{"id":81114,"date":"2025-08-19T23:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T23:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/81114\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T23:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T23:58:18","slug":"al-jardine-on-brian-wilson-beach-boys-legacy-pet-sounds-band-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/81114\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Jardine on Brian Wilson, Beach Boys Legacy, Pet Sounds Band Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\tl Jardine<\/a> is feeling a little uneasy. It\u2019s about five hours until a concert at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Massachusetts, where he\u2019ll play nearly all of the oddball 1977 LP The Beach Boys<\/a> Love You with veteran members of Brian Wilson<\/a>\u2018s touring band. Despite being a founding member of the Beach Boys himself, Jardine hasn\u2019t performed most of these songs even a single time in his life, and he has little memory of recording the album in the first place. He\u2019s also recovering from an illness that caused him to miss most of the rehearsals, and his emotions are still raw from attending Wilson\u2019s private memorial service earlier in the month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs his 58-year-old son Matt Jardine leads the band through album opener \u201cLet Us Go On This Way,\u201d the elder Jardine stands in the empty hall about six rows back from the stage, listening intently. \u201cI originally felt we should just do a few of these Love You songs,\u201d he tells me, wearing a blue polo shirt and looking remarkably spry for 82. \u201cThey were all originally done on synthesizer. I might have to put my guitar down for some of them. That\u2019s totally new for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Love You is a footnote in the Beach Boys\u2019 catalog<\/a>, with none of the hit singles or pop mythology of Pet Sounds<\/a> or the abandoned Smile<\/a> project, it\u2019s become a cult favorite among serious Beach Boys fans \u2014 a group that happens to include keyboardist and bandleader Darian Sahanaja, whose idea this set list was, as well as myself. As they rehearse, I find myself singing \u201cGod, please, let us go on this way\u201d along with Matt and the rest of the group, since Love You is one of my favorite Beach Boys records, and I can\u2019t believe I finally have a chance to hear it live. Al turns to me, genuinely surprised. \u201cHey,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know this stuff better than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMoments later, Jardine walks onto the stage, takes over the soundcheck from his son, and painstakingly goes through the unfamiliar material for the next three hours without interruption. \u201cShall we try out one of the standards?\u201d Sahanaja eventually asks, realizing they are also playing 23 non-Love You songs that they haven\u2019t tried at all today. \u201cMaybe \u2018I Get Around?’\u201d But Al shakes him off, and instead asks again for \u201cRoller Skating Child\u201d from Love You.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI Get Around\u201d isn\u2019t a song that Al Jardine needs to rehearse. He sang on the original 1964 recording, like practically every Beach Boys hit, and he\u2019s performed it live well over 2,000 times, both as a member of the Beach Boys and with various spinoff acts that continue to this day. In all those years, as many of his original bandmates\u2019 voices corroded due to bad habits and relentless touring schedules, Jardine\u2019s remained largely pristine. That asset is more valuable than ever now, because Brian Wilson\u2019s death means that Jardine is now offering fans the only real alternative to Mike Love<\/a>\u2019s touring incarnation of the Beach Boys \u2014 a consistently popular show, aimed squarely at casual fans, that remains devoted to the Sixties era of surfing, hot rods, and girls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe challenge Jardine faces is that despite his monumental role in the Beach Boys saga \u2014 that\u2019s him singing lead on their chart-topping smash \u201cHelp Me, Rhonda,\u201d to name just one of his contributions to one of pop\u2019s greatest catalogs \u2014 many rock fans are only vaguely aware of him. That\u2019s because it was near impossible to stand out in a band full of family drama and enormous personalities. Anyone who\u2019s spent time reading about the Beach Boys knows the main characters: Brian Wilson was the genius songwriter and producer, Dennis Wilson was the madman drummer and only genuine surfer, Carl Wilson was the golden-voiced angel heard on \u201cGod Only Knows,\u201d and Mike Love was the hot-tempered lead singer. Al Jardine, by contrast, was just the guy who was always there, singing with them in perfect harmony.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tBackstage with the Pet Sounds Band. From left: Rob Bonfiglio, Matt Jardine, Jim Laspesa, Darian Sahanaja, Al Jardine, Debbie Shair, Bob Lizik, Mike D\u2019Amico, Emeen Zarookian, and Gary Griffin.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Lasky for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDad has always been a team-oriented person,\u201d Matt Jardine tells me in a backstage dressing room. \u201cHe recognized Brian\u2019s brilliance, and was like, \u2018We\u2019re just going to allow that to germinate and do what it does, because he\u2019s obviously on some kind of an incredible roll here.\u2019 And my dad was a musical contributor when he could be, like when he brought \u2018Sloop John B\u2019<\/a> into Pet Sounds. Brian once said something that made my jaw hit my lap. He said, \u2018Al is our anchor. His goodness flows through the waters and onto the tape.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tAl is such a team player that, in 2012, he overlooked years of costly litigation over the rights to use the Beach Boys name on the road, and signed on to the Beach Boys reunion tour<\/a> \u2014 an improbable triumph that brought all of the band\u2019s surviving members together onstage for the first time in decades. He then joined Brian Wilson\u2019s road band the following year, when the reunion fell apart<\/a> in spectacularly messy fashion. He was listed as a special guest on some tickets and posters, unmentioned on others, but he never complained. He was just happy to be onstage with his lifelong friend, playing the music they made together all those years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cJust hanging out with him was a joy,\u201d Al says. \u201cThe hang was almost better than the actual performances. But Brian and I were a pretty potent force.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBrian Wilson retired from the road in 2022, shortly before Jardine turned 80. This would have been a natural time for Jardine to retire, but it wasn\u2019t long before he started sketching out possible ways to bring Wilson\u2019s band back on the road with himself at the helm, as opposed to slightly off to the side. \u201cWell, shoot, who wants to sit home and not work?\u201d he asks me via Zoom a couple of weeks after the show in Cohasset. \u201cIt\u2019s not fun living in the past. And I just missed the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWithout Brian Wilson\u2019s name to sell tickets, Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band \u2014 as he\u2019s redubbed them \u2014 are playing venues on the smaller side. And with an 11-piece band to pay, Jardine had to dip deep into his own pockets to make this tour happen. \u201cI haven\u2019t even bothered to ask what it costs,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019m underwater, but I don\u2019t care. This is my last hurrah.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tUnder the big tent at the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Mass.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Lasky for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\tJUST ABOUT A MONTH before Brian Wilson\u2019s death, Jardine traveled up to his home in Beverly Hills, California, for a visit. Wilson had been in failing health for years at this point, could no longer walk, and was under a court-appointed conservatorship due to dementia. But he still recognized his old friend. \u201cHe looked at me and he said, \u2018You started the band,\u2019\u201d Jardine recalls. \u201cI said, \u2018Well, Brian, thank you, but I think you had a little to do with it, too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe basic story of how the Beach Boys formed has been told so many times over the past 65 years that it\u2019s become practically a folk tale. The version repeated the most involves Murry and Audree Wilson taking a vacation to Mexico City together in November 1961, and their three teenage sons \u2014 Brian, Dennis, and Carl \u2014 using money they left behind to rent musical instruments and record their debut single, \u201cSurfin\u2019,\u201d with their cousin Mike Love and their school friend Al Jardine.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Jardine\u2019s telling, they quickly spent the food money on actual food, and were able to rent the equipment because his mother loaned them $300. But even this obscures the fact that they decided to create music together well before the Wilsons headed off to Mexico City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI remember badgering Brian,\u201d Jardine says today. \u201cI said, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s make some music, Brian. Let\u2019s start a band.\u2019 We were at El Camino Junior College in Torrance, California. We immediately went over to the nurses\u2019 room for some reason, where we hoped to find some people to sing with us, but nobody could sing harmonies. And Brian said, \u2018Let\u2019s go. I\u2019ll introduce you to my brothers, Carl and Dennis. Carl has a great little voice, he can sing. And my cousin, Mike, has a pretty good baritone.\u2019 And that\u2019s how it started.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early 1962, Jardine decided to quit the group just before they headed into the studio to cut their debut LP, Surfin\u2019 Safari. \u201cWe only had about two of our own songs to sing at that point,\u201d Jardine says. \u201cI just got really tired of doing other people\u2019s music in concert. That wasn\u2019t interesting to me. I left to pursue my education.\u201d (Beach Boys lore says he left to attend dental school, but it was actually an undergraduate program.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine was replaced by David Marks, another friend of the Wilson brothers. And as Jardine attended classes at El Camino College, the Beach Boys scored nationwide hits with \u201cSurfin\u2019 Safari\u201d and \u201c409,\u201d and began touring all across the country. Had he remained in school, Jardine would have gone down in history as the Pete Best of the Beach Boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tThe Beach Boys in 1963 (from left): Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Mike Love.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tBut just 12 months after he defected, Jardine got a call from Brian Wilson. \u201cHe was in desperation,\u201d Jardine says. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018I can\u2019t handle this anymore. I can\u2019t do it. Please come back into the band.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe strain of the road had already become too much for Brian, even though he wouldn\u2019t leave the touring unit for another couple of years. Marks wasn\u2019t a singer, and Brian needed help with the harmonies. \u201cHe knew I could sing the high parts,\u201d says Jardine. \u201cAnd I already knew most of the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe only problem was that Brian failed to mention the addition of a sixth band member to his father, Murry, a notorious tyrant who served as the group\u2019s manager. \u201cI flew in the day after Brian called,\u201d says Jardine. \u201cMurry didn\u2019t know I\u2019d be there until I arrived at the airport. He was really pissed off.\u201d (Murry pushed Marks out of the band in August 1963, leaving behind the original five-man lineup.)<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine came back to the Beach Boys just in time to lend his voice \u2014 and often his guitar and bass \u2014 to an incredible new slate of songs that Brian had just written or co-written, including \u201cSurfer Girl,\u201d \u201cIn My Room,\u201d and \u201cLittle Deuce Coupe.\u201d But Murry was never kind to the one member of the band who was not a blood relative. \u201cHe treated me like shit,\u201d Jardine says. \u201cNo, I shouldn\u2019t say that. But he was never happy with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early 1965, after two years of dedicated service, Wilson and Love gave Jardine the chance to sing lead on a single they\u2019d written together: \u201cHelp Me, Rhonda.\u201d They\u2019d fired Murry by this point, but he still drunkenly stumbled into the studio at a session for the song, and got on the control-room mic just as Jardine was finally having his big moment. Every second of Murry\u2019s cringeworthy efforts to guide the band over Brian\u2019s protests were captured on tape, including now-infamous lines like \u201cI\u2019m a genius too, Brian,\u201d \u201cYou guys are coasting,\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re going downHILL!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSixty years later, the meltdown remains seared into Jardine\u2019s brain. \u201cIt was this giant room at RCA where Elvis worked,\u201d he says. \u201cI was waiting for instructions on how to sing the song. And I was in there all by myself watching this go down. It was scary. I was like, \u2018Who am I supposed to listen to?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine stayed the course through the years that followed, sticking with the Beach Boys as Brian pushed the band to new heights, as well as after Brian stepped aside to address his mounting mental health problems. Even after the psychedelic movement they helped usher in with \u201cGood Vibrations\u201d suddenly made them seem pass\u00e9, the band continued to release an album a year, including genuine masterpieces like 1970\u2019s Sunflower and 1971\u2019s Surf\u2019s Up that wouldn\u2019t be fully appreciated for decades.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tThe Beach Boys in London, November 1970 (from left): Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChris Walter\/WireImage<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Wilson no longer driving the band\u2019s creative output, his bandmates were given little choice but to step up as songwriters. (To hear Jardine at his finest, check out \u201cCalifornia Saga,\u201d<\/a> from 1973\u2019s Holland.) And when the hits compilation Endless Summer became one of the biggest records of 1974, their shows began centering almost entirely around the previous decade\u2019s oldies. \u201cWe knocked them dead every time we went out just playing the hits,\u201d says Jardine. \u201cIt allowed us to grow musically at home while we could continue to entertain. It was a nice balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat balance was briefly upended in late 1976, when Brian began penning songs for a planned solo album he wanted to call Brian Wilson Loves You; corporate pressure quickly forced him to rope in his bandmates and tweak the title to The Beach Boys Love You. \u201cIt was really a Brian album,\u201d says Jardine. \u201cBut the label wanted product.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf they wanted product that bore even the faintest resemblance to the Beach Boys\u2019 Sixties hits, they were in for a disappointment. Unlike the days where Brian had crammed a dozen or more session musicians into a high-end studio and arranged them like a pop symphony, he created The Beach Boys Love You almost entirely on his own, using a Minimoog synthesizer that he was just learning how to work. \u201cIt\u2019s total DIY,\u201d says Sahanaja. \u201cIt reminds me of an indie album.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile he\u2019d written the songs on Pet Sounds and Smile with help from outside co-writers, Wilson composed the lyrics on The Beach Boys Love You himself. Taken as a whole, they\u2019re a trippy journey through his fragile id as he watches The Tonight Show (\u201cJohnny Carson\u201d), grapples with his arrested sexual development (\u201cRoller Skating Child,\u201d \u201cI Wanna Pick You Up\u201d), and contemplates the infinite vastness of the universe (\u201cSolar System\u201d). The delightful lunacy peaks on the 58-second \u201cDing Dang,\u201d which was written at the house of Byrds founder Roger McGuinn, an L.A. neighbor, during the course of one very debauched evening.<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine sings lead on \u201cHonkin\u2019 Down the Highway,\u201d but was otherwise largely uninvolved with the making of the album. \u201cCarl Wilson was guiding Brian through the process of making the record,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd you\u2019ll hear a lot of Dennis on there. Mike and I came in and basically filled in the harmonies on the backgrounds. That was about it.\u201d And there it stayed for the next few decades, as most of the world ignored Love You and kept grooving to those oldies on tour.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAl Jardine soundchecks the Love You material by himself onstage.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Lasky for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\tIT\u2019S NOW AN HOUR before the doors open in Cohasset for the live debut of The Beach Boys Love You, and the Pet Sounds Band has gone into the catering area for a quick dinner. Al Jardine remains alone onstage, running through \u201cRoller Skating Child\u201d over and over by himself as his wife, Mary Ann, works the teleprompter. It sounds pretty perfect to me, but Jardine is unsatisfied, even stopping at one point to ask Mary Ann to add an apostrophe to one of the words so there\u2019s no chance he\u2019ll mess it up. \u201cBrian would have been looking at his watch by now,\u201d Sahanaja jokes as he heads offstage. \u201cHe\u2019d be like, \u2018Let\u2019s move it on! Time for dinner!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBrian\u2019s absence is felt everywhere, especially since the funeral just took place. It was a private event where Beach Boys biographer David Leaf and Rolling Stone\u2019s Jason Fine, a longtime friend to Brian<\/a>, delivered the formal eulogies. Afterwards, the mourners went to the Beverly Hills Hotel, where both Wilson Phillips and the Pet Sounds Band played some music, and Jardine and Love delivered brief speeches of their own.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two of them have clashed many times over the years \u2014 they have personalities that could be kindly described as polar opposites \u2014 and eight days after the funeral, Jardine still sounds annoyed about his former bandmate\u2019s remarks. \u201cMike wanted everybody to know that he wrote every single word of \u2018\u201cGood Vibrations,\u2019\u201d Jardine says. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel the compassion, let\u2019s put it that way. Mike\u2019s got some serious megalomania problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t(\u201cThat\u2019s not true,\u201d a representative for Love says in response. \u201cMike\u2019s focus has always been on uplifting audiences around the world through the music he helped create with his bandmates and cousin Brian. His commitment has been to preserve and share this great American songbook while providing resources to fellow Beach Boys shareholders, including Al Jardine. In addition, Mike and The Beach Boys have dedicated significant time and support to nonprofit organizations using their platform to give back to communities in need.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it was Jardine\u2019s turn, he opened with, \u201cMike, I\u2019ve written some songs with Brian myself. We wrote one called \u2018Surfin\u2019 Down the Swanee River.\u2019<\/a> It just wasn\u2019t as big as \u2018Good Vibrations.\u2019\u201d The room, he says, erupted with laughter. He then spoke movingly about Brian\u2019s genius and his legacy. \u201cI was focusing on Brian, and Mike was more focused on Mike,\u201d Jardine says. \u201cI think that is what it boiled down to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough never close, he and Love coexisted in the Beach Boys until Carl Wilson died of lung cancer in 1998. \u201cMike always wanted to do more and more shows every year,\u201d says Matt Jardine. \u201cCarl and my father wanted to do fewer shows and keep the quality up. They didn\u2019t want to use rental gear. Their focus was always quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tThe Pet Sounds Band rocks out during the show.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Lasky for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMike is like P.T. Barnum,\u201d Al Jardine adds. \u201cHe had these incredibly exotic ideas for tours. He was always looking at that next tour. He probably has a tour of Mars planned right now. I was going, \u2018Let\u2019s go back to the studio.\u2019 And then he kicked me out of the band. It was pretty shitty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAl went on to form a new group that he called Beach Boys Family and Friends, recruiting Brian\u2019s daughters Carnie and Wendy Wilson, Cass Elliott\u2019s daughter Owen Elliott, his own sons Matt and Adam Jardine, and beloved former Beach Boys touring band members like Billy Hinsche and \u201cCaptain\u201d Daryl Dragon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDad got his ass sued off,\u201d says Matt Jardine. \u201cThey came after him with both barrels. It was really disappointing and sad. Obviously, they did that because he was a threat. He was a threat to their marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrankly, they were threatened by me, because my band sounded better than the Beach Boys band,\u201d adds the elder Jardine. \u201cMike just came down on me with a shitload of lawyers. And pretty soon I was down about a million bucks. It was pretty devastating financially and emotionally. He showed me no mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t(A representative for Love disputes this, saying \u201cMike has never sued Al.\u201d While the suits were largely between Al Jardine and Brother Records, the company that the Beach Boys founded in the Sixties, they were widely<\/a> understood<\/a> as a battle<\/a> between<\/a> the two bandmates.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter all the legal wrangling was done, Al was no longer allowed to use the Beach Boys name. \u201cMike has better lawyers,\u201d he says. \u201cThey wrote my epitaph: \u2018You may not use \u201cbeach\u201d and \u201cboy\u201d in the same sentence to describe your band.\u2019\u201d (To this day, however, Al gets a small percentage of the earnings from every Beach Boys show as a shareholder in Brother Records. The same percentage goes to Brian\u2019s estate, Carl\u2019s estate, and to Mike himself, which is on top of the rest of the money he pulls in from his gigs.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAdding to the emotional turmoil, Al says, Brian sided with Mike in the conflict. \u201cBrian wasn\u2019t in a frame of mind to\u2026. It\u2019s tough when you\u2019re related,\u201d says Jardine. \u201cYou don\u2019t go against your family members. Brian wasn\u2019t about to argue with Mike.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2000, he attempted to book shows under the new moniker Al Jardine\u2019s Family & Friends Beach Band, but he was now competing against both Mike\u2019s Beach Boys and against Brian\u2019s new solo band. \u201cWe were in a no-man\u2019s land for a number of years,\u201d says Matt Jardine. \u201cIt was kind of like being in a divorce, because I\u2019d grown up with that band. So to all of a sudden be persona non grata was painful. A huge part of my dad\u2019s identity is wrapped up in being one of the Beach Boys. It was incredibly painful for him and difficult, but he\u2019s just too stubborn to quit, so he didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tIn the green room at the Music Circus.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Lasky for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the first decade of the 2000s, Jardine\u2019s shows were largely at third- and fourth-tier venues like the We-Ko-Pa Casino in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Skagit Valley Casino Resort in Bow, Washington, and the \u201cOldies Stage\u201d at the Taste of Minnesota food festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEverything changed in 2012, when the surviving Beach Boys put aside years of animosity for a reunion album and tour. Suddenly, Jardine was playing at Bonnaroo, New York\u2019s Beacon Theatre, and other large stages across the world. \u201cI enjoyed hearing everybody sing again, even Mike,\u201d Al says. \u201cIt still had political overtones, believe me, within the band, but it really proved that we could do it again, and have fun doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe fun stopped near the end of the year, when Love and bandmate Bruce Johnston pulled the plug on the reunion and went on playing their own shows as the Beach Boys. \u201cHe cut us right off there,\u201d says Jardine. \u201cWe were hopefully going to continue on doing some more, but he insisted on going back to his handpicked band, and basically left Brian and I in the dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis time around, however, the Beach Boys exiles didn\u2019t fracture into their own camps. Instead, realizing they had strength in numbers, Brian recruited Al into his solo band alongside Blondie Chaplin, who briefly served as an official\u00a0Beach Boy in the early Seventies and sang lead on 1973\u2019s \u201cSail On, Sailor.\u201d They didn\u2019t have the Beach Boys name, but fans and critics responded warmly to this version of the band.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA couple of years later, when longtime high-harmony singer Jeff Foskett defected from Brian\u2019s band to Mike\u2019s Beach Boys, they invited Matt Jardine \u2014 who has a stunning falsetto voice, reminiscent of a young Carl Wilson \u2014 to take his place. \u201cThat was very unexpected,\u201d says Matt. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what was going on with Brian and his health and where I fit into it and all of that. But it was really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the years ticked by in the 2010s, Brian became less and less engaged onstage. There were many nights where he simply sat behind the keyboard and barely sang, staring off instead into the distance. \u201cHe kept wanting to go out and tour, though,\u201d Sahanaja says. \u201cMost musicians are like, \u2018You know how it is on the road, you put up with the 22 hours of the day for the two hours that you\u2019re onstage.\u2019 Brian was the opposite. He put up with the two hours onstage so he could have room service, be on the bus, and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tThe Beach Boys on their 2012 reunion tour (from left): Brian Wilson, David Marks, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, and Al Jardine.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPaul Natkin\/WireImage<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Brian\u2019s capacity diminishing, Al and Matt Jardine became crucial parts of the show, providing many of the lead vocals. \u201cWe\u2019d be right at the beginning of a song and Brian would start singing and then fade out,\u201d says Matt. \u201cI\u2019d get on the mic as fast as I could to cover. The more uncomfortable he felt in scenarios, he just leaned on either me or leaned on Dad more and more \u2014 which was fine. That\u2019s why we\u2019re there, to support him, and to be there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last tour took place in the summer of 2022, when Brian Wilson and his band played North American amphitheaters with the band Chicago, an echo of the famous \u201cBeachago\u201d<\/a> dual-headline shows of the Seventies. Wilson was in a bad state the entire time, despite the heroic efforts of the Jardines and the rest of the band to compensate. \u201cI sensed that something was wrong, but I later learned from his managers that he contracted long-term Covid,\u201d Al Jardine says. \u201dIt would\u2019ve been really nice if they would\u2019ve told us that so that we could understand what was going on, because we were really concerned. But we didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe tour wrapped up July 26, 2022, at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkson, Michigan. The final song was \u201cFun, Fun, Fun,\u201d with Al Jardine singing lead as Brian sat passively by his side, not singing. It was Wilson\u2019s final time on a concert stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe decision was made right before showtime that that was going to be the last show,\u201d says Matt Jardine.\u00a0 \u201cWhen we had our circle on the side of the stage right before we went on, it was really emotional. But I was still kind of in a state of disbelief, because it\u2019s like, \u2018This can\u2019t possibly be the last show. This is still such a great act. And Brian is probably going to bounce back from this in some miraculous fashion.\u2019 It just didn\u2019t feel like the end to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTHE SOUTH SHORE Music Circus in Cohasset is a tiny fraction the size of Pine Knob or the other mega-ampitheaters that Wilson and Jardine played on that last tour with Chicago. Posters from the venue\u2019s Seventies heyday (Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, a double bill of The Brady Bunch\u2019s Florence Henderson with Gomer Pyle\u2019s Jim Nabors) line the dressing-room walls, and the grounds \u2014 which include a circus-like tent and a round, revolving stage \u2014 feel frozen in the amber of that time. Today, most bookings are acts like Rumours: The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute and Y\u00e4chtley Cr\u00ebw, a yacht-rock band that performs in sailors\u2019 uniforms.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJardine poses for photos with fans after the Cohasset show.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Lasky for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\tA small contingent of hardcore Beach Boys fans wait in the parking lot for the doors to open, straining to hear Jardine run through the last few Love You songs he has time to practice before they\u2019re allowed in. It\u2019s far from a sellout crowd, even though the stage will remain stationary, and no seats were sold in the back half of the house or on the sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there\u2019s still a roar when Jardine and the band come out to kick off the first set with \u201cCalifornia Girls,\u201d \u201cDo It Again,\u201d \u201cSurfer Girl,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Worry Baby,\u201d and other early hits. There was talk during soundcheck of trotting out \u201cCatch a Wave,\u201d but it was dismissed as\u00a0 \u201ctoo Mike Love\u2019s Beach Boys.\u201d They instead please the faithful with \u201cSweet Sunday Kind of Love\u201d and \u201cShe\u2019s Got Rhythm,\u201d two extreme rarities from 1978\u2019s M.I.U. Album \u2014 an LP that\u2019s even more obscure than The Beach Boys Love You, if that\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is all a warmup for the Love You set. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do something really different,\u201d Jardine informs the crowd after a brief intermission. \u201cYou thought the first set was strange, this is really undiscovered territory\u2026.Brian\u2019s incredible music went undiscovered for many years, at least except for a very small minority. This is an album called The Beach Boys Love You.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLead vocals on album opener \u201cLet Us Go On This Way\u201d are provided by Sahanaja, and this entire endeavor would never have happened without his tireless work in the months preceding the show. It involved using state-of-the-art software to isolate each musical element from the original master tapes, sending them off to the band members responsible for recreating them, and then painstakingly rehearsing it all over and over.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s some quirky timing going on on the record, and that was probably due to Brian, on the spot, deciding to do something in a really unorthodox way, counting measures and coming in in the most unusual spot,\u201d says Sahanaja. \u201cThat\u2019s just not intuitive to most people, but it was probably very intuitive to Brian. And now we have to think that way while doing it live.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAll that work is invisible as the band tears through 11 of the 14 Love You songs, sending shockwaves of joy to the devoted Beach Boys enthusiasts sprinkled throughout the stands. Some attendees, it must be noted, look fully dumbfounded by what\u2019s happening onstage \u2014 especially during the truly bizarre songs, like \u201cJohnny Carson\u201d (\u201cWhen guests are boring, he picks up the slack\u2026The network makes him break his back\u2026\u201d) \u2014 but even they perk up during a madcap, extended \u201cDing Dang\u201d and an achingly tender \u201cThe Night Was So Young.\u201d (The latter should forever extinguish the absurd notion that Brian lost his gift after Smile. It\u2019s as beautiful as anything on Pet Sounds.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe night wraps up with a suite of Pet Sounds songs, the Smile version of \u201cHeroes and Villains,\u201d an inevitable \u201cHelp Me, Rhonda,\u201d and a short address by Al Jardine about the genius behind all this music. \u201cWe\u2019re all a reflection of Brian Wilson\u2019s music and his spirit,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here. We wouldn\u2019t be here without him. That\u2019s it. We\u2019re his messengers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the somewhat thin attendance, it\u2019s hard to see the show as anything but a tremendous success. And when the Jardines and the band gather backstage in the aftermath, there\u2019s a sense of triumph in the air. \u201cI rehearsed \u2018Roller Skating Child\u2019 down to the nail, and I got it!\u201d says Al Jardine. \u201cWe did a couple of flubs, but they are easily correctable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat same night, Mike Love\u2019s Beach Boys played a festival in L\u00f6rrach, Germany. It\u2019s one of the roughly 120 shows Love has booked for this year. But his set was limited purely to the same well-known songs he\u2019s been performing for 60 years. \u201cThey\u2019re trapped in a box,\u201d says Matt Jardine. \u201cThey\u2019re forced to play the hits over and over and over and over again. But what he\u2019s done has forced my dad to really try and think outside that box.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe future of Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band is a little murky outside of a smattering of U.S. dates<\/a> on the calendar in the late summer and early fall, before they head to Australia in October. They hope to book larger venues next year and find a way to make this endeavor at least break even for Al, and they\u2019re not opposed to the idea of maybe one day reviving Smile and Pet Sounds. I tell Al that big plans like this don\u2019t sound like someone on their \u201clast hurrah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just don\u2019t like being away from home as much as I used to,\u201d he says, \u201cbut if we could do a residency somewhere, perhaps on Broadway, that would be fun. Before we even talk about something like Smile, let\u2019s get Love You done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFans clap for a set full of Beach Boys rarities.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryan Lasky for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n

\n\tBroader questions linger about what happens to the Beach Boys touring license once Mike Love, now 84, decides to hang it up, whenever that day may come. If Al remains fit and vital, might it revert to him? \u201cI think that would be an incredible opportunity,\u201d says Matt Jardine. \u201cWe could probably bring a lot of what we\u2019re doing with this band. We\u2019d have a lot more material to choose from. But under the licensing agreement, I think they have to play well over a hundred shows a year, and I don\u2019t know if Dad is up to doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tAl isn\u2019t so sure he wants to do that, either. \u201cI would definitely retire it unless Matt Jardine and Mike\u2019s son, Christian, maybe want to go out and use the name,\u201d he says. (Christian Love currently sings in the touring Beach Boys band with his father, handling many of the high vocal parts on songs like \u201cGod Only Knows.\u201d) \u201cI don\u2019t know if anybody would see it, but you never know. The music is so powerful, and there\u2019s always new generations coming along that might want to hear these songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs I say goodbye to Al in Cohasset, his thoughts go once again to Brian. \u201cIt\u2019s too bad Brian couldn\u2019t be here to see this tonight,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat a shame. But it\u2019s almost like he\u2019s not gone. I never really saw him much anyway, even though we talked on the phone. But now he\u2019s always here, in the music.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A l Jardine is feeling a little uneasy. It\u2019s about five hours until a concert at the South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[61334,64,63,57972,134,61333,136,57973],"class_list":{"0":"post-81114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-al-jardine","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-brian-wilson","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-mike-love","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-the-beach-boys"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}