What a night at the Bluestem Amphitheatre in Moorhead Sunday night.
First of all if you have never been to an outdoor performance of any kind at this venue, what are you waiting for? Life it too short to not get off the couch and enjoy a beautiful evening outdoors with the likes of the Beach Boys this past wonderful June Sunday evening. If the Beach Boys aren’t your thing just check out the roster of entertainment coming up. The venue will be offering all types of genres of entertainment all season long.
The show that night started out with the opening act of Darrin Wentz. This Local singer/songwriter was on my show recently and I asked him about how he was chosen for the Beach Boys opening act. With a grin he said they must have had trouble getting a hold of someone until they got to the “W’s”. Darrin hosts The Second Sunday Singer/Songwriter night at the HoDo, and has performed numerous shows in the area. He’s a true staple of the F-M music industry.
After a half hour set of Darrin’s wit and music the stage was reset for The Beach Boys. I have to say it was no surprise to me that the audience was as diverse as I’ve ever seen. Five year old kids to what could have been their great grandparents in their 70’s or 80’s.
The “Boys” started out the night with “Do It Again” and ended with “Barbara Ann”. Then back on stage for the encore “Kokomo”. In between, you name a tune of theirs and they did it. As a matter fact, lead singer Mike Love said after the first 8 or 9 numbers back to back that it was time for an intermission or jokingly saying maybe we’ll call it a night and go take a nap.
The group told stories of cars, girls, and music. Listening to all those classics brought back a ton of memories, but on a personal note the one that touched me the most was a song I had never heard before. Mike Love and George Harrison of the Beatles were both Pisces and even though it was written in 2004, Love released it in February of this year in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles coming to the U.S. Both of the groups were friends with each other, and both traveled to India in the mid 60’s. “Brother Pisces” was a salute to his long lost friend.
A lot of the crowd didn’t realize that keyboard/vocalist Brian Johnston, who has been with the Beach Boys since almost the beginning, was a Grammy award winning song writer. But it wasn’t a Beach Boy’s song. He wrote “I Write the Songs” for the one and only Barry Manilow. Love said they weren’t going to perform it. It’s a great song but you can “hear Barry play it in Las Vegas.”
The band’s playful nature has never eroded away. On several occasions young ladies approached the stage and Mike Love knelt down so they could take a “selfie” with one of the legendary singers of all time.
Unless I missed it, the only thing that was not brought up was Mike Love’s nephew. There were hopes of a Mike Love interview and the top question people wanted to ask. “Can you convince your nephew to stay with the Timberwolves.” Mike Love’s nephew is Kevin Love!
It was a wonderful night. My son was there to enjoy it with me. Bluestem was filled just shy of capacity. But even though they have been together for more than 50 years, I couldn’t see a disappointed face in the crowd. America still loves their Beach Boys.