The Beach Boys to test our surf in Tel Aviv

Despite the turmoil surrounding the band, the goodtime music will still likely prevail when they take the stage on November 29.

By DAVID BRINN
The Beach Boys (photo credit: PR)
The Beach Boys
(photo credit: PR)
Summer will have long faded, but fabled American rock legends The Beach Boys will be making their Israel debut on November 29 at Tel Aviv's Nokia Arena.
 
Along with The Beatles, the California creators of hits like "Surfin' USA"  "California Girls" "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations" helped to create a soundtrack for the 1960s as the decade careened from care-free hot rod fun to Summer of Love psychedelia.
The founding Wilson brothers – Brian, Carl and Dennis – along with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, combined five-part choirboy harmonies, Chuck Berry riffs and a sunny California persona to capture the imagination and ears of music listeners.
Spurred by the expansive experimentation of The Beatles in the mid-1960s, Brian Wilson created The Beach Boys' masterpiece – Pet Sounds – in 1966. But following his well-documented mental health issues exacerbated by drug use, the band descended intro golden oldie status by the mid-1970s.
The only original member of the band coming to Israel will be Love, the vocalist of some of the band's biggest hits, aided by Bruce Johnston, who joined the band in the mid-'60s as a touring replacement for the ailing Wilson.
Love and Wilson licensed the name The Beach Boys in 1998 following the death of Carl Wilson to cancer in 1998, which was preceded by the drowning death of Dennis Wilson in 1983. For many years, there was fierce animosity between the  surviving Wilson – who recovered in part from his illnesses and has sporadically released new material -  and his cousin Love. However, in 2012 on the occasion of the band’s 50th anniversary, all of the living founding members reunited for an international tour and a well-received album called That’s Why God Made The Radio.  The harmony didn't last, as following the tour, Love decided to go back to the pre-reunion lineup of the band and ended his involvement with Wilson and Jardine.  
Love and Johnston will lead an aggregate of support musicians to Tel Aviv, including Jeff Foskett, who defected as Wilson's band leader to join the mothership.
Despite the turmoil surrounding the band, the goodtime music will still likely prevail when they take the stage on November 29. But whether it's really The Beach Boys without any of the Wilson brothers is up to the audience to decide.
Tickets which begin at NIS 390 are available through www.leaan.co.il or *8780