The 1960’s American rock band, the Beach Boys, performed at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center at 7:30 on Sept. 17. The live performance marked the university’s largest crowd so far for this year’s Summer at the Green.

The concert housed hundreds of guests including current SSU students, SSU alumni, and the general public of Rohnert Park. The event included indoor seating on all three levels of the GMC’s Weil Hall, as well as outdoor seating across the Weil Hall Lawn. 

Some specific tickets included a wine tasting event before the performance at the university’s Upper Lawn, and throughout the concert, many food and beverage areas were available for all guests.

The band performed on a colorful rainbow stage decorated with palm trees and surfboards. The performance featured a projector in the background that showcased the lyrics to the band’s songs as well as old beach themed clips that illustrated the band over the years. Another projector was used outside for the large crowd at the lawn. 

Tyler Bare, a first year Sociology student at SSU, and an avid Beach Boys fan, shared why the concert was so special for him. “ When I was younger, my grandparents would take me on vacation every summer. One year, they introduced me to the Beach Boys and I fell in love with the band. I was about seven when I first started listening, and their music has always been a part of my life since then,” he said.

“It was great seeing the band perform live, and actually seeing their faces without masks made it so memorable for me. My favorite part was watching the band perform ‘Surfin USA’, I was definitely jamming out. I loved the concert and the atmosphere. This was my first time attending an event at the GMC and I really enjoyed the experience and will definitely be coming back for future shows,” Bare continued. 

Leah Milburn, a fourth year Geography, Environment, and Planning student at SSU, also had a positive experience at the concert and shared what she enjoyed most about the event. “Lots of people in the audience were getting out of their seats and dancing, and the atmosphere was really positive. I thought it was really cool that a lot of audience members were wearing Hawaiian shirts. You could tell there were so many devoted fans watching the show,” said Milburn.  

Milburn commented on how much energy the band had up on stage, “I was surprised to see all the energy that came from the band, they definitely reflected the same energy they had when they were younger. The Beach Boys clearly made so many people happy and it was really nice and refreshing to see and be a part of.”

The band played many of their popular tracks including, “Good Vibrations”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, and “Kokomo”, as well as some newer songs like “Pisces Brothers” and This Too Shall Pass. Each band member performed their own little solo and interacted with audience members to get people up and dancing.

Katara Shipton, a fourth year Communications major, watched the concert from the Weill Hall Lawn. She explained, “One of my favorite parts about being outside was experiencing how many people were watching from the lawn. The lawn was surprisingly full and it was great that everyone was dancing, eating snacks, and just vibing together. It was really nice to see people waving their camera flashlights during the songs and I had a great time watching the performance on screen.” 

To purchase tickets for future shows and for more information about SSU’s Summer at the Green 2021, check out the GMC’s website, gmc.sonoma.edu.