I was 12 years old in the summer of 1962, the first time I really listened to the radio a lot.
There were two great American groups that debuted that summer, one out of Southern California and the other out of New Jersey.
Of course, the first one was the Beach Boys, who I saw in concert five times between 1974 and 2015 in one incarnation or another, but the other was a band I never saw in concert.
The Four Seasons came out of the doo-wop tradition, and hearing Frankie Valli hit the high notes in his falsetto was something very special. Both bands survived an prospered despite the British Invasion, By the late ’70s, both the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons were basically oldies bands.
I stopped frequent concert-going in the early ’80s, although I’ve had something of a resurgence in the last eight or nine years. Some of the concerts weren’t even people I had followed for a long time. I saw Jackie Evancho in 2013 in Atlanta and wonderful Scots-Canadian tenor John McDermott that year and the next in a lovely church in Gainesville, Ga.
The second time, we had seats in the first row and got a photo of Nicole with McDermott.
We also saw Brian Wilson in 2015 in Florida, and I saw Paul McCartney and John Prine the last time each of them visited Atlanta.
I really wasn’t planning to see any more concerts, but today I checked my email and saw a presale for a concert next February that I wanted to see. I got the tickets — $194 for so-so seats — and now I just have to hope they guy I want to see will still be alive then.
After all, he is 87 years old.
Think about this: Elvis Presley had a great career. He died 44 years ago. And if he had lived, he would be a year and a half younger than Frankie Valli.
Valli is the only member of the original group who still performs, although Bob Gaudio is still alive at age 78.
The first concert I ever attended was when I was 17, and if there was one thing I never imagined then it was going to a concert to see someone 70 years older than I was then.
But I can hardly wait for this one.