The date was June 21, 2008, but you’d be forgiven if you mistook it for a hot August night circa 1970. Onstage at the Troubadour were seven young men jamming and crooning in four- and even five-part harmonies. They wore fishermen’s caps, long hair and beards, and suits with oversize collars but no ties. Their lyrics told of last kisses, the summer sun and girls, honeys and darlings. They were the Explorers Club of Charleston, S.C., and they seemed determined to stake out a spot next to the Beach Boys in the pantheon of classic pop. With their guitars, keyboards, drums and an occasional accordion, lap steel or mandolin, the Explorers sailed through much of their recently released debut full-length, Freedom Wind, from the Wall of Sound march of “Forever” to the gospel eruption of the title track. The audience included several enthusiastic older folks who may have seen some of the Explorers’ forebears in this very room a few decades ago. And there were some younger folks who were probably there to see headliner Lightspeed Champion and seemed alternately amused and bemused by the jubilant spectacle. In a highly appropriate finale, members of the Tyde, the Wondermints and Brian Wilson’s current ensemble joined the Explorers for what may be the least likely Beach Boys number for a modern band to cover: “Fun, Fun, Fun.” Now with 10 men on the relatively small stage, ooh-oohing about Daddy taking her T-bird away, the sheer silliness of it all converged as the song ended and guitarist/vocalist Jim Faust launched into a successful back flip.

— Thomas McMahon