Last year Laurie and I saw the Beach Boys at Bold Point in East Providence. It was, for both of us, our favorite memory from the summer of 2017. Their tour schedule did not include Bold Point this year, but it did include a couple of local venues within a reasonable drive. I had so much fun last year, I asked for Beach Boys tickets for my birthday present. Luckily for me, my wishes were fulfilled and on my birthday I opened an envelope with Beach Boys tickets for Aug 8 at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset.
The South Shore Music Circus (or SSMC from here on out) is a small venue, as I said, in Cohasset. The reason it is called a "circus" is because the venue is a giant tent or "big top" like in a circus. There are nine sections. Each has about 20 rows. The worst seats in the house are only 20 rows from the stage! The stage spins very slowly. That way, no matter where you sit, every audience member will have the group in front of them an equal amount of time. I am not sure the range of ticket prices since I did not but the tickets. I'm pretty sure there are three price levels roughly 45, 67, 89. Laurie got us tickets in the second price level. We were EIGHT rows from the stage and because she got the seats early, she secured us end seats.
We were plenty close enough to the stage where we could easily look into the eyes of the group. I'm pretty sure I made contact with Mike Love once and Bruce Johnston at least once. It would have been much easier to have made eye contact to Mike if I was female. If you were dancing, within the first ten rows, and female he was sure to make eye contact and wave to you in appreciation. Mike also high fived and shook hands with fans in the front row. For guys that have been doing the same job for fifty years, they seemed to be having fun and enjoying the audience.
As you would expect, a Beach Boys concert is fun. They played all of their hits and had the audience standing and dancing most of the night. Tough to pick just one highlight of the Beach Boys concert because they have so many great songs. However, Good Vibrations with its psychedelic instruments would probably be it. After "Good Vibrations" they still had a few more hits including Kokomo.
All in all, it was an awesome night. The Beach Boys played for an hour, took a 30 minute intermission, and played again for another 55 minutes. When you consider that most oldies are only around two and a half to three minutes, that is a lot of songs. Mike Love(who has a reputation of being a dick. He sued his cousin Brian Wilson twice) was funny and very interactive with the crowd. Bruce Johnston kept waving his arms in the air to get people on their feet. The music, amazingly, sounds great. Mike Love is 77 years old and Bruce Johnston is 76. They both were dancing around the stage. When they were making their way to the stage Bruce was lagging behind and he JOGGED to catch up.
The SSMC is off of Route 3A in Cohasset. For us it was a little over an hour drive. Parking is free and it is "church style". The cars are parked bumper to bumper. You can't leave your row until the car in front of you leaves. To my astonishment, the parking lot was cleared in fifteen minutes! Food and beverage prices were reasonable for a venue. Beer was between $8-9 depending on the brand. Soda was four dollars. A slice of pizza was $3.75. Ice cream is four dollars. They had other food options but that's all I remember. Like I said, there are only 20 rows and the stage goes in a circle. There are two poles holding up the big top that can obstruct your view (you can see them if you look at the seating chart). The view is only partially obstructed if you are behind the poles because of the rotating stage. Basically, it is a great place to see a concert.
The Beach Boys will be in our area for a few more days. I highly recommend checking them out. How many more years will these national treasures be touring?
Aug 9, 10 Hampton Beach Casino
Aug 11, Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis (two shows)
Aug 12 Indian Ranch, Webster, MA
Aug 15 Ridgefield, CT
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| Bruce Johnston |
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