The Beach Boys haven’t performed since a pair of shows earlier this month in Cincinnati and Nashville where frontman Mike Love appeared incredibly frail, largely unable to sing or even stand. Their sole remaining 2026 gigs were supposed to take place Nov. 11 and 12 at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, and Nov. 13 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Bristol, Virginia.
The Hard Rock show is still on the books, for now, but Epcot Center has replaced the Beach Boys with a new entity billing themselves as “John Stamos and the California Sound.” The California Sound are presumably the Beach Boys touring band minus Love, but that is not confirmed. A spokesperson for the Beach Boys didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before the Nashville show, Stamos posted an emotional tribute to Love on Instagram. “Mike is a fighter,” he wrote. “Despite doctors, family and friends urging him to focus on his health, he insists on being on stage. He says he needs his band, the audience, his friends and drummer surrounding him to lift him up… Tonight, at the Ryman, sharing the stage with Mike, I want to be completely present. Hear every harmony, familiar joke and cheer… I want to cherish every second without feeling those seconds slipping away. That’s what I’m giving him. We don’t know what tomorrow brings. But we have tonight.”
The details of Love’s illness have not been made public. But he sent the New York Times an optimistic message last week. “I’m putting my full energy into rehab,” he wrote, “so I can get back to the music and the best fans in the world.”
The only Beach Boys show on the calendar after the Hard Rock gig in Bristol is a May 8, 2027, concert at the River Cree Resort and Casino Enoch in Alberta, Canada. As of now, tickets are still on sale.
Al Jardine, the only other living member of the original Beach Boys lineup, is continuing to tour heavily with veteran members of Brian Wilson’s group that he’s dubbed the Pet Sounds Band. He recently reunited with early 1960s guitarist David Marks and longtime Beach Boy Bruce Johnston at a special show in Cerritos, California. They have shows coming up Dec. 5 in Clearwater, Florida, and Dec. 8 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
In an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this month, Jardine said he didn’t know what would happen to the Beach Boys touring license once Love is no longer able to perform. But he’s open to using it himself, possibly as something like “The Beach Boys Featuring Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band.”
“I’d be honored if it came to that,” he said. “There’s a complexity to it, but it’s also a good one. It works. I don’t know if I can get my buddies, the other Beach Boys, to come out at every show though. We’ll see what happens.”
In the meantime, we’ll see if “John Stamos and the California Sound” are a one-off band assembled solely for the Disneyland shows or if they’ll book additional gigs.
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