The Beach Boys Made Rock History in East Lansing: October 1966

The Beach Boys made history here in Lansing/East Lansing, and we weren’t even aware of it.

I was 15 years old when The Beach Boys made a concert appearance at MSU’s Jenison Fieldhouse. It was on October 21, 1966.

Just eleven days earlier, their single “Good Vibrations” had just been released.....but before I get to the ‘history’ part, here are a few facts about the song:

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Brian Wilson referred to the song as a "Pocket Symphony," and worked on it in a whoppin’ 17 recording sessions in several different recording studios. It wound up being the most expensive pop song ever recorded up to that time, at a cost of $50,000, which would be $515,358 in 2026.

The song took two months to record, using top Los Angeles studio musicians, most notably The Wrecking Crew which included Glen Campbell. Over time, it took a total of 90 hours of time and 70 hours of tape to complete the song.

Now for the historic aspect:

It was here at the Jenison Fieldhouse that The Beach Boys performed "Good Vibrations" live on stage for the very first time. "Good Vibrations" had just been released as a single a little over a week before, on October 10. Although Brian Wilson was not onstage with them, he was there at MSU to help them rehearse the song.

I was sitting in the west side bleachers watching the show, unaware what was going on. I remember that Mike Love seemed a little nervous as he performed the theramin while simultaneously singing his vocal parts.

To anyone reading this who was there that day, you were witnessing a part of Rock history.