More on The Beach Boys and Upcoming Concert Possibilities in San Angelo

By now, just about everyone in San Angelo and the surrounding areas has heard that the internationally known Rock icons The Beach Boys are coming to town Wednesday, August 24. Stan West, promoter for Creative Eventz in Abilene Texas said although he's a photographer by trade, he loves music so he does a lot of promoting, and he "handles all The Beach Boys scheduling for West Texas."

"The Beach Boys have a tremendous draw; they're timeless," said West. "Normally, they play about a 60 to 75 minute set, take a 20 minute break, and come back and play another set. Sometimes, they'll play up to 3 hours of straight music cause they were having so much fun."

West added, "The last time they were in Abilene, the average age ticketed person was 61 years old, and over 50 percent of them had never been to a concert, or else haven't been in 30 to 40 years. I mean you get 7-year-old kids in there, [and] up to 85-year-old people at these concerts. The band feeds off the energy, excitement and enthusiasm of the crowd, which is what keeps the group motivated." 

West said The Beach Boys usually play about 150 shows a year, so they are really busy.

"They'll start that week of the tour in Corpus Christi on a Tuesday night, drive up to San Angelo for Wednesday, then off to Midland/Odessa for their Thursday show," noted West. 

The promoter added that he has learned there's no competing with Friday night football in West Texas.

"We don't book them for Friday night anywhere except maybe El Paso, where there's over a million people and enough of a draw to fill up an auditorium on that night," West stated. 

Therefore, after the Thursday show, the band will play Amarillo on Saturday August 27.  

"It works out for these guys though, as 13 of them live on a bus, go from town to town, and have been doing it for 50+ years--at least Mike and Bruce have," West noted.

He said Dennis died in 1983, and Carl died in 1998. They were two of the original members of The Beach Boys.

As for the group now, they are led by founding Beach Boy Mike Love (lead vocals) and Beach Boy-vet Bruce Johnston (vocals/keyboards). Along with Jeffrey Foskett (guitar/vocals), Brian Eichenburger (bass/vocals), Tim Bonhomme (keyboards/vocals), John Cowsill (percussion /vocals), and Scott Totten (guitar/vocals); they continue the legacy of the iconic American band, and have been together since 1998.

Their shows range from sun-drenched summer festivals to gala New Year’s celebrations and special events worldwide. They are Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees; have sold over l00 million albums; and they won the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. They were center-stage at Live Aid, multiple Farm Aids, the Statue of Liberty’s 100th Anniversary Salute, the Super Bowl, and they even played the White House. On one day alone, July 4, 1985, they played to nearly two million fans at shows in Philadelphia and Washington, D. C.

Adding to their accomplishments, the band appeared on countless worldwide TV shows throughout the years including: The Ed Sullivan Show, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and The Tonight Show. Other television appearances include performances on Don Imus’ MSNBC show Imus In The Morning, TNT’s NBA All-Star Game, NBC’s Macy’s Day Parade, The Today Show, PBS’ A Capitol Fourth, Good Morning America, Weekend Today and The O’Reilly Factor.  

Yes, they "get around." 

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West said, "If San Angelo responds well to the Beach Boys then that will open the door for a lot of other concerts. San Angelo is a premium market, but has been down for a number of years with not a lot of activity concert wise."

He attributes this to San Angelo not being located on a major interstate. Thus, cities like San Angelo get forgotten often times when bands are going from point a to point b. They tend to pick and choose the cities they play a lot of times for convenience. Also, West said the city is rather conservative and frugal in demographics, so ticket prices and individual tastes have to be factored in. 

"If this show fares well, we can kind of 'sister' Abilene and San Angelo together when the shows come through," said West. "The San Angelo city people have been fantastic to work with here, and with only 85 miles between the two towns, it will benefit both if a band would play one and then the other the next night."

The Beach Boys have been to Lubbock, Amarillo and Abilene, but never to San Angelo.

"Sometimes, people don't realize the costs for bringing in professional sound and lighting engineers, the cost of the venue, advertising and ticket costs, as well as various other expenses," West explained. "Before I even sell one ticket to a concert, I can be out $125,000 as the band has to be paid up front as well. This is why we prefer to hit the bigger coliseums as we can afford to have less expensive tickets."

Timing is another factor. West noted that he had a couple of other well-known bands coming this direction in the spring, but because of the rodeo and every place reserved or covered in dirt, they had to pass.  

"It's the same way in Abilene with the Taylor County Expo Center," said West. "They are booked 80 percent of the time with agricultural events, so we are looking into building a venue strictly for concerts."

West said he really has high hopes for West Texas, and some of the bands he is looking into bringing to our area include Chicago, The Temptations, The Spinners, Lynard Skynard, Foreigner, Boston, Al Green, The Four Tops, Frankie Valley and The Four Seasons, Earth, Wind and Fire, Ted Nugent, Huey Lewis and the News, and even the legendary Carlos Santana--mostly artists from the 60s and 70s. 

West said they looked at the RiverStage and other places in San Angelo, but the coliseum was by far the best choice.  

"The way I see it, music sticks to the soul," he said. "I love what I do, and am very passionate about it; it seems to bring a community together."

West said he had a $199 VIP package for The Beach Boys. "It's front stage center, meet and greet, t-shirt and lanyard, etc, where only 40 were available and sold out in the first 30 minutes," he stated.

West also stressed limited ticket sales are to protect the consumer from scalpers buying up large numbers of tickets and then charging them hundreds of dollars more.

The Beach Boys - National Memorial Day Concert 2016

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On The Beach Boys’ near horizon is another national/world tour and continued charitable activities through Mike Love’s "Love Foundation," which supports national environmental and educational initiatives. Love and The Beach Boys’ recent efforts have raised over a quarter of a million dollars for the Red Cross to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. They have also made additional contributions to the disaster relief in Haiti.

Pre-sale tickets went on sale Thursday, June 30, at 10 a.m., and by Friday afternoon, West said, "We've had a lot of good traction the first three days of making the announcement. The phone has been ringing off the wall at the ticket agency with over 800 calls documented and 1,300 tickets sold." 

Through July 4, tickets can be purchased online by using the presale passcode “LOVE.” The 'public on sale date' is July 5, and physical tickets can be purchased at the following locations: McNease Convention Center Box Office, Blair's Western Wear, Barbed Wire & Roses and Pinkies. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $29, $39, $59, and $99. They can be purchased online at www.stubwire.com.