By Shaun Ryan<\/p>\n
There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s best-known hits \u2014 and more.<\/p>\n
A founding member of the legendary band, Love said he likes to start his shows with those retro hits everyone knows, songs like \u201cSurfin\u2019 U.S.A.\u201d The concert shifts gears then to what he calls the car songs: \u201c409,\u201d \u201cLittle Deuce Coupe,\u201d \u201cShut Down,\u201d \u201cI Get Around\u201d and, of course, \u201cFun, Fun, Fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
And this being the 60th anniversary of the \u201cPet Sounds\u201d album, songs like \u201cWouldn\u2019t It Be Nice,\u201d \u201cSloop John B\u201d and \u201cGod Only Knows\u201d will be featured.<\/p>\n
With \u201cSurfin\u2019 Safari,\u201d \u201cHelp Me, Rhonda,\u201d \u201cCalifornia Girls,\u201d \u201cSummer in Paradise\u201d and the 1988 smash hit \u201cKokomo,\u201d it\u2019s bound to be a night to remember.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of songs that people sing along with,\u201d said Love. \u201c\u2018Kokomo\u2019 is probably the biggest.\u201d<\/p>\n
That song, the band\u2019s top-selling single, spent eight weeks at number one in Australia \u2014 so long that Love jokes that he almost moved there.<\/p>\n
Founded in Hawthorne, California, in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally made up of three teenaged brothers, Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson and their cousin Love.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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy cousin Brian would sing the high part,\u201d Love recalled. \u201cI\u2019d 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and their first album, \u201cSurfin\u2019 Safari,\u201d came out that same year.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s son Christian Love; Tim Bonhomme; Jon Bolton; Keith Hubacher (formerly of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons); Randy Leago; and John Wedemeyer.<\/p>\n
The group maintains a rigorous touring schedule, averaging 150 shows a year. It\u2019s a work ethic that goes back to the early days when Brian Wilson \u201cworked us hard in recording,\u201d said Love.<\/p>\n
And the band is not overwhelmed by performing two shows on a single date. Following the afternoon performance, \u201cwe\u2019ll have a break. Get to meditate and rest up and eat a little something,\u201d Love said. The second show follows that evening.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was phenomenal,\u201d Love said.<\/p>\n
Looking back over the years, Love said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been blessed to have a fantastic career.\u201d<\/p>\n
He cited one performance that especially stood out.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But Love will never forget the moment the curtain opened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was our turn to play a few songs, and in the front row was Maharishi (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi),\u201d Love said. \u201cAnd on one side of him was John Lennon, and on the other side of him was George Harrison. It was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s birthday was only a couple of weeks prior to his own. Remembering this, he wrote \u201cPisces Brothers,\u201d a tribute to Harrison, in 2004.<\/p>\n
One of the hallmarks of The Beach Boys\u2019 music is its positivity. In fact, one of the band\u2019s songs was named number one in a survey of songs that made people feel good.<\/p>\n
Love recalled how that piece came about.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always accentuated the positive,\u201d he said. \u201cEven 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 \u2014 not the war and all that horrible stuff. And I wrote all the lyrics to \u2018Good Vibrations.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a favorite of fans everywhere and one that is sure to occupy an important part of the show\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
Love marvels at the band\u2019s longevity and laughs when he talks about one tune that returns to the airwaves each holiday season.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Thanksgiving, they start playing \u2018Little St. Nick,\u2019 our big Christmas hit,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s perennial. Those things are going to outlast me!\u201d<\/p>\n
Later this year, The Beach Boys will be performing at the Hollywood Bowl for three nights in July during a celebration of America\u2019s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The concert hall is located at 1050 A1A North, Ponte Vedra Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Shaun Ryan There\u2019s still time to catch the wave and see Mike Love and the current Beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-123805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}