Internationally touring singer and songwriter Mike Love is returning to Oʻahu, where his musical career began, for one night of shows at the Blue Note Hawaiʻi. On Thursday, July 31, he will play back-to-back shows at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. in Waikīkī.
He catapulted to an international audience, when a YouTube recording of his song “Permanent Holiday,” was posted on the front page of Reddit. Today, that song has more than 39 million views.
Love grew up in Kalama Valley before moving to the Mainland a few years ago. But when Love first wrote the song, he was playing gigs in Chinatown and Downtown Honolulu and “all over the place, just anywhere that would have me,” he said.
That was back when he did not know about Reddit. His son called him to share that his song was on the front page and “it's kind of a big deal,” he told his father. The song had already been collecting listeners on YouTube, where it had about 10,000 views.
“That blew my mind,” Love said. “‘Wow! 10,000 people watched this in a couple months.’”
But after the video was posted to Reddit, it took off and had “over a million views, overnight,” he added.
“And that was the beginning of just being able to start traveling and touring all over the world,” Love said. “Because that video got shared all over the world.”
This year, already, he has played music in Australia, Aotearoa, Bali, the Philippines and all over the U.S. He also has plans to perform in South America.
But Love did not expect such a strong reaction when he was writing “Permanent Holiday.”
“At that time, my idea of ‘making it’ was playing to like 50 people at O’Toole’s [Irish Pub],” he said, referencing the former space that is now Black Shamrock Tavern.
When Love started to play the song live, it resonated with audiences, he said.
“I finally see why that song, in particular, really resonates with people because no matter where we are in our lives, everybody wants to be on a permanent holiday, right? That can mean so many things,” he said. “None of us want to be involved in the corporate aspects of this existence that we call humanity or civilization. We all feel that idea of: the corporate machine is not looking out for us. It's wrecking our planet. It's using us up like cogs in a machine. We don't want to be those cogs in a machine, and yet so many of us are.
"I understand why that is such an appealing idea and so inspirational for so many people, and why so many people have come to me and said, ‘Hey, I heard this song, and it was just the thing that I needed to quit my job and start my own business and follow my dream, and thank you for changing my life.’ And that's the beauty of it. That’s the beauty of music, and a song like that.”
The Blue Note Hawaiʻi is the first of several shows in Love’s 2025 Tour Hawaiʻi. After the performances in Waikīkī, he will travel to Hawaiʻi Island for shows in Kona on Friday, Aug. 1, and Hilo on Saturday, Aug. 2. Finally, he will perform in Wailuku on Sunday, Aug. 3.
Tickets for the Blue Note Hawai’i are $30-$40. Seating is first come, first served. There is a $20 food and beverage minimum, per person. Get tickets. Follow Love on YouTube, Instagram and Spotify.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
