Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonThe auditorium is pock-marked with empty seats, but then there's something oddly fitting about Van Dyke Parks performing a rare solo show when most of London is looking the other way – their gazed fixed on the football. Forty-four years after he landed what should have been mid-60s pop's plum job – providing lyrics for the Beach Boys' follow-up to Pet Sounds – Parks remains a shadowy figure. The mythology that surrounded the doomed Smile album ensured his legend...
Guardian Music — Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonThe auditorium is pock-marked with empty seats, but then there's something oddly fitting about Van Dyke Parks performing a rare solo show when... more info