Beach Boys unveil new single, headline Jazz Fest Friday

The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour stops at Jazz Fest

On Wednesday, The Beach Boys announced their first new single in many, many years.

Tomorrow evening at Jazz Fest, the legendary California band is set for its first major festival appearance on the second stop of the band’s lengthy 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour (the Beach Boys will also appear at Bonnaroo in June).

The tour opened with a huge 42-song show on Tuesday night in Arizona and before making their way to the Big Easy on Friday, The Beach Boys are slated to perform a selection of songs on Thursday in Los Angeles as part of SiriusXM’s Artist Confidential private concert series, giving eager fans an early chance to see what’s in store for this much buzzed-about reunion.

The band will headline the Acura Stage at the Fair Grounds on Friday from 5:30-7 p.m. to close down the first day of Jazz Fest 2012.

Continue below to check out the new lyric-based video for “That’s Why God Made The Radio”, another giving a glimpse into the making of the song, and the 42-song set list from the Arizona show. With a set list like that, it looks like fans are getting their money’s worth, even if they’re paying the reunion tour premium.

Personally, I never thought I’d see the day when a brand new Beach Boys song was premiered on YouTube.

“That’s Why God Made The Radio”

From New York Times:

The reunited Beach Boys released their first new single in decades on Wednesday, making it available for purchase on major digital services like iTunes and Amazon. The song, “That’s Why God Made the Radio,” sounds as if it could have been written in the 1960s. It is a slow romantic ode to pop radio, showing off the group’s famous five-part harmonies and syrupy sentiments. The single is the first taste fans are getting of a new studio album by the same name, which is scheduled for release on June 5 by Capitol/EMI records. The album, which has 11 new songs, marks the first time in decades the two original leaders of the seminal band, Brian Wilson and Mike Love, have put aside their acrimony to work together. Three other early members – Al Jardine, David Marks and Bruce Johnston – are also on board. The reconstituted band started a 50th anniversary tour this week in Tucson and plans to play the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Friday. The Beach Boys also released an online video on Wednesday describing the making of the single.

Making of “That’s Why God Made The Radio”

Tour Announcement Video

SETLIST:
01 “Do It Again”
02 “Catch A Wave”
03 “Don’t Back Down”
04 “Surfin’ Safari”
05 “Surfer Girl”
06 “The Little Girl I Once Knew”
07 “Wendy”
08 “Then He Kissed Me” (Crystals cover)
09 “This Whole World”
10 “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” (Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers cover)
11 “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)”
12 “You’re So Good To Me”
13 “In Them Old Cottonfields Back Home”
14 “Be True To Your School”
15 “Disney Girls”
16 “Please Let Me Wonder”
17 “Don’t Worry Baby”
18 “Little Honda”
19 “Little Deuce Coupe”
20 “409″
21 “Shut Down”
22 “I Get Around”
23 “Sloop John B”
24 “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
25 “Forever”
26 “Sail On Sailor”
27 “Heroes and Villains”
28 “In My Room”
29 “All This Is That”
30 “God Only Knows”
31 “That’s Why God Made the Radio”
32 “California Dreamin’” (Mamas and the Papas cover)
33 “California Girls” (David Lee Roth cover) (Just kidding)
34 “Dance Dance Dance”
35 “All Summer Long”
36 “Help Me Rhonda”
37 “Rock and Roll Music” (Chuck Berry cover)
38 “Barbara Ann”
39 “Surfin’ U.S.A.”
40 “Kokomo”
41 “Good Vibrations”
42 “Fun Fun Fun”

(via Rolling Stone)

Wesley Hodges writes about music for Live Music Blog: NOLA and for NolaVie.