When you think of the California/Beach Music sound the first musical group that comes to mind is the Beach Boys. Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, with Al Jardine and Mike Love, started the Beach Boys in the early 60’s. Their music and vocal harmony made you feel good and helped you look forward to every summer or trip to the beach, wishing you could surf like they sang about. The radio airwaves have been filled with classic Beach Boy tunes for over 50 years. Many of their albums are considered exceptional in pop and rock music. Cindy and I couldn’t wait to see the current lineup of the Beach Boys when it was announced they would be performing in Durham.
DPAC was filled with fans of the Beach Boys, and you could feel the excitement. They started the first part of the show with classics like Surfin Safari and Surfin USA as they played for an hour and fifteen minutes before taking a 20-minute break. The second part of the show had favorites like Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Don’t Worry Baby, California Girls, and Kokomo. The band’s musicianship was excellent; however, their voices could have been much better. They just didn’t have the Beach Boy harmony with this lineup of singing voices. Of the original Beach Boy members only Mike Love is left to carry on this rendition of the Beach Boys.
Speaking of Mike Love, during the show he decided to espouse some personal political views to the audience. I didn’t pay $80 dollars for a ticket to hear personal political commentary during a Beach Boys concert. He offended many people in the audience, and some got up and left the show. I thought it showed bad taste and little concern for all Beach Boy’s fans in attendance.
Ranking this show based on the musical ability of the band I would give them an eight out of 10. Hearing the Beach Boy sound made you feel good. Their musical voices left much to be desired and no better than a five out of 10. I’m glad I went but won’t be going to anymore Beach Boy concerts as they are obviously on the far downhill side of their career. Fortunately, we have musical recordings of them in their prime.
Looking forward to additional concerts coming to our area over the next few months. Next review should be Larry the Cable Guy at DPAC, followed by Foreigner, Nickleback, The Australian Pink Floyd show and Aerosmith. Here we go again!
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