The Beach Boys have performed more than 5,000 concerts in the 54 years since the band formed in California in 1961, but they played in Ocean City for the first time on Monday night.
The Beach Boys performed two shows on the Ocean City Music Pier — as summer crowds strolled the boardwalk nearby and Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguards finished off an after-hours shift on the adjacent beaches.
“It’s the perfect venue for a Beach Boys concert,” said Kathy Neff of Upper Deerfield Township, who attended with her daughter, Jessie Deopp of Mullica Hill.
Deopp recently gave birth to her first child this was her first chance to get away and enjoy a “girls’ night.”
They were entering the 8:30 p.m. show as crowds were exiting the 6 p.m. show.
Both shows were sold out, and the audiences covered the generations with the Beach Boys holding universal appeal with their timeless songs about sun, fun, surf and girls. Much of the crowd of all ages arrived by bicycle.
Attendees of the first concert said the uninterrupted show lasted about an hour and 40 minutes with the band running through a catalog of Beach Boys hits, as well as some doo-wop numbers and a tribute song to George Harrison. The band played to a backdrop of a multimedia presentation showing historical beach and band images.
The band featured Mike Love, the 74-year-old original member who owns rights to tour under the Beach Boys’ name. It also featured Bruce Johnston, who has been a part of the Beach Boys for most the band’s existence.
A stand-in band including Scott Totten and Jeffrey Foskett help bring energy and fresh vocals to the tour.
First-show attendees reported the crowd sitting politely — for the first couple songs. But as the Beach Boys warmed up, so did the crowd, with much of the audience standing an dancing for much of the show.
The Beach boys will perform two more sold-out concerts on Tuesday evening.
