Beach Boys in Sydney

It has been a very rainy few days in Sydney, the constant rain from a sprinkle to a solid downpour has not let up for long at all over the last little while. Im not complaining, I love the rain, and we need it!

I was at a wedding today, and owing to the rain, it cancelled many plans and altered the flow of the day, changed for the better I believe. It was a very simple but elegant wedding.

I left the wedding and then went to the Sydney Opera House as an invited guest to see the Beach Boys Live in Concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The Beach Boys I saw was not with the legendary and the late Carl and Dennis Wilson, and no reference was made to the creative genius of Brian Wilson, who wrote most of the hits from the Beach Boys.

It was explained to me by Glenn A. Baker rock guru of Australia and the western world, that whilst blood is certainly thicker than water, it can also congeal, and there is no love or interest left between Mike Love and the surviving Brian Wilson.

Which is why we have three bands touring the world singing the Beach Boys songs, one with Brian Wilson the creative genius and also Al Jardine and his sons, and Mike Love, cousin to the Wilson's, and Bruce Johnston both who were forming members of the band. It is the latter whom I saw last evening. Bruce was the man who received a grammy award for writing Barry Manilow's biggest multi-platinum selling hit, I write the songs. He also wrote Kokomo, Disney Girls from Surfs up and a number of other songs. The songs that reached into the collective memories of the audience caused many people to stand, dance and sing along to the music that typified their generation.

It was a great concert. I think what I enjoyed the most was, relaxing from a muggy, wet day photographing a wedding and carrying my big heavy cameras around with me, to just sitting, humming and relaxing to the music that touched the world. But as you can see, I just took a pocket camera in with me and I always have to have a camera with me to capture some of the little moments and memories. They played all the big hits and a few less known ones, but it was a wonderful journey and to see the crowd often rise to their feet and dance was inspiring. Certainly the people I saw were older, some looked like they just came from the office and others whom I know are demure and normal people shook off the maturity and decorum that now envelopes them and transp[orted them to a different era and time. It was wonderful to watch. I cannot go any further without expressing how wonderful the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was. They nail it every time, and the dimension it added to these classic songs left you with the impression that, that is how it should have been recorded all along!

It kind of made me feel there are so many things which shape us and create the people we are, and looking at my fellow audience members, could not help but wonder if what they became is really what they wanted. It seemed in those few hours they became again the people their hearts wanted most to be, and perhaps once were.

They sang my favourites from Pet Sounds and my absolute favourite You Still Believe in Me. I loved it and am grateful for the opportunity. Car parking and wet road accidents on the way home that I observed were the only thing that tarnished the day. It was a great day.

I am including some You Tube footage that annacathryn filmed in one of the boxes and made a snippet of most of the songs on a previous night to give you a "feel" for what it was like. I am also including my favourite Beach boy songs Don't Worry Baby, You Still Believe in Me and Surfer Girl.