Concert took place on August 21, 2021
Review and photos by Anita Maree
Ravinia Festival welcomed back The Beach Boys to ‘Do It Again’!
Ravinia, located in beautiful Highland Park, IL, welcomed to the stage one of the most influential acts of the rock era – The Beach Boys. The band is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide. Between the 1960s and 2010s, the group had 36 songs reach the US Top 40 charts – the most by an American band! While the band’s line-up has changed over the years, the music and unique harmonies were right on. This was their 14th season at Ravinia Festival and they were headlining both Saturday and Sunday night.
The Beach Boys are still led by co-founding member and singer Mike Love, who just turned 80 years old, as well as Bruce Johnston who joined the band back in 1965. The other bandmates include Mike Love’s son Christian on guitar and vocals, keyboardist Tim Bonhomme, drummer and singer John Cowsill, singer and guitarist Brian Eichenberger, bassist Keith Hubacher, saxophone by Randy Leago, musical director, singer and guitarist Scott Totten, and part-time touring guitarist, drummer, singer, and actor John Stamos.
The Beach Boys performed 42 songs the first evening stepping out on the stage singing “Do It Again” followed by other hits including “Surfin’ Safari”, “Surfin’ U.S.A.”, “Surfer Girl”, and “When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)”. They did a beautiful rendition of “God Only Knows” that was quite moving.
Mike Love spoke to the crowd often and recounted many stories from over the years. He spoke about when The Beach Boys met The Beatles and how close he was with George Harrison. The band then performed Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun”. John Stamos took lead vocals on “Forever”.
On stage while the band performed, was cleverly put together videos from years past. Many of the videos showcased original band members Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, along with Al Jardine sharing the stage with Mike Love. It was great that they shared some of these rare videos with their fans.
The entire night was filled with classics including their biggest hit single “Kokomo” which was a crowd-pleaser. They also performed “Barbara Ann”, ‘Good Vibrations”, “Help Me Rhonda”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, and they closed the evening
with “Fun, Fun, and Fun”. It was great seeing the Ravinia crowd up and dancing on all the hits.
The Beach Boys music has stayed strong for all these years. They are the original all-boy band, however, this boy band was the real deal. They knew how to write songs, how to perform them on stage, and how to write catchy and danceable songs.
As their lyric say, “Don’t Worry Baby, Everything will turn out alright”….and it did
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