The Beach Boys put on a Fun, Fun, Fun performance in their first Singapore concert. -- ST PHOTO: JOHN LUI
Good Vibrations reverberated through the Singapore Indoor Stadium last night as the Beach Boys turned this patch of sand into Surfin' USA.
It was the Sixties again and I must have been all of 15 (Radio Singapore was kinda conservative) when I first heard the Beach Boys ask Do you love me, Surfer Girl? and fell in love with Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine.
Carl and Dennis left us long ago for that great band in the sky. In the mid 1960s, when Brian was trapped in his own personal downward spiral, Glen Campbell briefly filled in for him when the group toured.
But Brian, their creative genius, is back. He had to be helped up and down from the stage last night but he is definitely back. The voice was strong - not as beautiful as it was back then - but hey, the man turned 70 in June. Instead of the bass guitar he started out with, he plays keyboards now.
Wouldn't It Be Nice. And it was!
They even have a new CD out. Listen and you'll find out That's Why God Made The Radio. And remastered 2CD box of Greatest Hits: 50 Big Ones and their 12 studio albums.
But about last night. . . Surf's Up!
Oh boy, did we have Fun, Fun, Fun.
I floated home on a cloud of endorphins.
I Get Around, they sang. And finally, on their Surfin' Safari, they got around to Singapore.
Ah bliss! Help Me, Rhonda, I think I'm in love again. I didn't just want to Catch A Wave.
Do You Wanna Dance? they sang. And like all the California Girls, I just wanted to Dance, Dance, Dance.
Not only did they make us happy; I think we also made the Beach Boys very happy - to discover an audience they never knew, to find out that they have never been forgotten and that they are still so very much loved in a country that they had never dreamed of visiting before their 50th anniversary tour.
Bumped into long-time-no-see friends, ex-colleagues and schoolmates. For some, this must have been like one helluva class reunion.
Before the concert began, as I was looking for my seat, along came a rude reality check in the form of a dumbstruck ex-BF who recognised my voice. We exchanged telephone numbers - but only after I picked his jaw off the floor.
Please Let Me Wonder, he almost said. I like to think he was dumbstruck at my brand new SAF-style crop. But, um, there were other things, too. Let's just say that when he and I were dating in the 1970s, The Little Girl I Once Knew was 60 kg (or less) and my hair was maybe 10 inches off the floor.
We didn't want the Beach Boys to Shut Down. But at 11.15 pm, three hours after the Rock and Roll Music began, it was time for them to walk off stage and wonder about The Warmth Of The Sun in Singapore.
We lingered a bit as the hall emptied out, wishing that Little Honda, the Little Deuce Coupe or Sloop John B would carry them back and that they would Do It Again and All Summer Long.
Don't Worry Baby. As they took their last bows, lead singer Mike Love promised that they'd come back and sing for us anytime.
Will they be back? God Only Knows.