Beach Boys bring ‘Good Vibrations’ back to Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Aug. 18
From a press release:
It was announced today that legendary California surf rock band The Beach Boys will return to Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Friday, Aug. 18 at 8 p.m.
Tickets, which are $47 for regular seating or $52 for premium seating, go on sale this Friday, March 3 at 10 a.m. and will be available at ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets, the Penn’s Peak box office (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe), and Roadies Restaurant and Bar (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe). Penn’s Peak box office and Roadies Restaurant ticket sales are walk-up only; no phone orders.
You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. To be sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the 10s of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act since has been in its debt.
Happily for us all, The Beach Boys continue to create and perform with the same bold imagination and style that marked their explosive debut over 50 years ago. They found through their music the key to unfading youth – and they made copies for everyone. To these guys, the beach isn’t just a place where the surf comes to play – it’s where life is renewed and made whole again.
Captained by Mike Love, The Beach Boys play an astoundingly busy schedule of concerts, averaging 150 shows a year, ranging from sundrenched summer festivals to gala New Year’s celebrations and special events worldwide. In 1974, Mike Love’s concept album “Endless Summer” ignited a second generation of Beach Boys fans and stirred a tempest that rocked the music world.
Grammy-winning songwriter Bruce Johnston (Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs”) joined The Beach Boys in 1965, replacing Glenn Campbell, who filled-in for Brian Wilson on vocals/bass when he retired from touring. Highly regarded as a singer/songwriter, Johnston’s vocal work with such legendary artists as Elton John and Pink Floyd firmly established him among rock’s elite artists.
Had this remarkable band been less committed to its art and its fans, it could have retired from the field with honor at dozens of points along the way, confident that it had made a lasting contribution to world culture. It could have rested on the success of the epoch-shifting “Pet Sounds” masterpiece in 1966… or after recording Love’s co-written Golden Globe-nominated “Kokomo” in 1988 and seeing it become its bestselling single ever… or after being inducted that same year into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame… or after watching its worldwide album sales blow past l00 million… or after winning the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 (along with The Who; Bob Marley; Tony Bennett; Sammy Davis, Jr.; and Les Paul). And still, The Beach Boys continue to have fun, fun, fun with no end in sight.
In 2012, The Beach Boys scheduled a 74 concert date limited 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour, which was scheduled as a limited run reunion tour and ended in the U.S. July 15 and internationally on Sept. 28, during which the original members reunited and released “That’s Why God Made the Radio.” The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard charts, their highest chart position in 37 years and an unprecedented milestone.
The Beach Boys are led by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston who, along with Jeffrey Foskett, Brian Eichenburger, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill, and Scott Totten, continue the legacy of the iconic American band. This tour will not feature Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, or David Marks.
Few, if any, acts can match The Beach Boys’ concert presence, spirit, and performance. They were center stage at Live Aid, multiple Farm Aids, the Statue of Liberty’s 100th Anniversary Salute, the Super Bowl, and the White House. On one day alone – July 4, 1985 – they played to nearly two million fans at shows in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Love’s role as the band’s frontman sometimes overshadows his stature as one of rock’s foremost songwriters. “Surfin’,” The Beach Boys’ first hit, came from his pen. With his cousin, Brian Wilson, Love wrote the classics “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “Help Me Rhonda,” “California Girls,” and the Grammy nominated “Good Vibrations.” Years later, he showed he still had the lyrical chops by co-writing the irresistible and chart-topping “Kokomo.”
On The Beach Boys’ near horizon is another national/world tour and continued charity activities through Mike Love’s Love Foundation, which supports national environmental and educational initiatives. The band has appeared on countless worldwide TV shows throughout the years, including “The Ed Sullivan Show,” Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” and “The Tonight Show.” Other television appearances include performances on Don Imus’ MSNBC show “Imus in the Morning,” TNT’s NBA All-Star Game, NBC’s Macy’s Day Parade, the “Today” show, PBS’ A Capitol Fourth, “Good Morning America,” “Weekend Today,” and “The O’Reilly Factor.”
Read NEPA Scene’s review of a Beach Boys concert at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York last year here.
