Beach Boys’ Span Age Gap
by Mike Kane, The Post-Star, September 2, 1977
Midway through the Beach Boys’ concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Wednesday evening, lead singer Mike Love explained that the band wasn’t in a big hurry. “We’re family, you know.”
That statement explains the makeup of the band, as Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson and first cousin Love make up two-thirds of the band that also includes Al Jardine and Billy Hinsche. But it now means a bit more.
The Beach Boys may be the only band in the world that parents and their children alike would flock to see. They are a combination of nostalgia and current musical trendsetters. The crowd of 27,980 that filled the SPAC amphitheater, lawn and environs Wednesday rocked and rolled with the Beach Boys. Some were celebrating their youth; others were remembering it.
Beach balls and frisbees were the big attractions until the show started 40 minutes late with Ricci Martin. Martin played a 30-minute set that, while sounding potentially good, was not really well matched to the gıgantic sound system set up for the headliners.
Another half hour later, at 8:40 to be exact, the most famous family from Hawthorne, Calif., took the stage for a show that would last more than two hours. From the opening chords of “California Girls” to the last notes of “Fun, Fun, Fun,” the Beach Boys kept the crowd in control.
Love flitted around the stage, adorned in a white plumed hat, singing, introducing songs and leading cheers for Brian Wilson, who has only recently rejoined the band on the road. Although at times it seemed that the band harped a bit too much on the return of Brian Wilson, his influence in the writing and arranging of the Beach Boys’ classics cannot be overlooked.
The group played 22 numbers, mixing oldies and songs off its two most recent albums. Love then instructed the audience to “stand up, get ready to get into it.” More than 27,000 persons stood, and get into it they did, with “Heroes and Villains,” “Help Me Rhonda,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations,” and finishing with “Surfing USA”
The obligatory lit-match call for an encore brought Dennis Wilson back to sing “You Are So Beautiful,” accompanied by Brian on the baby grand. To put the finishing touches on the show, the surging crowd was treated to “Barbara Ann,” “Rock and Roll Music,” and a “Fun, Fun Fun” finale.
The Beach Boys have grown with the rest of us. They all have beards, bellies, and wrinkles, but their music, even if you have to wait for it, is good, good, good.
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