To fulfil our dream of almost our lifetimes, on Monday 28 May we boarded a shuttle bus to LAX airport where we met the shuttle bus to Santa Barbara. It was a very pleasant journey of about two hours. We were luckily able to check into our hotel room early and had time to catch an electric trolly car up the main street and have some lunch at a terrific place called "Joe's" which had booths for eating and a long bar if you are just there for a drink.
We shared some delicious shrimp/prawns and Russ had a huge plate of pasta, then it was back to change and get a taxi to the Santa Barbara Bowl.
The Bowl is a spectacular place. An outdoor amphitheatre which holds around 4,000 people. The stage is surrounded with stone and the whole place blends in perfecty with the surroundings.
We lined up to collect our special package goodies, which included our access passes (how cool do you feel wearing one of those!!!) plus tote bags, special edition t-shirts, posters and lots of other bits and pieces. We were then loaded on buses and taken (up a VERY steep hill) to the seating area where we were sllowed to watch the sound check. While lining up waiting to go in to sit down I could hear Brian singing one of his songs .... talk about excitement!!!
There were probably about 100 of us and we sat and listened as they rehearsed three songs which they performed later. Then they mucked around a bit and sang us a couple of their new songs and some oldies which were not included on the playlist for that night. As they left the stage we were ushered around the back of the stage and before I knew it I was MEETING AND TALKING TO the Beach Boys. I spoke to Mike Love and Brian briefly and then had a conversation with Al Jardine and Bruce Johnson about their upcoming tour to Australia. It went so quickly and at the same time the moment seemed frozen in time. Russ was rapt to actually shake hands with all of the boys, especially Brian Wilson. A moment we will NEVER forget. We had a photo taken, which will be available on line in a week or two. Cannot wait to see it!!!
After that excitement, we had a chance to grab some food and then made our way to our seats in the third row for the concert. We had the opportunity to the some more photos in front of the stage and before we knew it the concert started.
Russ has a full playlist of the concert which I will not bore you all by reproducing there. Suffice to say they played everything we wanted to hear and more. Because this tour is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band starting, they played songs from all eras including a couple from their soon to be released new cd 'That's Why God Made The Radio'. Some really beautiful harmonies reflective of the early days. I was so glad I'd bought a new camera in Hawaii as I was able to take ome great photos as well as film my three favorite songs. I think I have watched those three clips 10 times already. The sound may not be perfect (we were sitting a bit of close to the speakers I think) but the memories are irreplaceable.
It has been 20 years since Brian Wilson has played with the other original Beach Boys. They're doing a huge world tour to celebrate their 50 years but after that I am not sure if we will ever see them together again. It was a historic and totally memorable event for both Russ and I. Something we will always treasure.
On a total high, we returned to our hotel for the night and next morning caught the bus back to Hollywood. The most amazing couple of days ever!!
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