Beach Boys 1970's Concert Story from a fan

[guitarfool2002]

I found this letter printed in an old issue of Goldmine, and with the reunion concerts being discussed heavily I thought it would be interesting to read about the concert experiences from a bygone era. This is a scan from the magazine, you should be able to click on it to enlarge if the words appear too small.

Now if we could only find someone who was at this post-concert frat party with the band and is willing to talk openly...

[guitarfool2002]

Ahh, the print is a bit small: Save it to your hard drive and whichever image reader you have should enlarge it so it's easier to read. Sorry about that.

[rab2591]

Thanks for posting! Fantastic story.

[Jon Stebbins]

White concert suits in '74?

[guitarfool2002]

I had to mention as well - in light of the white suits - that I think the only period concert in Madison in the summer on the concert list was 1973. And if the captions are correct, the photos I saw of them on stage at that show in '73 show them wearing the casual look, no outfits or matching clothes. There was another summer 1974 show in Wisconsin, but not Madison.

Maybe we can better pinpoint a date of this show? I noticed the white suits comment as well, I didn't think they were wearing them at that time.

Hmmm...

[Craig Boyd]

Is there not a video of them with Chicago in 74/75 where they're wearing sort of sailor kinda clothes, navy blue jacket type things? Maybe they dipped back into the matching clothes thing for a while.

[filledeplage]

I found this letter printed in an old issue of Goldmine, and with the reunion concerts being discussed heavily I thought it would be interesting to read about the concert experiences from a bygone era. This is a scan from the magazine, you should be able to click on it to enlarge if the words appear too small.

Now if we could only find someone who was at this post-concert frat party with the band and is willing to talk openly...

That was fabulous!  Thanks for posting that.  Bet there are lots of stories like that! Un-sung (I could not resist!) heroes!

You can "stretch" the article on an iPad!  

Thanks again; it made my day!  

[Jon Stebbins]

Is there not a video of them with Chicago in 74/75 where they're wearing sort of sailor kinda clothes, navy blue jacket type things? Maybe they dipped back into the matching clothes thing for a while.

That was a one off TV show - Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve...no other evidence of them wearing matching stage clothing in that period...and the last time they wore the white suits was very early '70.

[Craig Boyd]

Is there not a video of them with Chicago in 74/75 where they're wearing sort of sailor kinda clothes, navy blue jacket type things? Maybe they dipped back into the matching clothes thing for a while.

That was a one off TV show - Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve...no other evidence of them wearing matching stage clothing in that period...and the last time they wore the white suits was very early '70.

Thanks for that Jon, it always stuck in my mind as I thought it looked a bit silly. Were any other bands wearing matching clothes as late as 70? I never understood the white suits personally.

[tpesky]

Maybe it wasn't all of the BB...just Mike and Al. Wasn't '74 a time when they would ride in a few station wagons to shows etc. Even if the others weren't wearing white suits, Mike and Al could have been. They both have white suit type things (albeit Mike with a glittery gold vest) on 7/2/76?

[jimmy1949]

White concert suits in '74?

When I saw them in 1974 at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium they had on the striped shirts. 

[Aegir]

Is there not a video of them with Chicago in 74/75 where they're wearing sort of sailor kinda clothes, navy blue jacket type things? Maybe they dipped back into the matching clothes thing for a while.

That was a one off TV show - Dick Clark's New Years Rockin' Eve...no other evidence of them wearing matching stage clothing in that period...and the last time they wore the white suits was very early '70.

Thanks for that Jon, it always stuck in my mind as I thought it looked a bit silly. Were any other bands wearing matching clothes as late as 70? I never understood the white suits personally.

Actually, that's one of the things I like the most about that show, the matching outfits.

[Andrew G. Doe]

There was indeed a Madison WI show... in August 1968 (white suit era)... November 1972... and December 1973... but not 1974.

[Custom Machine]

OK, in addition to the white suits being long gone for over four years and the fact that there was no 1974 concert in Madison on a sweltering, humid summer night ...

The National Guard was still tear gassing student protestors more than a year after the US pulled out of Vietnam?

The Beach Boys all fit in the front seat?  Or it was just Al and Mike, who asked their hitchhiking passengers what drugs they liked?

[MBE]

There was indeed a Madison WI show... in August 1968 (white suit era)... November 1972... and December 1973... but not 1974.

I bet you it was 1968.

[Steve Mayo]

where does the time go......i actually remember reading this article when it came out.
my vote is 1968 also.....

[Jon Stebbins]

Another thing that struck me is the fact if it had been all of the Beach Boys then Dennis would have been driving. There is little historical evidence of anyone other than Dennis driving when the band was traveling together. The thought of Al driving the entire band seems off. So maybe it was just he and Mike, maybe it was '68...maybe it was a hallucination.

[guitarfool2002]

This is a tough one. It sounds like 1968 would be more in line with some of the details in the letter. I dug out the issue again and to add some context, this was Goldmine's "20th Anniversary" special issue from 1994. They solicited people to write in memories of things that happened around musical experiences in 1974, so you got pages of letters about seeing certain artists in concert, hearing things on the radio, playing 8-tracks in the car, etc.

It should be noted that the author of this letter was and is a successful published author with NY Times bestsellers and plenty of other credits. I had reservations about reprinting this letter with the signature but it had already been published in an international magazine, so...

This issue was before the internet was a major presence, before a list of concert dates was a click away, and before such information was an instant find. I'm thinking of all the times I try to remember concerts I have seen and realize I'm a few years off when trying to remember the date, where in contrast, the little details like the setlists or other experiences can be vivid as hell.

[Andrew G. Doe]

If it was indeed a humid summer night and they wore white suits, then it had to be 1968. Fact.

Just because she's a respected author doesn't mean her memory can't be faulty. Carol Kaye is a respected musician. 

[bossaroo]

He looked my roommate Sue up and down, grinning as she blushed and fiddled with her hair.

Mike Love waited.
 

some things never change, regardless of what year it may have been.

[Craig Boyd]

Those girls in the gift suite at the Grammys were like putty in Mike's hand gestures! "And you know Paul came down with his guitar and I said to him, hey Paul you know what would be cool..." 

[Eric Aniversario]

This issue was before the internet was a major presence, before a list of concert dates was a click away, and before such information was an instant find. I'm thinking of all the times I try to remember concerts I have seen and realize I'm a few years off when trying to remember the date, where in contrast, the little details like the setlists or other experiences can be vivid as hell.

Having managed the BB Setlist Archive for 14 years now, I've received hundreds of e-mails from fans around the world, many of whom get their memories of different shows mixed up, get dates and years wrong, venues, etc.  Many of them are absolutely sure about certain details, only to be proved wrong later by undeniable evidence.  No one is immune to getting details wrong.  I started the archive in 1998, but I did go to a show in 1993 or 94 at Jack Murphy Stadium...I wrote what I thought was the setlist down after the show, only to be proved almost completely wrong by a recording of the same show that I later heard.  (The corrected setlist is now on the archive.)

[MBE]

For instance I know I saw an unplugged show in Chicago in October 1993 a full month before any other boxset shows are documented so you never know what was completely done.

[Ron]

You guys get different things out of this than I do.  What struck me the most was how a fish escaped from Mike's Jaws at just the last second, lol.  We might have another Ex Wife running around if this had turned out a little different. 

[Ron]

This issue was before the internet was a major presence, before a list of concert dates was a click away, and before such information was an instant find. I'm thinking of all the times I try to remember concerts I have seen and realize I'm a few years off when trying to remember the date, where in contrast, the little details like the setlists or other experiences can be vivid as hell.

Having managed the BB Setlist Archive for 14 years now, I've received hundreds of e-mails from fans around the world, many of whom get their memories of different shows mixed up, get dates and years wrong, venues, etc.  Many of them are absolutely sure about certain details, only to be proved wrong later by undeniable evidence.  No one is immune to getting details wrong.  I started the archive in 1998, but I did go to a show in 1993 or 94 at Jack Murphy Stadium...I wrote what I thought was the setlist down after the show, only to be proved almost completely wrong by a recording of the same show that I later heard.  (The corrected setlist is now on the archive.)

I'll just say: I've been to probably 100 concerts.  I couldn't tell you the year of many, many, many of them.  And I don't do drugs or drink; so I was completely sober at all of them.  I just don't remember the dates, or even the years.  I'm sure many people are the same.