THE BEACH BOYS
8 p.m., Robinson Center Music Hall. $30-$125.
Like
a lot of seminal pop bands from the ’60s, the Beach Boys have been
depleted by death. Two of the founding quintet, Carl and Dennis Wilson,
have passed on. But instead of parading through the upper echelons of
the nostalgia circuit, the remaining three — Al Jardine, Mike Love and
Brian Wilson — have spent much of the last several decades embroiled in
a series of lawsuits. They finally settled all disputes in 2007, and in
my interview with him last week (page 43), Mike Love talks of a
possible reunion for the band’s 50th anniversary in 2011. But for now,
Love, alone among the original members, controls the reins of the band.
Which doesn’t mean the group you hear perform with the Arkansas
Symphony Orchestra on Sunday will necessarily sound depleted. Love sang
lead on some of the band’s biggest hits: “Little Deuce Coupe,” “Surfin’
USA,” “I Get Around,” “California Girls,” and among the other current
members is Bruce Johnston, who first recorded with the band on 1965’s
“California Girls.” This show, unlike most at the symphony, is one
night only.