STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

“It was an evening of “Fun, Fun, Fun” as The Beach Boys brought their Endless Summer tour to The Argyros. It was also a double bonus for Golden Oldies fans, coming as it did on the heels of an Eagles tribute band the night before.

The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all times, Argyros Artistic Director Casey Mott told the sold-out audience. And the boys did not disappoint, weaving through complex harmonies on songs like “In My Room” with fun ditties like “Little Deuce Coupe.”

If only we could have stuck a couple palm trees in the sand outside where there’s a big hole in the middle of Main Street and tossed in a couple of plastic swimming pools.

The Beach Boys Endless Summer T-shirts were for sale, along with a commemorative book and more.

As it was, The Beach Boys took the audience on a “Surfin’ Safari,” playing surfing clips on the screen behind them as they worked their way through their many surfing numbers that popularized the California lifestyle for millions around the country.

Those segued to clips showing the red hot, hot rod craze of their days as they sang “409” and “I Get Around,” interspersed between clips of the original Beach Boys band.

The Beach Boys were not a very good live band when they started out in 1961, according to their biographer James Murphy. But, he added, they eventually became one of the best and enduring live bands.

Beach Boys cousin Mike Love now 83 and longtime keyboard player Bruce Johnston, 81, are still singing “When I Grow up (To Be a Man).” But they’ve been joined by seven younger energetic band members, including the lively saxophone player Randy Leago and drummer Jon Bolton.

Beach Boys ball caps were for sale, too.

Bolton has aptly been nicknamed the Lightning Bolt for the enthusiasm he interjects into the set from twirling his sticks to pounding his head with them now and then.

And an audience that cut their teeth on The Beach Boys showed they still had it as they danced in the aisles and waved their cell phone lights in the air to “Surfer Girl,” leaving the darkened theater to resemble waves sparkling in the ocean.

While the set was about as upbeat as it gets, Mike Love paused for a moment to tell about the night in November 1963 that he joined cousin Brian Wilson to pen the haunting mystical song “The Warmth of the Sun.”

“We stayed up all night working on it and woke up to the news that President Kennedy had been taken to the hospital. So, it’s very emotional,” he said.

The concert tour celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys’ legendary double album hits collection “Endless Summer.”

The band played an amazing two hours of non-stop music without an intermission, providing a deep dish helping of those longing of the nostalgia for the days when life seemed more carefree and lyrics were as simple as crooning about “chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum” in “Rockaway Beach.”

Alas, one more heaping helping of “Fun Fun Fun” and, sadly, the Endless Summer in The Argyros was over.

COMING UP:

The Argyros announced Tuesday that it is offering new special Back-to-School student tickets for $10 for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Brass Dance Party on Saturday, Aug. 24.

The legendary jazz band’s Big Easy, Big Hits concert tonight and its Jazz Nightclub with cabaret-style seating on Friday, Aug. 23, are sold out.

But there are still some tickets for the Brass Dance Party featuring Afro-Cuban jazz music at 8 p.m. Saturday, 24, at The Argyros. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for students https://www.theargyros.org/.