Laguna lures Beach Boys to KX 93.5 Festival of Music

In their 1962 breakthrough hit “Surfin’ Safari,” the Beach Boys sang about “anglin’ in Laguna.”

This year, Laguna Beach angled for them. And, to quote another surf-rock classic, it caught a wave.

The venerable band will headline Sept. 27 at the second annual KX 93.5 Festival of Music at the Irvine Bowl on the Festival of Arts grounds, according to a news release from the station this week. Tyler Russell, the station’s program director, said he reached out to the band’s management and found that the Beach Boys had an opening on their tour schedule.

“If they weren’t going to play here, they were probably going to play an L.A. show,” Russell said. “So we’re lucky we got them here first.”

Russell, whose station launched in Laguna in 2012, got the blessing of the Irvine Bowl Policy Committee for the show. The Beach Boys will join Say Say, a Los Angeles-based electronic duo, and 133, a Laguna supergroup of sorts that includes Steve and Beth Wood of Honk, guitarist Bob Hawkins, KX radio host Jason Feddy and others.

The Beach Boys who visit the Irvine Bowl will be the touring outfit led by co-founder Mike Love and longtime member Bruce Johnston. The band’s surviving 1960s members, who include main songwriter and producer Brian Wilson and guitarists Al Jardine and David Marks, reunited in 2012 for a 50th anniversary tour.

Russell, who attended a performance on that tour, was still grateful to get a partial lineup of original members.

“It was really unbelievable and fortuitous and meant to be, I think,” he said.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the radio station as well as the Tony Hawk Foundation, SchoolPower, the Mauli Ola Foundation and the Surfrider Foundation. Tickets start at $45, with special packages including a VIP pre-party and a screening of the 1972 surfing documentary “Five Summer Stories.”

For more information, visit https://www.KX935.com/festivalofmusic.