THE BEACHED BOYS

GIG: The Beached Boys
DATE: April 10th 2009
VENUE: Tropic at Ruislip, Ruislip Social Club, Grosvenor Vale, Ruislip, Middx
COST: £8 advance ticket
RATING: Fun, Fun, Fun and lots of Good Vibrations



The Beached Boys (http://beachedboys.com/) are in our opinion probably the best Beach Boys tribute band around and we have seen them on many occasions. With this gig being on Good Friday, and therefore a day off work, it gave us the opportunity to meet up with some old friends earlier in the evening and have dinner before the gig. Having filled up on pasta and pizza from the local Pizza Express, our 6 strong group headed off on the short walk from Ruislip High Street, to the social club in Grosvenor Vale, picking up 2 other friends on the way.

It was almost 9 o’clock when we presented ourselves at the door. Luckily we had printed the email from the club confirming our advance reservation of tickets as our names had been omitted from the “advance” listing. The club was quite full and we grabbed some chairs from the side, got a drink from the bar and mingled with some of the other people in the room we knew… not just the band and their WAGS (sorry girls, couldn’t resist that one!) but sitting in the audience was a tall man dressed in black, a baseball cap on his head….. it was David Marks, “The Lost Beach Boy”. David was just a teenager when he joined Brian, Carl & Dennis Wilson and Mike Love to form The Southern California band, The Beach Boys. Somewhere down the line, his contribution to the band (he was a Beach Boy during the time the band recorded and released their first 4 albums) had effectively been blurred from the bands’ history. That was set right recently with a book called “The Lost Beach Boy” and he has played once again under The Beach Boys name with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston.

Also in the audience was Charlotte Cooper, a young singer who has been recording a debut album, with David Marks among many other famous names supporting her venture. Charlotte was due to join the band on stage and sing a couple of songs, and David, on holiday in the UK and staying with Charlotte’s family had come along to watch her perform.

The band, dressed in bright Hawaii style shirts and white trousers took to the stage. What we like about this tribute band is that they do not stick just to the classic hits. Of course the classics such as “California Girls”, “I Get Around”, and “Fun Fun Fun” are included, but their set list also includes more obscure, lesser known Beach Boys songs, including album tracks and even some Beatles covers, and this set list was no exception. It included, a Party! Medley of “Mountain Of Love” and “Tell Me Why” and also “Little Honda”, “Breakaway”, “Bluebirds over the Mountain”, “Aren’t You Glad” and after hushing the audience, a wonderful “And Your Dream Comes True”.

After a short interval, the second half started with a change of wardrobe, the Hawaii shirts replaced with the Beach Boys’ early style shirts of blue & white stripes. The band kicked off with a lovely a cappella version of “Heroes & Villains” which was very warmly received by the audience. Charlotte Cooper was introduced to the audience and she performed, “Devoted To You” and “Don’t Worry Baby”.

Then the members of the audience got a real treat, as David Marks was invited up on stage to join the band for a volley of classic early hits, “Surfin’”, “Surfin’ Safari”, “409”, “Little Deuce Coupe” and “Surfin’ USA”. The audience loved it.
How could the band follow that? Well, follow it they did with more hits such as “Do It Again”, “Help Me Rhonda”, “Good Vibrations” and “Barbara Ann” included. At the back of the room, where there was a bit of space, some people danced and jived along.
At the request of one member of the audience, the band played “God Only Knows” and then rounded off the night with an energetic “Do You Wanna Dance”.

So, overall, a thrilling night for Beach Boys’ fans, not only almost 3 hours of Beach Boys music, delivered by a top set of musicians who you can tell really enjoy themselves on stage, but a truly bone fide original Beach Boy on stage with them!

Now, if our arithmetic is right, then what happened at this gig makes as many original Beach Boys playing last night as there are in the Beach Boys touring band today!

And this morning on the Tropic at Ruislip website http://www.tropicatruislip.co.uk/ this was posted for everyone who was there – love it.

AN APOLOGY

We must apologise to all those that were disappointed with The Beached Boys on 10th April.
We are very sorry that you handed over your hard earned cash under the pretext of seeing a Beach Boys tribute band ended up having to see an original member of The Beach Boys (David Marks) playing on stage with the band. We are assured that he will be returning to America very soon and will try to make sure this happens again.