The Beach Boys kicked off the Kern County Fair’s opening night at the Budweiser Pavilion at the Kern County Fairgrounds on Sept. 23.
Fans from different age ranges gathered in a near two-mile line that was separated by the three different openings to the pavilion to see the iconic Beach Boys’ perform, some in which had been waiting in line all day.
“We’ve been here since it opened,” Daron Palmer, 54, said. “We were the first ones in line, but they always put on a great show so it was worth it.”
Palmer stated that he has been a Beach Boys fan for nearly his entire life and that he has been fortunate enough to see them seven times.
“I probably started listening to them when I was in sixth or seventh grade,” said Palmer. “My mom liked the Beach Boys, and we always had them playing in the house. So that’s where I originally heard of them.”
The Beach Boys performed several of their hit songs including: “California Girls,” “Kokomo,” “Surfin’ USA,” “Surfer Girl,” “Good Vibrations,” “Fun Fun Fun,” “I Get Around, “ and  “God Only Knows.”
During “Surfer Girl,” original Beach Boys member Mike Love took out his cell phone and turned the phone’s flashlight toward the crowd and began waving it back and forth, creating a massive wave of cell phone flashlights waving around in the crowd
BC liberal studies major Shawn Rader, 26, stated that he grew up listening to the Beach Boys by hearing their music on TV, the radio, and through his parents.
“I specifically remember them jamming on an episode of Full House, when the family vacationed in Hawaii,” Rader recalled.
Rader said that the song “God Only Knows” resonates with him a lot, and although he is not a massive fan, he is familiar with a lot of their hit songs.
Those [the hit songs] were the songs he was looking forward to seeing them perform.
The Beach Boys performance at the Kern County Fair was not the only time The Beach Boys made a stop in Bakersfield. On June 7, 1963, The Beach Boys performed at multiple local schools including East Bakersfield High School, Bakersfield High School, and Bakersfield College’s own Campus Center. The Beach Boys had also made an appearance at the Kern County Fair in 1982, in which several guests from that performance were also in attendance for this year’s fair performance.
The concert brought together both older generation fans and younger generation fans, which united fans as one during the show.