The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
The Boys are back and in town
This year’s MoFest features a stellar line-up, from tonight’s headliners Deacon Blue through to The Beach Boys, who’ll be performing with John Stamos, on Sunday
He’s a Hollywood heart-throb, a seasoned actor and a household name. But John Stamos admits playing with his boyhood heroes The Beach Boys has been the best thing he’s ever experienced. “It’s the highlight of my life,” he says. “You know I would be really lucky to get to do it once or twice but to keep doing the shows like I have is amazing.”
The actor, who starred in the sitcom Grandfathered and is best known as Uncle Jesse on Full House and Dr Tony Gates on ER, will play the drums and strum his guitar alongside The Beach Boys at MoFest on Sunday.
He is a gifted drummer, singer and musician and has toured on and off with the legendary band for more than 30 years.
“It’s different obviously, acting is a little more heady, music is more your heart, you just feel it,” he says.
The ER star admits he more or less stalked the band when he was a boy and The Beach Boys gave the very first concert he went to see.
“I got to hanging around with them and we ended up being friends,” he grins.
“During the 80s nobody was playing their songs on the radio and I started playing them on TV. Some of the best comments I ever got was people saying they heard them on my show for the first time.
“I loved it, I couldn’t believe that people really made this noise at this time and people were singing and dancing and smiling, it just transports you,” he adds.
Stamos sang lead vocals on the band’s tune Forever and has featured in many
of the videos for their songs, including the number one hit Kokomo.
He admits though that this tour has a special meaning for him as he’ll be performing in Europe with the boys for the first time.
“I’ve never been to Scotland before, I thought I had done everything,” he says.
“I’ve been to Ireland when I was a kid so I’m really looking forward to coming over to Scotland. I’ve never even played in Europe with the Beach Boys so it’ll be a lot of fun.
“We do most of the hits, we do God Only Knows as a tribute to Carl Wilson, Sloop John B, Wouldn’t It Be Nice. But it’s a different group of songs in Europe from what we do in the US.
“Some songs were hits over in the UK that didn’t do as well in the States and vice versa.”
Long-time members Mike Love and Bruce Johnston will be leading a sevenstrong line-up through classic hits like Good Vibrations, Surfin USA, Barbara Ann, Fun Fun Fun and California Girls on Montrose’s East Links before the fireworks finale of MoFest.
The Beach Boys will be the latest in a string of retro acts to grace the East Links after previous visits from Status Quo, Deacon Blue, Dr Feelgood, Bryan Adams, the Average White band, Madness and Jools Holland.
To mark the 10th year of the festival in 2017, the committee decided on two headline acts; Deacon Blue on Friday night and The Beach Boys on Sunday evening to bring the festival to a close.
Saturday and Sunday is when attendees have the chance to pick from around 150 gigs in more than 20 venues across the town.
There’s also the “Big Stage” situated on Montrose’s Historic High Street, which will be showcasing performances from a variety of acts who are appearing in other venues around the town.
This is always hugely popular with families of all ages coming out to enjoy the music and the many stalls and activities that are situated along the closed roads.
I got to hanging around with them and we ended up being friends