Fallon's Town Talk: Death of Brian Wilson evokes the night his music came to town

The link between Roscommon and Brian Wilson, a genuine genius of popular music who died last week, is a tenuous one but it’s real nonetheless. In 2003, The Beach Boys, or rather a version of The Beach Boys, played a live concert in Hyde Park – yes Hyde Park, Roscommon, not London.

If one of the most renowned bands of all-time rocking up to the Hyde sounds hard to believe now, it also felt surreal at the time. It was the summer of 2003 and the night before the concert Roscommon footballers – inspired by Frankie Dolan at the peak of his powers – had beaten Kildare in a thriller.

The Good Vibrations continued into the following day and evening when a concert featuring The Beach Boys and, among others, Don McLean took place in the Hyde. It was a bit mind-blowing to hear McLean’s distinctive vocals wafting from the Hyde into our back garden.

I ambled over to the Hyde to hear the end of McLean’s set and then enjoy the main act. This version of The Beach Boys was spearheaded by one of the original members. I think it was Wilson’s cousin, Mike Love who, in fairness, co-wrote some of the band’s biggest hits with Brian and was the nearest the Beach Boys had to a second-in-command. The familiar, inimitable Californian surf melodies sounded good and it was a memorable occasion. Wilson wasn’t there that night – The Beach Boys experienced a fractious break-up many years before - but the aura of his greatness hovered around the Hyde that sunny evening. It was essentially his music.

Ironically, it was a famous line from a song by McLean, the support act to The Beach Boys that evening 22 years ago in Hyde Park, about another tortured genius – Vincent Van Gogh – which could be applied to Wilson: This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

Brian Wilson was the troubled genius of 1960s pop music who elevated that music to new heights. The famous lines from Dryden spring to mind: Great wits are sure to madness near allied/And thin partitions do their bound divide.

Paul McCartney described Wilson as “a genius” in a spectacular example of game recognising game. Love, his former band-mate and cousin, acknowledged that Wilson’s “musical gifts were unmatched”.

New generations discovered him in the 21st century and on Friday night BBC 4 showed Wilson’s set from Glastonbury in 2005 as he thrilled the swaying masses on a sun-kissed day which was typical of that particular summer. The tens of thousands of fans didn’t care that his voice wasn’t what it had been in his heyday, what mattered was seeing and hearing one of the legends of 1960s music. performing ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, ‘Sloop John B’ and ‘I Get Around’.

Songs like ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘God Only Knows’ are as close to perfection as pop music gets. Wilson’s masterpiece was the album ‘Pet Sounds’, his response to The Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’. In turn, it propelled John Lennon and McCartney to, arguably, their greatest album, ‘Revolver’.

Ultimately, the pressure of fame, the strain of competing with The Beatles and the drug consumption which was endemic in the music scene of the era proved too much for Wilson. He became a recluse from the late 1960s onwards before returning to widespread acclaim in 2004.

The sleeve notes on a re-released Beach Boys album encapsulated the daunting challenge Wilson valiantly refused to shirk: Wilson was The Beach Boys’ chief songwriter, best musician and producer rolled into one while McCartney and Lennon had each other and also their brilliant producer, George Martin. It was never a fair struggle but Brian Wilson reached heights of musical majesty that put him in the same pantheon as any of the other icons of the 1960s. A man who experienced much pain in his own life brought only happiness to millions of others.

The Hyde was the scene of another major occasion last Sunday when over 18,000 fans flocked to Roscommon Town for the football showdown between Donegal and Mayo.

The atmosphere was electric and the match was enthralling. It was a massive boost to the economy of the town as many fans arrived early and didn’t rush home, which was probably just as well given the traffic jams after the match.

The only sour note was struck by Donegal manager, Jim McGuinness, who criticised the choice of venue. In contrast, the Donegal fans we met were highly impressed with the Hyde and enjoyed what was a wonderful occasion.