Know that high, clear, triumphant introductory passage on "God Only Knows"? It's very arguably the single best moment on Pet Sounds and one of the greatest in all of music. It's a French horn, odd-looking and unwieldy, and, played live onstage, its sound is absolutely inimitable. That's your Music Lesson of the Day, courtesy of Brian Wilson, playing Asser Levy Park in Brighton Beach as part of the Seaside Summer Concert Series. It was only one of the unique and surprising moments on a night driven by a man who somehow manages to give the people what they want while still doing things they won't hear at any other show.

The setlist (a lengthy one, given that Wilson, with no opening act, had two hours to fill mostly with songs under three minutes long, and many under two) proved to be heavier (probably wisely, given the crowd's wild enthusiasm) on the early-sixties megahits than expected. Included were "Catch A Wave," "California Girls," "Good Vibrations," "Do It Again," and, thankfully, "Surfer Girl," the first song Wilson ever wrote. (Notable absences: "Don't Worry, Baby" and, indeed, any song about a car.)

"Wouldn't it be Nice" was the only other Pet Sounds offering, but, fortunately, Wilson let his genius out to play elsewhere. "Heroes and Villains" (the version from Smile, on which album the song finally appeared in all its glory in 2004) is mind-bogglingly complex and, with all of its whistles, bells, pops, horns, organs and I-don't-know-what-else, it proves why Wilson needs his 10-piece band with him wherever he goes.

Pet Sounds features the Boys on vocals only – for the instrumental tracks Wilson imported Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew, the fabled team of studio musicians responsible for Wilson's beloved Wall of Sound. (In a nod, Wilson covered the Spector-written and produced "And Then [I] Kissed [Her]) That fact, combined with Wilson's unrivaled production talent, shows why he doesn't believe in cheating his songs...even the ones he didn't write. Like the French horn, everything is painstakingly recreated live: flute, saxophone, and harmonica (all by the same dude, who may have superpowers). Wilson's own keyboard is mostly for show, although he did pick up a guitar for the first encore (there were two) of "Barbara Ann," "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Surfin' USA." (The second, "Southern California," is a beauty from Wilson's latest solo album That Lucky Old Sun, out September 2.)

Wilson himself couldn't have been in better spirits in 1965 when he recorded Beach Boys Party! "live." It's clear, though, that his miraculous falsetto has left him utterly, along with the inner demons that kept him out of commission during large portions of the 1970s and '80s. Taken in that context, his appearing at all is somewhat of a minor miracle, even if he's farmed out much of the vocal heavy lifting to his band. Sideman Jeff Foskett not only has a falsetto worthy of Wilson's, but also stepped into late baby bro Carl's shoes for the guitar solo on 1972's "Marcella." Of course, it dredges up the debate of the value of Beach Boys historical recreation, but that's worthless. Wilson, like nobody else, doesn't have to recreate them; he is them. "There must be 'bout a million ways/to add some music to your day" he sang, in a chestnut off 1970's Sunflower. Wilson, with all he's created, has to have almost found them all.

-Claire Shefchik