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| Al Jardine on stage at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, February 13, 2019. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor) |
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| My signed copy of Al Jardine's 2010 album A Postcard from California. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor) |
Tonight I saw a great concert: Al Jardine, one of the
founding members of the Beach Boys, performed at the Dakota Jazz Club in
Minneapolis. Jardine’s show is titled “A Postcard from California,” after his
2010 solo album, and in it he sings songs and shares stories from his
remarkable career. The Beach Boys have been one of my favorite groups since I
was a little kid. One of my favorite childhood memories is seeing the Beach
Boys at the Minnesota State Fair sometime in the late 1980’s-early 1990’s. I
still love their music, and it touches an emotional chord in me.
Jardine started the show by playing standup bass and singing
the Beach Boys’ very first song, “Surfin’”. I didn’t realize that he was the
group’s first bassist, and it was only when he left the group for about a year,
from 1962-3, that Brian Wilson started playing the bass. Jardine was backed by
his son Matt Jardine on percussion and vocals, and Jeff Alan Ross on keyboards
and guitar. Matt handled the falsetto vocals, and did a tremendous job,
especially on “God Only Knows” and “Surf’s Up.” I’ve seen Jeff Alan Ross
before, as he has also played a similar role in Peter Asher’s live
retrospective shows. It was pretty amazing that three guys were able to do such
an excellent job recreating the Beach Boys’ sound live.
The whole concert was just so joyful—it’s very clear that Al Jardine
is having a great time singing these songs. His voice sounds great, and he did
a great job singing a lot of songs that he didn’t originally have the lead
vocal on. Jardine’s most famous lead vocal with the Beach Boys is “Help Me,
Rhonda,” which was the last song of the evening. Jardine sang several of the
group’s most famous songs, like “Surfer Girl,” “Don’t Worry, Baby,” “California
Girls,” and “Good Vibrations.” He also shared the story of how he brought the
folk song “Sloop John B” to Brian Wilson’s attention, and how the song was
re-arranged to fit the Beach Boys’ style. Jardine brought out a rarity as well,
in the form of the song “Vegetables,” one version of which featured Paul McCartney
eating carrots. The excellent harmony that the Jardines and Ross brought to the
song made it an unusual highlight of the concert.
“A Postcard from California” has a loose, easygoing feel, it’s
like “The Beach Boys: Unplugged.” Hearing these iconic songs in such an
intimate venue, and in more stripped down arrangements, just reinforced my belief
that the beauty and the power of these songs remains undimmed, even more than
fifty years after they were first written.
After the show, Al came out to sign autographs and chat with
fans. He seems like a really nice guy, warm and outgoing and quite funny. For
me, it was really awesome to meet a Beach Boy. If you’re a fan of the Beach
Boys, check out Al’s show if you get the chance, it’s very special.
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