Ravenna, Italy - Ravenna Festival
07-22 Rome, Italy - Rome Auditorium

08-09 Boston, MA - Bank of America
08-10 Vienna, VA - The Filene Center/Woftrap
08-12 Holmdel, NJ - PNC
08-13 Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach
08-14 Saratoga, NY - SPAC
08-16 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center
08-17 Wallingford, CT - Oakdale Theatre
08-18 Montreal, CA - Place Des Arts
08-23 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
08-24 St. Louis, MO - Orpheum Theatre
08-25 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
08-28 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
08-29 Vancouver, CA - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
08-31 Portland, OR - Schnitzer Concert Hall
09-01 Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion
09-03 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
09-04 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl

The resurrected Smile album, which once upon a time seemed as likely for an official release as another Beach Boys/Charles Manson collaboration, was issued late last summer to unanimous critical praise-- ranking as Metacritic's Top Scoring Album of 2004. The disc also recently scored a Grammy for Wilson-- Best Rock Instrumental Performance award for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow". This marks the first statuette awarded for the pop composer's solo work, who said of the honor: "I waited 42 years for this Grammy and it was well worth the wait. It represents triumph and achievement in music that I feel that I deserved, and I'm really glad I won." Longtime fans/obsessives will note a hint of irony with the win, as the track had long been cited as a major reason Wilson originally abandoned Smile.

And finally, Wilson's official website also mentions that a Smile DVD is in the works for release this year. Details on the disc are minimal, and though a live performance of the Smile tour would make sense, the only strict confirmation for inclusion thus far is a fan-created video for "Heroes and Villains," which was chosen through an online contest held last year. The video features a claymation cowboy epic (well, as epic as crap-tastic claymation gets) set to the Americana-soaked tune. While impressive, the video unfortunately pussied out on a Brian Wilson/Mike Love duel for Play-Doh supremacy, Celebrity Deathmatch style. Regardless, we'll keep you posted as details develop.