|
Fourth
of July … Beyond the Fireworks
The Beach Boys Are In Town!
Review by,
Kristen & Diana
The
perfect setting, on the beach outside of one of the east
coast’s popular
tourist spots, Atlantic City was all aglow on the Fourth of July but it
wasn’t
from the fireworks. Southern
California’s legendary band, the Beach Boys graced the
northern shores of the
east coast with their incredible presence.
Hosted by the Hilton Hotel and casino, the Beach Boys gave a free
concert right on the beach. With
expectations of huge crowds as the beach is quite vast and can hold a
lot of
people, the actual count was even higher than originally expected.
The estimate was somewhere at 50,000 +
people on the Atlantic City, NJ beach, the scene couldn’t be
more perfect or
reminiscent of the huge concert the Beach Boys gave back in 1983.
On this 25th anniversary of that
concert, the boys were back. While they
had a different look than the 1983 group, the music, the sounds, and
the
rhythms were still stellar. Around show
time was just about the first time we were able to see the crowds
awaiting the
dance inducing feel good music. Wow,
the crowd just seemed to go on and on, the beach was one of the best
options
for a crowd this large. In true Beach
Boys concert fashion, the crowd had a number of beach balls they were
all
volleying around during the concert.
Some of the beach balls would make their way onto the stage where some
of the front line would show off their soccer skills (well somewhat
anyhow) and
kick them back into the crowd. The
crowd was a mixture of ages from the young to college age to the fans
that have
been following the Beach Boys from when they first began. The
energy was great as you could hear the
screams as the Beach Boys were introduced onto the stage.
It
was sweet…
Mike
Love’s 12 year old daughter, Ambha
was in attendance for this special fourth of July.
During the song, “Surfer
Girl” he brought Ambha on the stage and
danced with her. It
was really sweet
and you can tell how close the two of them are.
Awesome
sounds…
Christian
Love worked the rhythms and
melodies on his guitar. Sometimes
some
instrumental sounds just really stick with you and this is the case with
Christian’s performance.
The syncopated
rhythms of songs like Rhonda had Christian shining on the stage for all
who
heard him.
Double
the Fun…
John
Cowsill is the usual drummer
extraordinaire for the Beach Boys concerts.
Always keeping the band in check with
his quick moving drumsticks, music
fans are always in for a treat when listening to him play. This time though, it was
John squared. That’s
right, John Stamos was also on the
drums and doubled up on all the great Beach Boys rhythms. It was really fun to watch
the two play
those drums, they were so in synch.
All
over the stage…
John
Stamos has some amazing amount of
energy. We
mentioned that he was
on the
drums, well that wasn’t all.
He also
for certain songs, would leave the drums and move up to the front line
near
Mike Love where he sang and played the guitar.
John sang “Good
Timin’” and with his sensual sounding voice, he
performed the song with great emotion.
Hitting
the keys…
Tim Bonhomme sliced and diced up on the
keyboards. With a
set of multi-level
keyboards, Tim had total control of the piano sound for the band. Bruce Johnston, another
almost – original
member of the Beach Boys, also kept it going with his work on the keys,
great
smile, and warm – toned voice.
Don’t
Worry…
Randell Kirsch, the quiet, tall bassist
of the group, will completely knock you out with his angelic voice. Songs like Don’t
Worry Baby and “Hawaii” are
sung with such emotion and love, all fans will feel the true meanings
of the
songs.
Directed,
produced, and ready…
New musical director, Scott Totten has
been said to be going back to the “original” sounds
of the Beach Boys
songs. So did he
reach that goal? We
would definitely say so. The
songs are at the right speeds and in the
right keys for the respective voices of the soloists.
Our
view…
The band performed 40 songs
straight. With very
few breaks, (breaks
in Beach Boys language mean that one of the guys speaks a little while
the
others gear up for the next song on the setlist.)
John Stamos spoke to the audience and
brought up the need to
support all of our troops on this Independence Day.
Mike Love of course also spoke to the
50,000+ people there and
had a funny banter back and forth with John for a little while. It was amazing to see all
those people in
one place and at the same time look to the east and look out at the
tranquil
ocean waters with a few boats sailing.
Some
of our favorites
Christian
Love on “Good Vibrations.”
He just
brings a certain Beach Boys essence to this song, with it’s
different sound,
Christian wears a quiet confidence with the song that will cause people
to listen
John
Cowsill on “Help Me Rhonda.”
This song
is FUN! John, after
a little while of
singing “Rhonda” while playing the drums, instead
was able to get up to the
front
of the stage to sing his solo.
This most likely was because John Stamos
had the drums in control. John’s
energy and personality are certainly
felt as he belts out this song
Randell
Kirsch on “Don’t Worry Baby.” The song
is so beautiful, almost as much so as Randell’s voice. A song that has been heard
in the movies, it
still shines to the audience as they sway to the melody.
A
concert that started at 6:00 m, went on for about two hours
straight. Happy to say that John Stamos was easy going
about taking pictures with the fans after the show, until he was pulled
away by
a promoter. This was an event that
anybody who was there will always remember.
The Beach Boys will be performing and touring
all around the United
States and Canada this summer. If you
haven’t yet, please definitely get your tickets for when they
come to a city
near you. You will have a blast!
|
