San Francisco, California Local News
Review: The Beach Boys still going strong 60 years after monumental 1964
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The Beach Boys had arguably the most important year of their career in 1964.
Some would understandably counter with 1963 or 1966, which respectively saw the releases of “Surfer Girl” and “Pet Sounds.”
Yet, 1964 was really the year when the band first secured its future place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — as well as among the greatest acts in all of pop music history — with the release of the twin masterpieces “Shut Down Volume 2” and “All Summer Long.”
The latter saw the band up its game to a whole new level by releasing what is considered to be one of rock’s first concept albums, which really set the groundwork for the mind-blowing artistry that would come two years later with “Pet Sounds.”
It was also the year when the band would score its first ever No 1 hit, as “I Got Around” spent two consecutive weeks at the peak that summer.
Sixty years later, the group is still going strong and delighting fans in concert with a number of those songs that first came out in 1964.
The latest example came when the Beach Boys performed on Sunday at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose.
The show was part of the reinvigorated Music in the Park, which has completely bounced back from its COVID-era lull and has taken its place among the top summertime outdoor concert series in the Bay Area. See mitpsj.com for upcoming shows with Steel Pulse (Aug. 16), Cuco (Sept. 20) and J Boog (Sept. 22).
It was a great scene on Sunday at the concert series, as multiple generations of Beach Boys fans boogied together on a cool summer evening to some of the greatest pop songs of all time.
The group, which is led by original Beach Boy Mike Love on vocals and features longtime band member Bruce Johnston on keys, got the party started in grand style as it opened up with a topnotch triple-shot of “Do It Again,” “Surfin’ Safari” and “Catch a Wave.”
As per usual, the band was all business as it dished out the good times, rarely slowing down as it belted out the first eight songs of the night in a lean, mean 20 minutes. They’d pretty much stay on that pace throughout the night, finishing up with a total of 37 songs in just 110 minutes of stage time.
Love — who founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1961 with his cousins Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson and pal Al Jardine in Hawthorne — didn’t even do much talking from the stage. The one real exception was when he took time to deliver a sales pitch for the Disney + documentary “The Beach Boys” — which, indeed, is well worth watching.
Otherwise, Love just kept right on pacing the stage and working the crowd, as this excellent current crop of touring musicians — including musical director Brian Eichenberger, guitiarist Christian (son of Mike) Love, keyboardist Tim Bonhomme, drummer Jon Bolton, bassist Keith Hubacher, saxophonist Randy Leago and guitarist John Wedemeyer — powered through one classic after another.
One of the early highlights was when the group moshed its way into its fantastic cover of the Ramones punk nugget “Rockaway Beach.”
“They did our ‘Surfin’ Safari,’ so we got even with them by doing their ‘Rockaway Beach,’ Love explained.
That kicked off one of the more satisfying segments of the night, as the thunder of “Rockaway Beach” gave way to the retro rock of “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and then the ageless beauty of “Surfer Girl.”
Yet, really, that kind of amazing run of songs — which most bands could never dream of putting together — just kept happening over and over again during this concert. Another example came midway through the set as the group revved up four hot rod tunes — “Little Deuce Coupe,” “409,” “Shut Down” and “I Get Around” (as well as the motorcycle number “Little Honda”).
The whole band sounded terrific, delivering skillful and respectful renditions of “God Only Knows,” “California Girls,” “Dance, Dance, Dance” and other favorites that felt very true in both spirit and form to the original recordings.
Special shoutout to the younger Love, who really did an impressive job handling the precious lead vocal parts originally made famous by Carl Wilson on “God Only Knows.” Also, Jon Bolton is a wild man on the kit — a spotlight magnet, whose ample energy has seemingly lifted the game of all the other band members.
The group was really cooking as it hit the homestretch, knocking out one of the best pop-music double-shots imaginable as it rocked through “Barbara Ann” and “Help Me, Rhonda,” before unveiling the fan-polarizing earworm “Kokomo.” (People love to hate on that wildly catchy song for some reason, but you can count me as Team Kokomo, for sure.)
Of course, “Good Vibrations” was as stunning as ever, drawing in thousands of voices from the crowd to help propel Brian Wilson’s so-called “teenage symphony to God” to great heights.
The group followed with its cool Eddie Cochran cover, “Summertime Blues,” before sending the fans home with the song that summed up the evening better than any other — “Fun, Fun, Fun.”
Setlist:
1. “Do It Again”
2. “Surfin’ Safari”
3. “Catch a Wave”
4. “Hawaii”
5. “Don’t Back Down”
6. “It’s OK”
7. “Rockaway Beach”
8. “Surfin’ U.S.A.”
9. “Surfer Girl”
10. “Sum Sum Summer”
11. “You’re So Good to Me”
12. “When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)”
13. “Darlin’”
14. “In My Room”
15. “Still Cruisin’”
16. “Don’t Worry Baby”
17. “Little Deuce Coupe”
18. “409”
19. “Shut Down”
20. “Little Honda”
21. “I Get Around”
22. “The Warmth of the Sun”
23. “I Can Hear Music”
24. “God Only Knows”
25. “California Girls”
26. “Dance, Dance, Dance”
27. “California Dreamin’”
28. “Sloop John B”
29. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
30. “Then I Kissed Her”
32. “Do You Wanna Dance?”
33. “Barbara Ann”
34. “Help Me, Rhonda”
35. “Kokomo”
36. “Good Vibrations”
37. “Summertime Blues”
Originally Published:
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Jim Harrington
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