Happy Friday, pals! This was a great week. As I have mentioned it is Stampede right now here in Calgary so my week has been full of fun and raucous parties involving hay bales and lots of plaid. Byron and I were really lucky on Wednesday as we got to go to two awesome concerts in one night. First we attended the Stampede Roundup at Fort Calgary which was quite the party. The line-up was full of Canadian music icons including 54-40, Matthew Good and The Tragically Hip. We hung out in the media beer gardens for most of it which was nice. Who can say no to free drinks and good company?
Then, thanks to my amazing friend Barnaby Bennett, we were put on the guest list for The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary show at the Saddledome. It is no secret to anyone who knows me personally that I love The Beach Boys or that in particular I love Dennis Wilson, the original drummer for the group. Sadly, he passed away before I was even born but that hasn’t stopped me from having a full out crush on his music and his adorable face. It is sad when amazing and talented people leave this world too soon. The remaining three original members Brian, Al and Mike backed up by some of their original session musicians and their new touring backing band put on an incredible show playing everyone’s favourites as well as some more obscure tracks I never EVER thought I would hear in person. It was incredible. One of my favourite albums, Sunflower, that I was introduced to by our friend John Miller last summer, is an album full of surprises, raw emotion and an awesome early 1970s vibe. The Beach Boys played four songs during their show from Sunflower. It was amazing. Not only that – one of the songs on the album Forever was written and sung by Dennis Wilson (popularized by Uncle Jesse on Full House in his first music video) was specially dedicated with him and they performed with his original vocal track. It was super touching and I couldn’t help but tear up as I watched the tribute video of him. You can listen to the song below. It is really sweet.
So anyways, I had a really great week and I can definitely check off seeing The Beach Boys play live on my life list. It was definitely a very special moment. Thanks again, Barnaby!
