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Author Topic: Beach Boys - Glen Oak Park Amphitheatre, Peoria, IL 8/9/1976  (Read 31470 times)
Steve Latshaw
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« on: December 23, 2014, 09:54:48 AM »

My first Beach Boys show... opening act was supposed to be Billy Joel but he left the tour.  Then, The Bellamy Brothers ("Let You Love Flow" was on the charts) but they were, apparently, in a car accident.  So, opening was a local act, the Watermelon Rhythm Band.

It was, essentially, the greatest Beach Boys summer for me.  We had the gas crisis (even though I could fill up the family 1970 Kingswood Estate Station Wagon for 20 bucks a tank), Saturday Night Live kicked into high gear with an NBC TV Special about The Beach Boys and Jimmy Carter had started to run for President.  At the time the Beach Boys had been at it for 15 years and some of us said they looked it.  But the girls still liked Dennis, Mike was funny and cool, Al was mellow and cool, Carl was just so cool and, gee, Brian was back.  It was comeback time for the band; we’d worn out our 8 tracks of those eternal Endless Summer and Spirit of America albums just in time for 15 BIG ONES.  So me and my buddies Doug Workman and Dave Garriott each bought copies of that album and I made a cassette tape and we cruised up the highway from Decatur to Peoria, llinois in Dave’s convertible 1968 Camaro, singing along to the Boys new radio hits…“It’s OK”… Chuck Berry’s “Rock & Roll Music”… and a couple of great sing-alongs called “Back Home” and “Palisades Park.”  Eventually, we got there, still singing along to that new album… and when we turned it off, more Beach Boys hits blasted through the AM radio courtesy of the Big 89… WLS… from Chicago…”Surfin’ USA”… “Fun Fun Fun”… Help Me Rhonda”… and Dave’s favorite, “Do It Again.”

Sometime in the early evening, as the free-spirit warmth of that 1970s sun began to set, the Beach Boys took the stage.  Backed by a band equal to any on the road those days, they exploded through a two hour set of their biggest and their newest hits.  Carl, Dennis, Al and Mike were on stage.  No Brian.  They opened with California Girls, Darlin' and Susie Cincinnati. Classics like God Only Knows, Little Deuce Coupe and Catch A Wave mixed with new tracks like A Casual Look and Palisades Park.  Al sang Back Home, instead of Brian.   

Mike and Dennis seemed to be rivals for front man status.  Dennis won the joke battle... Mike was doing Johnny Carson-like quips but Dennis was just a cool guy on stage, in with us on the joke.  He was like one of us, the way he related to the audience; he just happened to be on stage.  At one point he waved a champagne bottle.

For the climax,  Dennis came out from the drums, in front, pushing the crowd into a rock and roll frenzy with Mike by his side, both of them stalking the stage, whipping us young punks into near hysteria. and suddenly the dam breaks.  The Beach Boys’ home stretch… the BIGGEST hits, one after another… all of us standing, cheering, shouting, singing as the hits keep coming… Mike a whirling dervish out front like a manic Mick Jagger… Dennis beating the hell out of his drum kit like an angry Phil Spector record come to life, Carl and Al’s driving, churning surf guitars charging through the song and ripping through the speakers… Help Me Rhonda… Wouldn’t It Ne Nice…I Get Around… Good Vibrations… Surfin USA…  a pause for the girls, for You Are So Beautiful... then Dennis says,  "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Beach Boys..." and goes back to the drum kit.  Barbara Ann… Rock & Roll Music… Fun Fun Fun…

And then it was all over.  Dave and Doug and I looked at each other in that sweltering 1976 summer night, sweat cooling thanks to a midnight Peoria wind and all we could talk about were the Beach Boys.  And California.  Definitely California.  We were all gonna move to Los Angeles… the summer after graduation.  We’d live out there and hang with the Beach Boys.

Great memories.
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Steve Latshaw
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« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2014, 12:33:53 PM »

I found this "15 Big Ones Tour" set list from setlist.fm - pretty close to what I remember that night

California Girls
Susie Cincinnati
Palisades Park
Little Deuce Coupe
Catch A Wave
Darlin
God Only Knows
It's OK
A Casual Look
Sail On Sailor
Surfer Girl
California Saga: California
Heroes & Villains
I Get Around
Be True to Your School
In My Room
Help Me Rhonda
Back Home
Sloop John B
Surfin USA
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Good Vibrations
You Are So Beautiful
Barbara Ann
Rock & Roll Music
Fun Fun Fun
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Mr. Wilson
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« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2015, 08:21:07 PM »

nice review.. I saw BB July 3rd 1976 Anaheim stadium and the set list looks a lot like what I saw and heard.. Except BW was there.. And there was over 50,000  people there ..! Quite a summer for a BB fan to experience.. Those were the days ..!! A favorite of mine was Palisades Park and they sure rocked the place with that one.!
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Mikie
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« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2015, 08:39:04 PM »

I saw The Beach Boys on July 2, 1976 at the Oakland Coliseum (Day On The Green #5). First time Brian Wilson was on stage with the band since April, 1973 and about a month after I met him.
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I, I love the colorful clothes she wears, and she's already working on my brain. I only looked in her eyes, but I picked up something I just can't explain. I, I bet I know what she’s like, and I can feel how right she’d be for me. It’s weird how she comes in so strong, and I wonder what she’s picking up from me. I hope it’s good, good, good, good vibrations, yeah!!
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« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2015, 10:12:22 PM »

Nice memories. Thanks for sharing, Steve
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« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2015, 11:57:03 PM »

Fun reading, we need a time machine!
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« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2015, 12:41:56 PM »

Always cool to read first-hand reviews from back in the days. Thank you!
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a diseased bunch of mo'fos if there ever was one… their beauty is so awesome that listening to them at their best is like being in some vast dream cathedral decorated with a thousand gleaming American pop culture icons.

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To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public.

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« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2015, 01:05:50 PM »

I love reading informative reviews of this particular period of Beach Boys history. Thanks for post.
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