The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, Chula Vista, CA [05.25.12]

The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, Chula Vista, CA [05.25.12]

The night started out cold and blustery this past Friday evening down in Chula Vista when The Beach Boys began their “50th Anniversary” show with the 1968 classic “Do It Again” but by the time the group hit its trademark harmonies in the first chorus with lead singer Mike Love intoning about “the warmed up weather” it felt like the clouds parted and for the remainder of the evening the sold out amphitheatre danced and sang along to one classic after another as the current incarnation of The Beach Boys ripped through two generous twenty song sets, emphasizing all of the expected chart hits as well as offering up quite a number of obscurities. Hell, they even played a brand new number “That’s Why God Made The Radio” that didn’t pale amongst the classics.

It’s hard to believe but this November it will be fifty years since Hawthorne, California’s most famous sons released their debut single “Surfin’.” In the half century that followed those humble beginnings The Beach Boys literally redefined American popular music throughout their 1960s heyday with a spate of classic singles and LPs emphasizing innocence (and its subsequent loss), summertime, girls on the beach, surfing, cars and teenage amusement. Even as the “boys” grew into middle-aged men they still continued to have Top 40 chart hits all the way up through 1989.

After founding members Dennis Wilson and youngest brother Carl Wilson succumbed to mortality (in 1983 and 1998 respectively) that leaves three-fifths of the original group with leader Brian Wilson, cousin Mike Love and “friend” Al Jardine. When Jardine took a hiatus from the group in 1962 (for four LPs worth of material) he was replaced by guitarist David Marks until Jardine came back to the fold. And when Brian Wilson deemed that live gigs were an unnecessary impediment to writing and producing the group’s material he was replaced on stage by musician Bruce Johnston. These are the last men standing and for a group of seventy year old men they sounded pretty fantastic with a crack band of support musicians as they take their legacy of these timeless compositions round the globe for one last spin in what will undoubtedly be the last time that The Beach Boys get out and celebrate the news. My only disappointment was the absence of circa 1972-74 Beach Boys members Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin (who sings lead on the original “Sail On Sailor”). Foster The People opened the show.

1) Do It Again
2) Little Honda
3) Catch A Wave
4) Hawaii
5) Don’t Back Down
6) Surfin’ Safari
7) Surfer Girl
8) Please Let Me Wonder
9) Marcella
10) Then I Kissed Her
11) Why Do Fools Fall In Love
12) When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
13) Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song)
14) Be True To Your School
15) Kiss Me Baby
16) Don’t Worry Baby
17) Little Deuce Coupe
18) 409
19) Shut Down
20) I Get Around

21) Add Some Music To Your Day
22) In My Room
23) Sloop John B.
24) Wouldn’t It Be Nice [with Foster The People]
25) I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times
26) Sail On Sailor
27) All This Is That
28) Heroes And Villains
29) That’s Why God Made The Radio
30) Forever
31) God Only Knows
32) Good Vibrations
33) California Girls
34) Help Me, Rhonda
35) Rock And Roll Music
36) Do You Wanna Dance?
37) Surfin’ U.S.A.

38) Kokomo
39) Barbara Ann
40) Fun, Fun, Fun