The Beach Boys to perform at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on Jan. 26

By Shaun Ryan

There’s still time to catch the wave and see Mike Love and the current Beach Boys lineup at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on Jan. 26, but fans will want to get their tickets to this historic event before they are snapped up.

Two shows are planned, one at 5 p.m., the other at 8:30 p.m., and Love said audiences can expect all the band’s best-known hits — and more.

A founding member of the legendary band, Love said he likes to start his shows with those retro hits everyone knows, songs like “Surfin’ U.S.A.” The concert shifts gears then to what he calls the car songs: “409,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “Shut Down,” “I Get Around” and, of course, “Fun, Fun, Fun.”

And this being the 60th anniversary of the “Pet Sounds” album, songs like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B” and “God Only Knows” will be featured.

With “Surfin’ Safari,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “California Girls,” “Summer in Paradise” and the 1988 smash hit “Kokomo,” it’s bound to be a night to remember.

“We’ve got a lot of songs that people sing along with,” said Love. “‘Kokomo’ is probably the biggest.”

That song, the band’s top-selling single, spent eight weeks at number one in Australia — so long that Love jokes that he almost moved there.

Founded in Hawthorne, California, in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally made up of three teenaged brothers, Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson and their cousin Love. But to get those famous harmonies meant adding one more member.

“My cousin Brian would sing the high part,” Love recalled. “I’d sing the bass part or the lead. My cousin Carl would sing a part. We were always looking for someone who could blend. Not just sing a note, but actually blend. There’s an art to it. We tried and tried, and we finally found a guy named Alan Jardine, who sang and blended with us, and he was a really good singer.”

The Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and their first album, “Surfin’ Safari,” came out that same year.

It was the beginning of a monster wave of success. The band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. More than 80 of their songs have charted, 36 in the U.S. Top 40 and four at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Currently, the lineup includes Brian Eichenberger, formerly of The Four Freshmen, a band Love credits with inspiring the famed Beach Boys four-part harmony; Love’s son Christian Love; Tim Bonhomme; Jon Bolton; Keith Hubacher (formerly of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons); Randy Leago; and John Wedemeyer.

The group maintains a rigorous touring schedule, averaging 150 shows a year. It’s a work ethic that goes back to the early days when Brian Wilson “worked us hard in recording,” said Love.

And the band is not overwhelmed by performing two shows on a single date. Following the afternoon performance, “we’ll have a break. Get to meditate and rest up and eat a little something,” Love said. The second show follows that evening.

Two-show dates are something The Beach Boys have proven they can handle. Once, the band performed for 900,000 people in the streets of Philadelphia, followed by a free July 4 concert in Washington, D.C., for a crowd of half a million.

“That was phenomenal,” Love said.

Looking back over the years, Love said, “We’ve been blessed to have a fantastic career.”

He cited one performance that especially stood out.

In December 1967, The Beach Boys played at the UNICEF Variety Gala in Paris. It was a show that also included performances by Lena Horne and Victor Borge and was attended by actors Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, among others.

But Love will never forget the moment the curtain opened.

“It was our turn to play a few songs, and in the front row was Maharishi (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi),” Love said. “And on one side of him was John Lennon, and on the other side of him was George Harrison. It was amazing.”

In fact, Love flew to India at the invitation of Maharishi, and when he arrived at the ashram, he found the Beatles there. They performed a birthday song for Love, who then learned that Harrison’s birthday was only a couple of weeks prior to his own. Remembering this, he wrote “Pisces Brothers,” a tribute to Harrison, in 2004.

One of the hallmarks of The Beach Boys’ music is its positivity. In fact, one of the band’s songs was named number one in a survey of songs that made people feel good.

Love recalled how that piece came about.

“I always accentuated the positive,” he said. “Even when the Vietnam War was cooking, I wanted to do a song about a girl who was into peace and love and flower power and all that good stuff — not the war and all that horrible stuff. And I wrote all the lyrics to ‘Good Vibrations.’”

It’s a favorite of fans everywhere and one that is sure to occupy an important part of the show’s program.

Love marvels at the band’s longevity and laughs when he talks about one tune that returns to the airwaves each holiday season.

“Every Thanksgiving, they start playing ‘Little St. Nick,’ our big Christmas hit,” he said. “It’s perennial. Those things are going to outlast me!”

Later this year, The Beach Boys will be performing at the Hollywood Bowl for three nights in July during a celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

For those wanting to see the band at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, tickets can be purchased at pvconcerthall.com, AXS.com or at the box office between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily.

The concert hall is located at 1050 A1A North, Ponte Vedra Beach.