Some of Rieley's earliest initiatives were to end the group's practice of wearing matching stage uniforms and to appoint Carl Wilson as the band's official leader. The group spent the majority of September and October rehearsing for upcoming concerts. On October 3, at the invitation of Van Dyke Parks, the band performed two sets at the eighth annual Big Sur Folk Festival in California to an audience of 6,000. According to music historian Keith Badman, the performances "help to establish the group's image in the eyes of the rock hierarchy, and they are subsequently 'rediscovered' as an important live act." Biographer David Leaf wrote that the concert inspired what was effectively an apologetic review from "Rolling Stone" co-founder Jann Wenner, who previously criticized the band for pulling out of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.