By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
“Wouldn’t it be nice” to go down to “Kokomo” and visit “Little Saint Nick” this Christmas?
Grammy award-winning and Rock & Roll Hall Fame band, The Beach Boys, will be in Oxford later this month to take us on that wishful journey.
The 2021 Beach Boys Holiday Harmonies tour will stop in Oxford on Dec. 11 at the Gertrude Ford Center for the Performing Arts.
The 2021 holiday tour will feature a mix of holiday classics from the band’s Christmas album as well as songs from The Beach Boys co-founder and lead singer Mike Love’s holiday album, “Reason for the Season.”
“It’s a boogie-woogie reminder that Christmas isn’t just about gifts and Christmas trees but about the birth of Jesus Christ,” Love told Hotty Toddy News Monday in a phone interview.
The Beach Boys will also perform a few songs from their recently released compilation album and box set honoring the 50th anniversary of the band’s success, and from the Beach Boys Christmas Album.
“People come to see you perform the songs they know,” Love said. “We’ll primarily do our top songs – our surfing songs, our car songs, all the Top 40 hits people know. But in addition, we’ll do a few holiday songs.”
The Beach Boys are led by Love, along with longtime member Bruce Johnston, musical director Scott Totten, Brian Eichenberger, Christian Love, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill, Keith Hubacher and Randy Leago.
Click here to purchase tickets to The Beach Boys Holiday Harmonies Show
Since Love penned the lyrics to The Beach Boys’ first hit, “Surfin’” (1961), dozens of the bands chart-toppers have become eternal anthems of American youth: “Surfin’ USA,” “Surfer Girl,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “California Girls,” “Help Me Rhonda,” “Barbara Ann,” “Good Vibrations,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Rock and Roll Music” and “Kokomo.”
When asked if Love has a favorite Beach Boys song, he said there were “too many great ones” to choose from.
“But California Girls is up there,” he said with a chuckle.
Love is one of the original members of the band that formed in 1961. The group’s original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, friend Al Jardine, and Love, who is the Wilson brothers’ first cousin.
He said he grew up surrounded by a musical family, including his mother.
“She was fanatical about music,” Love said. “She would wake us up in the mornings for school by playing opera. That sure got you out of the house quickly.”
The Beach Boys have sold over 100 million records worldwide and have received more than 33 RIAA Platinum and Gold record awards.
The Rock And Roll Hall of Famers were also honored at the 2001 Grammy Awards with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
This concert will not feature Brian Wilson, Al Jardine or David Marks.
Tickets are on sale now at the Ford Center.
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