The Beach Boys are opening their 50th anniversary tour in Tucson on Tuesday, which seems a bit random: What could the Sonoran Desert possibly have to do with a band associated with California's sand and surf?
Roll back the clock to the early 1960s for the answer, say founding members Brian Wilson and Mike Love.
"One of our first shows outside of Southern California was at the ZBT (Zeta Beta Tau) House, the fraternity, at the University of Arizona in Tucson," recalled Love. "That was a long time ago."
"Oh yeah," Wilson said, his voice drifting off as if he had recalled a fond memory.
Not long after that performance, Wilson retired from touring with the band that he formed with his cousin Love, brothers Carl and Dennis, and friend Al Jardine when they were teens in 1961. Which could explain why Wilson is a little apprehensive about hitting the road again with the band for the first time in 46 years.
"I don't know about the other guys, but I'm nervous about it," he said during a conference call interview with Love days after the band made its first-ever appearance on the Grammys in mid-February.
Love said he's not worried a bit about standing on stage with the guys - in addition to him and Wilson, the Beach Boys will include Jardine and longtime members Bruce Johnston and David Marks - for a 50-date tour that will take them throughout the United States, Canada and abroad.
"Everybody's sounding great. Allen (Jardine) sounds great; Bruce sounds great; Brian sounds great. I'm doing my thing," Love said.
The band began hinting at a 50th anniversary reunion with Wilson late last year when they revealed plans for an anniversary album. Rumors also swirled of a reunion tour, but initially Wilson reportedly balked at the idea.
It wasn't until the end of last year that Wilson and the band confirmed they would tour. The band took giant leaps to that end when it reunited on the Grammys on Feb. 12 - a first for the surviving members of the iconic surf-soaked California boy band. The Grammy performance was the first time the surviving Beach Boys had performed together in more than 20 years.
"It was kind of cool seeing in the audience Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett and Sir Paul (McCartney) and John Legend," Love said. "Different styles of music grooving to 'Good Vibrations.' It was pretty neat. ... The anticipation of being in front of that audience. That was an intense audience. ... You don't come across an audience like that every day. And it was cool to see how everybody stood up and got involved and gave us a really nice reception."
Wilson said the time seemed right to reunite. After years of legal and personal wrangling over the Beach Boys' legacy and fate, the members seem to have mended fences.
"It's going to be a lot of fun," he said. "We're all going to like each other, and we're going to have a good time."
Whether this tour, which includes three shows in Japan and stops in Europe, will mark a new chapter for the band is undetermined. Wilson said they will wait to see how things shake out over the summer; the tour runs through mid-August.
No release date has been set for the 50th anniversary album, but back in February, Wilson said the band was a few songs shy of completing it.
"I would describe it as a mellow '60s kind of album," he said. "I don't know what the other guys call it."
"I think if you just listen to it, it's going to sound like the mid-'60s again," added Love. "There's nobody better than Brian at structuring vocal harmonies and chord progressions and stuff like that. So a Beach Boys fan will be very pleased by this."
Meanwhile, the pair can't wait to get back on stage and sing the songs that made them household names for most of their lives.
"I like performing 'California Girls' the best of all of them," Wilson said.
"Really?" Love countered. "I think 'Good Vibrations' is kind of the monumental song. It's iconic. So many other songs are derivative; they sound like components of other songs put together. But 'Good Vibrations,' I think Brian came up with a tremendously unique bit of music."
So when they sing "California Girls" at their age - ranging from the mid-60s to early 70s - does it still hold the same meaning as it did when they first sang it as guys in their late teens and early 20s?
"Of course it does," said Wilson, 69.
"That song has lived a stellar life in music," added Love, 71. "It's one of our most popular songs we ever recorded. It's a great arrangement, great vocals. It's appreciating all the girls all around the world. It's just a fantastic song to sing."
If you go
• What: The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
• Where: Casino del Sol's AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road.
• Tickets: Reserved seats sold out; $42 for lawn seats at tickets.solcasinos.com
