Should Brian Wilson Have Joined The Beach Boys Touring Band Sooner Than He Did?

Starting in 1964, Brian scaled back his touring with the band considerably. He did not tour regularly with the band, but did join them for some high profile appearances and tour dates over the years. From 1965-1975 Brian's live appearances were pretty rare. How much of an impact could that have had on their live reputation, in that their "leader" wasn't even a regular performer?

During their "down" commercial years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the band was able to maintain a good live crowd over the years in certain areas of the USA, like Texas, the Midwest, and Florida. It begs the question, however, how much more success and good feelings the band could have enjoyed if Brian had chose to tour regularly.

Brian famously returned to regular touring in 1976 when the band had established themselves as a current hot live act. What about all of that downtime between 1965-75, though? Should Brian have invested his performing and arranging talents with the live band in order to ensure that the original members of the band
remained intact?