Mike Love of The Beach Boys at Jones Beach, June 2012 (more by Greg Cristman)

We knew this was coming, but now, as the Beach Boy's reunion tour comes to its scheduled end in the UK, it's official:

The reunion of founding members of the Beach Boys will not continue beyond this week, according to the band's frontman Mike Love.

Brian Wilson and Al Jardine - both founding members of the legendary Californian pop group - have been told their involvement in the band's touring commitments will cease after this week.

David Marks, who originally joined the band as a replacement for Jardine in 1962, is also to be relieved of his touring duties.

Singer Mike Love, who owns the rights the band's name following a series of legal battles, released a statement which said:

"The post-50th anniversary configuration will not include Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks. The 50th Reunion Tour was designed to be a set tour with a beginning and an end to mark a special 50-year milestone for the band." -[Telegraph]

The end of the 50th Reunion Tour happens this week in the UK with Wilson, Marks and Al Jardine in tow. The remaining dates are 9/27 at Royal Albert Hall and 9/28 at Wembley Arena.

They recently toured the US and played Jones Beach, PNC Bank Arts Center, Bonnaroo, and Beacon Theater twice. They also released a new LP  together.

photos by Greg Cristman

The Beach Boys at Jones Beach - 6/24/12

The Beach Boys brought their tour, which already hit Beacon Theater, Bonnaroo, and Central Park for Good Morning America, to Jones Beach on Sunday (6/24). They were introduced by John Stamos, who also joined them on drums for a few songs. Like they've been doing at other shows on the tour, they mainly focused on their earlier material during the first set like "Surfer Girl," "Don't Back Down," and "I Get Around," and when they returned for their second set, we were given some of the great tracks from their late '60s/early '70s period including "Heroes and Villains" with the "Our Prayer" intro. According to this YouTube video, the Jones Beach show was the first ever performance of "Our Prayer" with Brian on stage. They also threw in others from that period like "God Only Knows," "Good Vibrations," "Forever," and more. Plus, they included a number of their standard covers in their set like "Then I Kissed Her," "Do You Wanna Dance?" and "Barbara Ann." As usual, Brian spent most of the time sitting behind his grand piano (which may or may not be real). One message boarder writes:

I was kind of put off at first because the beginning seemed to lack energy, but things picked up as the crowd became more into it. Disappointingly enough, the person to get the most applause was John Stamos. Luckily, he was only limited to "Be True to Your School" (which got the most applause, somehow) and the encore. For "Kokomo", the audience would applaud every time he appeared on the screens surrounding the stage. Seems like the casual concertgoer has their priorities mixed up.

Highlights for me were "Please Let Me Wonder" and "Our Prayer"/"Heroes and Villains". Brian sounded like he was channeling his old self for the beginning of "Please Let Me Wonder", but slipped back into his current voice shortly after. Either way, it was amazing, but "Our Prayer"/"Heroes and Villains" took me by surprise. I was hoping for "Gee" after "Our Prayer", but I'll take it. The Dennis and Carl tributes were also great, and they work so well in the context of the concert. I was happy to hear "Pet Sounds", but thought David could have done a better job with the lead guitar. The spotlight was on him, and he seemed to put just the minimum amount of effort in. Maybe this will get better as the tour goes on. I was disappointed to not hear "This Whole World" or "Darlin'", the latter of which I was really happy to see had been added to the group's tour line-up recently. "Marcella" was back, at least.

I think the most heartbreaking part of the show was seeing Brian in action for the first time. He was "on" for the first set and into the show, but all of the Brian-centric songs in the second set seemed to tire him out, such that he didn't bother playing the bass he strapped on for the encore. I didn't notice how, but during "Fun, Fun, Fun", the bass was removed and he was left awkwardly standing on the stage, waiting for the song to end. It seems to be a miracle that he has managed to stay on the tour for so long, because you definitely get a sense of him not wanting to be there.

Overall, it was an excellent show. They played so many songs so well that just the first set would have been enough, and it's impossible to expect Brian to be in top form at any show, so it's hard to be picky. I hope they play here again, but I'm not holding out any hope, given the nature of the tour.

The Beach Boys will return to the NYC area on Wednesday (6/27) at PNC Bank Arts Center in NJ. More pictures from Jones Beach, and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "The Beach Boys played Jones Beach (pics & setlist)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

" The band has a treasure trove of outright classics, and they performed what felt like all of them during their Sunday afternoon set. "Surfer Girl," "Barbara Ann," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Sloop John B," "Surfin' Safari," even "Kokomo" -- you name it, they probably played it. While that wasn't inherently surprising, what came as a bit of a shock was how fresh the band sounded -- even if its elder members didn't look the part -- both on their classics and on tunes from their recently released reunion LP, "That's Why God Made the Radio." Brian Wilson's presence is what makes this reunion so successful, but onstage he looked like the Queen of England, sitting idly behind a grand piano and taking the occasional vocal lead; Mike Love, meanwhile, seemed to be the main Beach Boy behind the wheel. Taken together with the afternoon's balmy weather and the day-in-the-park vibe of festivalgoers knocking around beach balls and splaying out on towels, the group's sublime set was just the thing for a lazy, hungover Sunday." [Rolling Stone / CNN]

The reunited Beach Boys (Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks), on a tour that also brought them to Chicago and NYC's Beeacon Theater recently, played Bonnaroo on Sunday (6/10). Our pictures from their 3pm Tennesee set are in this post (with the rest of our Sunday Bonnaroo pics coming shortly. Saturday can be seen HERE.)

If you're curious what the band sound like live, listen to some tour highlights at NPR. If you're curious what their new album cover looks like, head to their Facebook where you can also change the colors if they're not to your liking. If you're curious what the new album sounds like, you can listen to the whole thing below.

If you're in NYC and can't wait to see the band live at PNC Bank Arts Center or Jones Beach, don't forget you can catch them EARLY FRIDAY MORNING in Central Park courtesy of Good Morning America (free and also being televised).

More pictures from Bonnaroo, their 31 song setlist, and the new album stream, below...

Continue reading "The Beach Boys played Bonnaroo (pics & setlist), play Central Park Friday morning, streaming new album now"

The reunited Beach Boys, after playing the Grammys and announcing their appearance at Bonnaroo, have announced a full North American tour including two shows at NYC's Beacon Theater: May 8 & 9 (both on sale 2/21). All tour dates are listed, with on sale dates, below...

Continue reading "Beach Boys announce Tour Dates - 2 nights @ Beacon Theater in NYC + AC, Camden, Bethel, Westchester, PA, CT & more"

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Radiohead, Beach Boys, Phish, Little Dragon, SBTRKT, The Antlers, Bad Brains, Laura Marling, St. Vinent, Tune-Yards, Flying Lotus, and many more are playing Bonnaroo this year. Full list below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"