Beach Boys Coming to Town – GoLocal Interviews Mike Love
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Ken Abrams, GoLocalProv Music Critic
It wouldn’t be summer in New England without a visit from the legendary
Beach Boys. The iconic group returns to the area this weekend for two shows – Saturday night at the
Newport Yachting Center and Sunday afternoon at
Indian Ranch in Webster, MA.
It’s not their first New England stop this summer – the band was in Boston for a July 4th show with the Boston Pops that got pushed back to July 3rd due to Hurricane Arthur. “The weather kinda got in the way of that one, but they escorted us out of the rain and my wife and daughter and I had a nice meal in Boston,” remarked lead singer Mike Love in an interview with GoLocal.
An American Band
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The iconic band has been surfin’ across the USA and the world for over 50 years now, playing modest 1000 seat venues, and on July 4th 1985, playing two shows (DC and Philadelphia) to over 1.6 million people in one day. “We played for over 900,000 in Philadelphia in the afternoon (with Jimmy Page sitting in on lead guitar), and then before another 750,000 in Washington that night.”
It’s a credit to the band and the surf-rock genre they popularized that they're still going strong. With hits dating back to the early 60’s and their biggest single, "Kokomo," recorded in 1988, they still make regular appearances on television and at music festivals. This year alone, they're playing over 100 concerts.
The Newport show also marks a visit by area native and current Beach Boys drummer John Cowsill, member of the chart-topping Rhode Island family band, The Cowsills. “We’ll have a lot of his relatives backstage for that one,” laughed Love.
The Concert Experience
Love described the typical Beach Boys concert. “Our music runs the gamut of styles. We start out kind of retro with our surfing songs, and then go into some of our car songs. They are upbeat and get the show moving. One song compliments the next. Then we get into our more introspective songs like “In My Room,” and “God Only Knows.”
And where the big hits tend to get the crowd moving, it’s the more thoughtful songs that leave an impression. One of those “introspective” tunes Love referred to is a song that the band only recently began performing. “Pisces Brother” is a tribute to the late George Harrison of the Beatles. “George invited me to India in 1968. We had our birthdays there and met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. (Love practices Transcendental Meditation.) The song evokes a lot of sentimentality in our fans.”
Speaking of their fans, Love noted “We’ve got three generations of fans coming to shows – grandparents, parents and kids.” And the band isn't always playing for lifelong Beach Boys fanatics. “About half who come to our concerts are not necessarily Beach Boys fans. They challenge us to do a great job (in concert) … hopefully they go home and say ‘I didn’t realize they had so many hits.’”
Love praised his “wonderful crew” who manage over 100 shows a year. One member of the crew that has a major challenge at a Beach Boys concert has got to be Mark Newman, who runs the soundboard. “He goes out to different areas of the venue to check the harmonies.” A daunting task for this band in particular, no doubt.
The Beach Boys Perform
With three shows this coming weekend, a morning TV spot on Fox tomorrow, and an appearance Monday at Tanglewood, these “boys” sure don’t seem to be slowing down. Here’s the local schedule:
Saturday, August 16 at the Newport Yachting Center, gates open at 5PM, Joe Silva will be performing on the Hear in RI Point Stage at 6PM and the Beach Boys go on promptly at 7:30.
Sunday, August 17 at Indian Ranch, enjoy an afternoon show with two full sets staring at 2PM. Check the websites for all the details.
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