Yes, you’re reading that right. Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck and Beach Boy singer/songwriter Brian Wilson found common ground with Baby Boomers and beyond during a 2 ½ love and song fest. Incongruous? So were ice cream and waffles at one time, but someone put them together to form the ice cream cone!
Opening the show was Brian Wilson at the piano leading a band of at least 13 members including Al Jardine and high vocal note specialist David Marks. Opening with a joyful “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and Blondie Chaplin joining in for a bluesy “Sloop John B,” Brian and the band went back in time, but not into the “Endless Summer” of surfer girls, but into the thoughtful classic album Pet Sounds, revisiting the important and reflective concept album. Hearing Wilson use vocal harmonies on tunes such as “God Only Knows” and “Sail On, Sailor” in the context of the more gravitas and contemplative delivery by Wilson’s “That’s Not Me” and “You Still Believe In Me” gave a more complete view of the California surf sound. For every “I Get Around,” Wilson and company kept it in the context of “Here Today,” “I Know There’s an Answer” and even in the thoughtful instrumentals. Like Steely Dan’s concert of a few months ago, a rock band is looking back on their albums as a complete opus, and letting its fans take the music in as a wholistic thought pattern. Excellent concept and execution.
Next up…is it the blues? Is it jazz? Is it rock? NO…IT’S JEFF BECK! Fronting a brand new band consisting of Jonathan Joseph/dr, Rhonda Smith/b, Nicholas Miles/g and Lizzy Ball/violin, Beck hit the ground running with a mix of bluesy rock, rocking blues, and jazzy rockin’ blues as on the frenetically fret-filled “Eternity’s Breath/Stratus.” With acoustic guitar support, Beck made his guitar moan like a wrestler getting a Swedish massage on “Little Wing,’ while the mix of Spanish guitar and violin on “Yemin” had Beck taking you on a trip through mysterious lands. Smith’s thumb pounding bass work created a groove for Beck on “You Never Know” that was unrelenting while Beck took material ranging from jazz fusionJohn McLaughlin material to a dedication to swing saxist Lester Young to even a take of The Beatles “A Day In The Life” and made it all a cohesive unit of sonic tapestry. A whole new meaning to the term “70s rock”!
Everyone came back together on stage to regroup, and the vocalists created some incredibly wondrous harmonies on “Our Prayer” and “Child is Father of the Man.” Vocal sounds like this just aren’t even attempted anymore, and such is the pity. Before anyone forgot that Jeff Beck was still on stage after this moment of reflection, a gut level blues of “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” with wailing harmonies by the Wilson’s House of Swayed put an end to that. A vocal and guitar rendition of “Danny Boy” almost brought the house down, but the Summer of Surf was finally acknowledged with joyful “Barbara Ann” and “Surfin USA” takes that everyone on stage and in the packed house glad that Beck and Wilson actually do “Get 
Around.”
Next up for all you fans of the blues rock guitar-Mark Knopfler hits Long Beach and LA the 23rd and 26th.