Beach Boys Minneapolis Convention Center Pacer program cover
Beach Boys Setlist
Tour Dates
May 26 Altoona, PA The Jaffa Shrine Center
May 30 Huntington, NY The Paramount May 31 Carlton, MN Black Bear Casino Resort Jun 14 Bizkaia, Spain Legends Festival Jun 16 Prague, Czech Republic Lucerna Jun 18 Hannover, Germany Swiss Life Hall Jun 20 Roskilde, Denmark Roskilde Congress Ctr Jun 21 Bournemouth Bournemouth International Ctr Jun 22 Hull, UK Hull Bonus Arena Jun 24 London, UK Royal Albert Hall Jun 25 London, UK Royal Albert Hall Jun 26 Festival Printemps de Perouges Jun 27 Paris, France Olympia Jun 28 Antwerp, Belgium Stadsshouwberg Jun 29 Frankfurt, Germany Jahrhunderthalle Jun 30 Abenberg, Germany Burg Abenberg Jul 2 Dusseldorf, Germany Mitsubishi Electric Halle Jul 3 Rotterdam, Netherlands Nieuwe Luxor Theatre Jul 5 Rotterdam, Netherlands Port of Rotterdam Jul 6 Brighton, United Kingdom Brighton Centre Jul 7 Oxfordshire, Cornbury Music Festival Jul 9 Zurich, Switzerland Theater 11 Jul 11 Marbella, Spain Starlite Festival Jul 12 Barcelona, Spain Pedralbes Festival Jul 13 Monte-Carlo, France Sporting Club Jul 16 Berlin, Germany Verti Music Hall Jul 17 Dresden, Germany Junge Garde Jul 19 Halle, Germany Freilichtbühne Peißnitzinsel Jul 20 Munich, Germany Cirkus Krone Jul 21 Stuttgart, Germany Liederhalle Jul 22 Freiburg, Germany Zelt-Music-Festival Jul 25 Asheville, NC Biltmore Estate Jul 27 Atlantic City, NJ Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena Jul 28 Whitehouse Station, NJ QuickChek NJ Festival Aug 1 Grand Rapids, MI Meijer Gardens Amph Aug 2 New Buffalo, MI Four Winds Casino Aug 3 Highland Park, IL Ravinia Pavilion Aug 4 Highland Park, IL Ravinia Pavilion Aug 14 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Aug 15 Lowell, MA Boarding House Park Aug 16 East Providence, RI Bold Point Park Aug 18 Ridgefield, CT Ridgefield Playhouse Aug 21 Chautauqua, NY Chautauqua Institution Amph Aug 22 Canandaigua, NY Constellation Brands–Marvin Sands Aug 23 Lancaster, PA American Music Theatre Aug 24 Selbyville, DE The Freman Stage at Bayside Aug 25 Vienna, VA Wolf Trap Aug 30 Huron, SD South Dakota State Fair Aug 31 Salem, OR Oregon State Fair Sep 2 Puyallup, WA Washington State Fair Sep 4 Jacksonville, OR Britt Festival Sep 6 Lincoln, CA Thunder Valley Casino Resort Sep 8 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery Oct 16 San Diego, CA Humphreys Concerts Oct 17 San Diego, CA Humphreys Concerts Dec 1 Palm Springs, CA McCallum Theatre Mar 4 Mesa, AZ Valle De Oro Read More
|
After seven consecutive months of snow and an extraordinarily long winter, summer has officially come early--
courtesy of The Beach Boys who brought warmth, sunshine, and almost sixty years of hits to PACER Center’s 37th Annual Benefit, presented by Starkey Hearing Technologies, held this past weekend at the Minneapolis Convention Center, to support the work PACER does for families of children with disabilities and children who are bullied.
The mission of PACER Center is to enhance the quality of life and expand opportunities for children, youth, and young adults with all disabilities and their families, so each person can reach his or her highest potential.
PACER, headquartered locally, serves families nationwide, as well as those in-state and operates on the principles of parents helping parents, supporting families, promoting a safe environment for all children, and working in collaboration with others.
The current incarnation of the legendary group is a tight nine-piece band, fronted by original vocalist Mike Love and Bruce Johnston (keys/bass/vocals) who joined in 1965. Love’s son Christian is on rhythm guitar and sings lead on a few songs, and Apple Valley, MN native Brian Eichenberger has re-joined on guitar and high vocals, replacing an ailing Jeff Foskett.
With a stage decorated appropriately with several palm trees, a video screen behind them, and supporting screens on each side, the band entertained the convention center auditorium crowd with a jukebox-like hit parade of twenty-two songs spanning six decades, in just over sixty-five minutes.
The band got the crowd in the mood with a short video montage before opening with 1968’s ‘Do it Again’ (which the band remade in 2011 when Brian Wilson briefly rejoined for their 50th) with 1962’s ‘Surfin’ Safari’ following close behind.
Love, with silver beard and mustache wore his own Beach Boys cap and a shirt with numerous peace signs emblazoned on it, still the signature voice in a unique musical sound that is so much a part of our lives, it’s hard to imagine a time when it didn’t exist.
As the hits continued, more and more people stood, several in tropical shirts, to dance in the aisles, bop inflatable beach balls around the crowd, and head up front to get a closer look. For ‘Surfer Girl’, Love had everyone hold their cellphone lights in the air, creating a firefly look to the crowd (“it looks like the Milky Way” Love remarked), as he recalled their early area appearance at a ballroom on Lake Minnetonka in the early 60’s.
Eichenberger took lead vocals for a swinging ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ resulting in some hometown applause, and Love introduced ‘Be True to Your School’ as dedicated to people in uniforms… cheer-leading uniforms. Classic ‘God Only Knows’ was performed with Christian Love on lead, taking over the original vocals from late drummer Dennis Wilson and the last third of their set kicked things higher with nothing but monster hits, beginning with ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’.
‘California Girls’ was changed to ‘Minnesota Girls’ a few times on the chorus and Johnston took the lead over for 1965’s ‘Do You Wanna Dance’. The crowd sang back to the band on ‘Help Me Rhonda’ and the band urged everyone to be snowbirds next year and escape the Minnesota chill, to travel to ‘Kokomo’. The trippy electro-theremin of 1966’s ‘Good Vibrations’ still shows how revolutionary that song was fifty-plus years later, and everything ended on a high note with 1964’s ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’, with everyone on their feet, dancing and clapping along.
Almost sixty years on, the California Sound is still alive and well with The Beach Boys, able to bring warmth and sunshine to even the coldest corners of Minnesota; and on this night supporting a great cause of anti-bullying and promoting a safe environment for all children and young adults and enhancing the lives of people with disabilities, courtesy of the efforts of PACER Center.
(click on any photo below to enlarge and see full image)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beach Boys at PACER Annual Benefit, Convention Center, Minneapolis (11 May 2019) |
