Wilson gave a quick wave to the crowd before situating himself behind his white pian0, a place he would stay for the majority of the night. One by one, The Beach Boys were met with cheers from the crowd, but none more so than the man who made this a Red Rocks worthy show (vs. It was perfect weather as the 14 piece band took the stage. In fact, my dad and I had our expectations met during the first set…and absolutely blown away during the second set! The early evening thunder storms which have brought much needed rain to Colorado took a night off yesterday. There is no doubt they are capable of putting their differences aside (at least while on stage) to give their fans what they expect.
The cause of my excitement will probably always remain a mystery, but I am happy to say that the talents of the old men who grew from those beach boys will not. It doesn’t explain why I was checking the weather reports for Red Rocks every hour - fingers crossed that we would not have torrential downpours and lightning storms while the band from California were trying to make the summer last forever. But this still doesn’t explain why I was on Google every day making sure the tour hadn’t gone off the rails. I rediscovered Pet Sounds in my early 20′s, and it has since become one of my favorite albums of all time.
It wasn’t until I got older and started discovering music on my own that I realized what Brian Wilson had done for pop music. The music I heard in my 3rd grade classroom and on my dad’s records masked a much darker reality. If my younger self had known who Charles Manson was, I would have also been shocked to learn of the connection between the Beach Boys and what would become his notorious family. I didn’t know Dennis Wilson had drown just a few years earlier - a death caused by diving in a marina looking for lost items after drinking all day. My 9-year-old self would have been shocked to learn that the man who wrote most of these songs was in and out of mental institutions due to drug abuse and mental instabilities. The music was so innocent compared to what was happening in the Reagan era. Growing up in the 80′s, The Beach Boys were a throwback to simpler times. My 3rd grade teacher was also an avid fan, going as far as having a record player in the classroom and using songs like “Little Deuce Coupe” to teach us our times tables (4 x 8 = 32 Deuce Coupe). Endless Summer plays like a soundtrack to some of my earliest memories. My dad had all their records and played them regularly from the time I was born. The Beach Boys have been a part of my life since I was very young.
The more I learned about the history of The Beach Boys, the more I realized what an unlikely reunion this really was. Rolling Stone articles, Pop Matters features, Peter Ames Carlin’s Catch a Wave, Spotify playlists - I have literally been living in the sun soaked 60′s & 70′s, surrounded by overbearing fathers, evil doctors, feuding families, psychotropic drugs, mental illnesses, lawsuits, and the complete transformation of pop music. I found myself consuming everything I could about this band, with an emphasis on the tragic journey of the only remaining Wilson brother. My excitement built to an unexplainable level in the days leading up to last night’s Red Rocks performance. The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour is something I have been excited about ever since the rumors of Brian Wilson’s involvement started flying around.
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