"Fast train from Bristol to London Paddington. My friend and I walked in the pouring rain for 90 minutes, heading south, eventually walking over Waterloo Bridge to the Royal Festival Hall. Two pints of beer, £6... outrageous, £25 for a programme and a T shirt... scandalous. Three cheese soft rolls, £12... extortionate beyond belief.

We take our seats. Then the band appear to rapturous applause. Huge guy with guitar announces "Please give a warm London welcome to... BRIAN WILSON!!!"

People went wild, screaming, shouting. Six feet plus, Mr Wilson ambles on to the stage and takes his seat behind the keyboard. Dressed all in black... trousers, T shirt and jacket, incredibly high, coiffed "presidential" hair and an expressionless face, put me in mind of Herman Munster!

Brian counts the band in to "Little Girl I Once New" and we are away. Playing for over an hour, all the classics and some obscure ones too. Incredible vocal sound created by the 9 vocalists... only the drummer and bassist didn't sing in the 11 piece band.

I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes on a number of occasions... especially when Brian announced "My brother Dennis died in 1983, he wrote this beautiful song... "Forever". I couldn't help but think about my late father at that moment. The second set opened with Pet Sounds, the entire album. Absolutely brilliant the way Wilson juxtaposed so many varied instruments in the arrangements... French horn, bass harmonica, theramin, saxes, trumpet, banjo... makes this the most innovative album ever.

The brilliant Good Vibrations followed, plus loads more hits. The band must have played a staggering 35 songs during the evening. I still don't believe I actually saw this incredibly modest and almost childlike man after all those years of listening to the Beach Boys music. Somebody, on leaving the Royal Festival Hall, screamed out "Brian Wilson Is God".

I truly believe, in musical terms, since the advent of rock n roll and pop music in the mid 50s, that he is. His use of chords and incredible key changes, not to mention heavenly harmony arrangements, make him the Number One, in my view, with the Beatles a very respectable second! The man hardly touched his keyboard and wore his bass as decoration on one song. He couldn't sing the high falsetto parts anymore, the big guy with the guitar did those, and struggled a little to reach the higher notes in his full voice range.

But his band we're brilliant, both vocally and instrumentally... I don't think I have ever seen so many multi instrumentalists on one stage before, constantly changing between songs. Someone said he should have just left the stage after introducing his band. That is so cruel. The man created all that we heard, single handedly.

The man WAS The Beach Boys. The man IS a genius..."

Dan Russell - 9th February 2002