I had been watching the papers and Internet sites ever since the news Brian Wilson joined Mike Love and Al Jardine to celebrate Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys going double platinum. Rumors were flying the complete Beach Boys may actually appear together on the same stage again.

As I had been secretly hoping, The Detroit Free Press began hinting a very special guest may be joining the band at the Detroit shows. In a matter of a couple days hints became confirmation and it was announced the mysterious special guest would be often guest drummer, John Stamos, best known for the seven years he spent on Full House. Not too much of a surprise, Stamos has often toured with the band since his first appearance more than fifteen years ago. Without trepidation, I bought my ticket.

DTE, better known by its former name, Pine Knob, is an open-air pavilion, with a large amount of Lawn seating. It was here I first saw the Beach Boys live in 1986. The lawn seating used to be called "party on the hill" in the '80s, and the seating is usually a huge value ($5 for this show with a voucher). In '86 the hill was the place for me and my college student budget, but this time around I opted for a closer to the stage, real seat and was very glad I had. Shortly before the show started, the unbearable heat broke by a brisk cool breeze, which blew in clouds and rain.

We were at the earlier of the two shows the band had scheduled for the Sunday, and only the middle section of the pavilion was filled. The fans on the lawn were allowed to file into the top rows of the side seats to escape the rain, the band took the stage, and at least in this fan's mind, the rain cleared and the "Warmth of the Sun" took over.

The band took the stage shortly after 2:30 and launched into what would become ten of their biggest hits without a single break. Not letting the extreme heat detour them or the music, the energy was high and their enthusiasm fed the crowds… or maybe it was the other way around. But the mood quickly went from concert to summer beach party, complete with beach balls bouncing around the venue.

When your catalogue of music spans as many decades and includes as many hits as the Beach Boy's, you know the party is going to last awhile and they didn't disappoint, playing for more than two hours. They seemed to categorize the songs into neat little sections starting with the girl songs, ("Help Me Rhonda," "Barbara Ann," and "California Girls") moved on to car songs, ("Little Deuce Coupe," and "Shut Down") and ending with surfing songs ("Surfin' Safari," "Surfer Girl," and "Surfing USA").

Of course, there was spontaneity, and some of the themed songs were scattered among others, but I did notice a trend of them being grouped together. At one point, while talking about the history of music, Love acknowledging the fact keyboardist Bruce Johnston had penned the Grammy award winning "I Write The Songs" (though not for them). He was coaxed into performing a bit of it and when Love chided about the quality of lyrics, Johnston only had one word in response – "Kokomo." Before breaking back into the songs they were known for, Johnston went on to say they intended to play a majority of the songs from the aforementioned Sounds Of Summer.