Williamsburg Live brings locals, visitors together for ‘fun’ three-day summer music festival featuring The Beach Boys

WILLIAMSBURG – A hazy, hot summer weekend set the tone for the 2025 Williamsburg Live music festival, which brought thousands of concertgoers to the Lawn of the Art Museums at Colonial Williamsburg.

Locals and visitors alike sang, danced and cheered while soaking up vibrant summer sounds under the stars. The three-day festival included a mix of chart-topping disco, country melodies and the iconic surf-rock anthems of The Beach Boys.

The event is the culmination of months of meticulous planning by the Virginia Arts Festival, the largest performing arts organization in southeastern Virginia.

Public Relations Director Alli Pereira said planning for next year’s Williamsburg Live is already underway. 

In addition to live music featuring nationally known acts, the annual festival offers local food truck fare and regional craft beers and wines.

About one-third of ticket sales come from outside of the region, which event organizers say provides a notable economic boost to Historic Triangle hotels and restaurants.

This year’s festival kicked off on Friday with The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA, which had the animated audience dancing to 1970s classics like “Mamma Mia,” “Dancing Queen” and “S.O.S.”

The Band Perry took to the stage on Saturday to share a mix of their newest hits along with fan-favorite No. 1 singles, including “If I Die Young” and “You Lie.”

Kimberly Perry, the band’s lead singer, expressed adulation for Williamsburg, praising the area’s charm, culinary offerings and carefully preserved history. Her parents honeymooned in town after their wedding years ago, she told the crowd.

Some of the concertgoers sang along to the music the entire night, seemingly knowing the words to every song.

The festival concluded on Sunday night with perhaps its most anticipated act of the weekend: the legendary Beach Boys.

Led by 84-year-old Mike Love, The Beach Boys had also performed at Williamsburg Live last year, but it was evident that this year’s crowd was eager for more.

Love and his crew energized the crowds throughout the evening, launching into a 90-minute show that included almost all of their greatest hits, from the 1966 classic “Good Vibrations” to their 1988 No. 1 single, “Kokomo.”

The concert exuded the band’s signature upbeat vibe, but there were poignant moments of reflection in light of the recent loss of co-founder Brian Wilson, who died on June 11. Love and Wilson were not only long-time bandmates but also first cousins.

Love reminisced about his lifelong friendship with Wilson, telling the crowd that when the two saw each other earlier this month, Wilson asked Love to sing him some of their co-written songs.

The band then launched into a rendition of “God Only Knows,” a fitting tribute to a man who left an indelible mark on American music.

The devoted audience, representing every living American generation, was mostly undeterred by the 92-degree heat, jumping to their feet to dance and applaud throughout the evening.

Scott Jaeger, a Williamsburg resident, attended both the Tribute to ABBA and The Beach Boys concerts. He praised the convenience of the location, saying the event was a uniquely fun and low-stress experience.

“It’s nice to be here surrounded by other community members and get something to eat, something to drink and have a great time,” Jaeger said.

Alexis Quayle, also from Williamsburg, attended the event on both Saturday and Sunday, catching The Band Perry and The Beach Boys. She was joined by several family members, who drove up from the Virginia Beach area to attend the event.

“I was taking my dad to the show for Father’s Day regardless, and it’s way more fun to go to an event with a group,” Quayle said. 

Quayle said the experience was particularly special because she was joined by her 14-year-old son, who was celebrating his birthday. The Beach Boys show marked the first concert he had ever attended.

For many in attendance, the festival seemed to offer a much-needed break from the stressors of everyday life.

It was also an evening of bittersweet nostalgia for festivalgoers who were transported back to a time when the emotions and experiences of young Americans were conveyed through music rather than social media.

Emmy award-winning 13News Now reporter Mike Gooding caught up with The Triangle at the end of the night, sharing memories of past concerts and expressing his enthusiasm for this year’s event.

“It was a great show,” Gooding said. “I loved every minute of it.”