Brian Wilson To Headline Sydney Festival

The Sydney Festival has a rich tradition of bringing rock royalty to Australia, after delivering Elvis Costello and Lou Reed to the masses in recent years. 2008 won’t be any exception, with news The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson will headline the arts event.

Brian Wilson will play a huge free (that’s right, free) concert in The Domain on January 5 to open the festival. The night promises to offer plenty of Beach Boys hits, including “Surfing USA,” “I Get Around,” “Help Me Rhonda” and “Good Vibrations.” Could there be any better music for a steamy summer night?

He’ll then perform two different shows over the 21-day event. The first will showcase the tracks from the Beach Boys’ influential 1966 release, Pet Sounds. The second show will feature his new album, The Lucky Old Sun (a Narrative). On his official site, Brian said the album “will consist of five ’rounds’ with interspersed spoken word.” Sounds interesting!

Dates for Brian Wilson’s Sydney Festival shows will be announced on November 1.

Image source: Greg2600 @ Flickr.com