Popular on-the-water show returns July 1
Summer weather has been sneaking back, but the clouds don’t seem to want to go away for the season just yet. One of Catalina’s summer events is returning to Two Harbors and with a little luck, it will bring in some summer warmth to go with a little rock ‘n’ roll heat.
The second annual Cockpit Concert will kick off the Fourth of July weekend with a raft-up concert at the Two Harbors Isthmus on Saturday, July 1, at 3:30 p.m. It will be a two-hour show with South Bay-based musician Scott Grillo playing guitar from the back of Wally McCloud’s boat, “Grand Escape,” which will be moored at J27, close to the campsites.
Grillo said campers on the beach will be able to hear and see the show from the shore. They can bring chairs and set up for the free concert, along with the hundreds of individuals in dinghys that will be tied together around the stage boat.
“They should just look for the boat with the giant yellow duck on the top,” Grillo said.
The Cockpit Concert, sponsored by the Channel Cruising Club this year, has become the sister show to the Labor Day Weekend Cherry Cove concert, which will also return this year. Grillo, a frequent visitor to Catalina on his trawler, “The Triton” said he was at the island two weeks ago for a show in Two Harbors for the Cabrillo Yacht Club.
Grillo performs regularly at South Bay area restaurants and venues and specializes in acoustic guitar and songs by artist such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffett and other classic rock and country artists. He encourages audience members to be ready to join in the singing, especially on fan favorites like “Sweet Caroline,” by Neil Diamond. A video from a 2020 show in Two Harbors is viewable and shows the boaters joining in on the lyrics.
For the Labor Day Sunday show in Cherry Cove, Grillo will be teaming up with one of his long-time collaborators, bassist John Balesteri for a two-man show. In addition to the Labor Day show on Sept. 3, Grillo said he has also signed to perform a show for the West Coast Yacht Club in Newport Beach, also in September. The outdoor, on the water shows, a kind of pandemic work around, are now finding their own niche.
“The concept has really taken off,” Grillo said.
