Beach Boy’s front man Mike Love takes the stage in 2022. The Chautauqua favorites will return to perform at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater.
The Beach Boys are making their way back to Chautauqua for a night of undoubtedly good vibrations.
Widely known for their contribution to rock music and for spearheading the surfer rock movement and California sound, The Beach Boys will perform their classic hits at 8:15 p.m. tonight on the Amphitheater stage.
Lead vocalist Mike Love, a founding member of the group, is thrilled to be performing at Chautauqua once again this year.
“We’ve always loved going to Chautauqua. It’s such a classic place; it’s so unique,” he said. “Summer in Chautauqua is beautiful; it’s nice. It’s a special experience being there. The venue there is just unique and special, and the whole origins of (Chautauqua) – the whole concept of it – is great.”
“I just love everything about it,” Love added.
He particularly enjoys the intergenerational nature of Chautauqua and the crowd that comes to enjoy the band’s shows.
“All ages will come out to see us, particularly in a place like Chautauqua,” he said. “Entire families will come out – grandparents, their kids, grandchildren – and they all enjoy the music together.”
Love values how The Beach Boys’ music still unites fans across backgrounds and experiences — he sees that as its own kind of harmony — and he is excited to join Chautauquans in celebrating this together.
“It’s built on love and a love of harmonizing, and harmony in itself is like a life lesson because our music unifies and harmonizes all these different elements of different types of personalities and humanity,” he said. “Different people, different ages, different upbringings, different cultures, but the music unifies, in our case, positivity and happiness, which is great.”
Most recently, the band came to the Institution in 2022 to perform a double-bill show with The Temptations. This year, the Beach Boys are in the midst of commemorating the 50th anniversary of their pivotal album Endless Summer with a tour going by the same name. Endless Summer was released in 1974 and houses hits like “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin U.S.A.” and “Little Deuce Coupe.”
The group released their debut album Surfin’ Safari in 1962 followed by a series of surf rock albums in the following years as they grew quickly in stature, becoming pivotal in American rock music and becoming the face of the California sound, which centered around surfing, cars and relationships in music. 1966’s Pet Sounds is widely regarded as a foundational album that shaped not only their discography, but the entire rock lexicon.
Love said that Chautauquans can anticipate a broad selection of the band’s beloved hits, particularly songs from Endless Summer and Pet Sounds, with some other favorites as well.
“We have not only the hits we’re known for, but a couple of nice things in addition that we do in our concert,” he said.
“It’s fun, fun, fun!” Love said.
