Rolling Stone on the Mike/Bruce South American Shows

[Howie Edelson]

Carl Wilson, to his great credit, had wanted the Beach Boys to tour far less, and when they would come around, say every other year, they would play arenas, rather than fairs, etc. That didn't come to pass and the brand was stretched thin. The Beach Boys aren't some pathetic Motown act hanging on struggling for gigs. There are five alive and able to perform and put on an amazing show, TRULY. Their show now easily trumps McCartney''s by now rote Mitch Weissman act. I'm not saying that this lineup should tour as long and as frequently as Mike does -- but this should be "The Beach Boys" from here on out. It shouldn't go out having "some guy" singing their classics with one or more original members. They should end it unified. Mike himself told me that Joe Thomas putting this year together was nothing short of impossible and that he couldn't imagine anyone else having what it takes to do so. I asked him about the thought of having a Joe Thomas-type IN HOUSE working within BRI to do so. Mike admitted he hadn't even thought of that. They should go out an institution. The Beach Boys are synonymous with Elvis, The Beatles, The Stones and Motown. Except BRI has never been developed to operate on the same level as Apple, EPE or The Who's Trinifold -- which is a shame and the reason why a discussion like the one we're having is even able to occur.

[JanBerryFarm]

This is the deal: Mike can't -- and shouldn't -- have it both ways. For as long as I (or any journalist) has been talking with him, he's been pining for Brian's return. It's been a benchmark of every interview he's given over the past decade -- even during the most viscous of legal disputes against his cousin and his management. Well, in 2012 Mike finally got his wish -- he got Brian back. True, the new LP is devoid of any true Wilson/Love collaborations, but Mike has Brian back -- along with show stealing David Marks and a revitalized Al Jardine, who's finally learned how to work a crowd and enjoy performing during his long hiatus away. Regardless of having the best sounding shows since '74/'75, amazing attendance at credible venues, a Top Three album, major press by every respected outfit across the globe, Mike Love is losing money. In addition to losing money, he conceded a massive amount of power to Melinda Wilson. We all joke here about how and when they'll f uck it up -- THIS is how. Now, I could be wrong, these could be a few one-off shows in-between further plans TBA -- but Bruce Johnston has been (almost gleefully) quite vocal about this scenario since BEFORE the tour even started.

The bottom line is this: In the "modern age" the Beach Boys have never been cooler, more relevant, sounding better, more respected than they are now. If Mike wants to blow this and go back to being a scaled back carny band in secondary markets for the extra few dollars and head cheese position, he will never be forgiven. If this thing ends with Mike Love rejecting Brian Wilson and the quality of the combined band they've assembled now for something LESS, his place in history is sullied forever.

It already is-"The Most Hated Man In Rock and Roll".

Yes, but only by demented, narcissistic, self-important druggies WITHIN Rock and Roll...not with the public at large.

[KittyKat]

Part of the problem is the big money that Brian and Mike were getting from record royalties no longer exists and hasn't for years due to free Internet file sharing.  They can't live on their old records like the used to. Both Brian and Mike live expensive lifestyles. They also have seven children each and grandchildren.  Touring revenue is their most reliable income.  Since Brian can't and won't tour that much, it's up to Mike to keep money coming in.  I don't blame Mike and Brian if they have Mike touring without Brian and calling it the Beach Boys.  If people going to shows aren't up enough on the Beach Boys to check whether Brian and/or Al is with them on a particular show they want to see, I'm not sure they're the type of fans who will be missing Brian much, anyways.

[ontor pertawst]

 

They should end it unified.

Yes. This is it, they are writing the last chapters in everybody's books here and they managed to turn what might've been an excruciating, embarrassing-even-to-the-fans ordeal into an exciting, proud, often sweetly melancholic crazy group ritual and public outpouring of love and goofiness. They are somehow managing to pull it off! It should go out this way with the group together again.

[KittyKat]

I still think these guys have too much debt and too nice a lifestyle, not to mention a gazillion kids (and Brian's last two are still babies), for them to stop touring in some form or other.  They should perhaps allow all three guys to tour under a Beach Boys type name separately and have geographic territories.  That way, there could be Mike Love's Beach Boys Coupe De Ville, Al Jardine Beach Boys Extravaganza, and a Brian Wilson Beach Boys' Genius tours. 

[hypehat]

I still think these guys have too much debt and too nice a lifestyle, not to mention a gazillion kids (and Brian's last two are still babies), for them to stop touring in some form or other.  They should perhaps allow all three guys to tour under a Beach Boys type name separately and have geographic territories.  That way, there could be Mike Love's Beach Boys Coupe De Ville, Al Jardine Beach Boys Extravaganza, and a Brian Wilson Beach Boys' Genius tours. 

I like this.

The Mike N Bruce Hot-Rod Revue

The "Keep It Clean with Al Jardine" Band

The "I'm Not A Genius, I'm Just Brian Wilson" Show.

[kiwi surfer]

I reckon if Brian said "hey, you know Mike I have never been to Peru.  You mind if I tag along too? Those Peruvians aren't going to believe how great we sound for a couple of 70 year olds" Mike wouldn't say no.

I'm just looking forward to seeing Mike in one of hand-woven Peruvian hat things with earflaps.

Don't sweat the small stuff and enjoy what we have (which is far more than any of us could have dreamt of a year ago).

[Lowbacca]

Part of the problem is the big money that Brian and Mike were getting from record royalties no longer exists and hasn't for years due to free Internet file sharing.  They can't live on their old records like the used to. Both Brian and Mike live expensive lifestyles. They also have seven children each and grandchildren.  Touring revenue is their most reliable income.  Since Brian can't and won't tour that much, it's up to Mike to keep money coming in.  I don't blame Mike and Brian if they have Mike touring without Brian and calling it the Beach Boys.  If people going to shows aren't up enough on the Beach Boys to check whether Brian and/or Al is with them on a particular show they want to see, I'm not sure they're the type of fans who will be missing Brian much, anyways.

I think Brian would do okay financially without anyone touring under the 'Beach Boys' moniker and thus generating income. But then again, I'm not an expert in these things.

[adamghost]

The money has never been in record royalties.  Songwriting income is a bigger cash cow than touring or record sales, and the Beach Boys material is still covered and used in movies all the time.  The hit songwriting members of the band are probably not suffering for cash flow.  But the larger point is totally accurate -- that touring is a big source of income and it would be a hardship to just give that up.

[KittyKat]

Songwriting is tied into recording sales, though.  The less you sell, the less you get.  Songwriters get more than performers who don't write songs, but they're all getting pieces of the same pie.  Licensing fees for an appearance of a song by the Beatles is astronomical, but I'm not sure about the Beach Boys.  The reason artists have made the fees for soundtrack appearances go higher is because they know that they won't be getting much sales from people buying soundtrack CD's.  If revenues weren't a problem people wouldn't be saying that touring is now the most important part of band revenues.  At least that's what industry people claim, anyways.  Getting a few soundtrack placement fees doesn't make up for the fact that a hit album like TWGMTR now sells less than 100,000 copies on average.  Spotify only pays fractions of pennies for plays so it's getting harder for everyone and that's why guys like Bon Jovi are on endless tours. 

[Shady]

I love Mike but if he booked these shows while still on tour with Brian it shows a serious lack of class

[JanBerryFarm]

Still reading Rolling Stone ?

you'll never learn.

Old habits die hard, don't they?

HEy..Charmin 2 ply is cheaper.

[elagpa]

At this time, south america it's not anymore a secondary market... remember Rock in Rio, many official DVDs filmed in the region, Roger Water's 10 shows in Buenos Aires, Paul McCartney are doing shows here in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Maybe still we aren't on europe and north america level but today we are important for most of the artists. We need The Original 50th Anniversary Tour, not the Bruce and Mike show, that's a wrong move for the Boys.

[Pretty Funky]

Cash from 60plus Meet and Greets must be a tidy sum, regardless of Mikes percentage.

[HeyJude]

I hypothesized awhile back that Mike could potentially make less money on a reunion tour than he does on his own. In his own operation, he takes the money off the top and everybody else gets paid salary. He doesn't split the money with the other members of BRI. He only splits the licensing fee with the members of BRI, which is just a small percentage of total proceeds. And even that small percentage is shared equally by Mike as well.

Nobody apparently knows what the financial structure is on this reunion tour, but one has to assume it isn't set up for Mike to get everything off the top and only pay everybody else salary. I would imagine Brian and Mike and possibly Al as a member of BRI each split some money off the top, and everybody else is paid salary. And yes, the overheard on this tour is way larger than a Mike/Bruce tour.

I don't think Mike is literally losing money on this tour, but he might make less personally touring in 2012 than he did in 2011.

As I mentioned in another thread, the booking of non-reunion shows and all of those types of scenarios had to be known to all parties when the tour started. The only unknown was how much blowback or bad publicity Mike would get for going back to his own version of the BB's. Doing the reunion was a big thing for Mike to put himself out there to do, because he's basically re-reminding people of what the "real" BB's should look like, and his own BB's-Lite with two actual BB's and a smaller backing band may be judged differently now, at least in some quarters.

[Justin]

We need to remember that if/when the Mike/Bruce show gets back on the road it will return to the type of venues and towns where they always played...it's not going to create the same type of hype as this current tour.  The media attention will subside to almost nothing and Mike/Bruce can glide across the US with relative easy without having everyone breathing down their necks about not having the reunion lineup up there.  You know how it was before the tour when people still showed up to Mike/Bruce shows and people would also show up to Brian shows?  It'll be like that.

[KittyKat]

It's just a small minority of fans that care that much.  I checked out the Brian Wilson board and it has some comment but not that much.  I hadn't been on that site in a while and it's amazing how much negativity there is among some of the Love and Mercy set.  It's not the Mike stuff that surprised me as much as some of the nasty things said about Jeff Foskett.  Really?

[SMiLE Brian]

I still think these guys have too much debt and too nice a lifestyle, not to mention a gazillion kids (and Brian's last two are still babies), for them to stop touring in some form or other.  They should perhaps allow all three guys to tour under a Beach Boys type name separately and have geographic territories.  That way, there could be Mike Love's Beach Boys Coupe De Ville, Al Jardine Beach Boys Extravaganza, and a Brian Wilson Beach Boys' Genius tours. 

I like this.

The Mike N Bruce Hot-Rod Revue

The "Keep It Clean with Al Jardine" Band

The "I'm Not A Genius, I'm Just Brian Wilson" Show.

, also David Marks and the Marksmen.

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

Uhh...so, I'm typically not the biggest Mike Love apologist, but I'm pretty much in a bit of a words battle with some know-nothing a**holes in the comments section of this RS article.  I'm defending Mike against comments that are basically summed as follows: "Mike Love is a greedy, talentless, Brian Wilson hating D-Bag"

If anybody wants to help me out over there with, oh, I don't know, logic or reason, I would appreciate it.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Mike Love is like a corporation. I'm sure he and his team of accountants knew exactly what the bottom line was going to be with the reunion tour. And, you can be sure that, even though his "take" might be less than the Mike & Bruce shows, he will write off every little thing imaginable, including Brian's massage therapist for his aching back!

IMO IMO IMO IMO IMO IMO .... I think Mike would settle for a smaller cut (how much smaller, I don't know) to continue touring with Brian Wilson and maybe - MAYBE - Al and David, too. Actually, I can't see a scenario where Brian would stay on board but Al and David would not.

[ontor pertawst]

For all the complaining, drama, and anger... wow, they are out there this week performing "Our Prayer." Let's keep this all in perspective, I guess. I take back my idiocy!

I definitely agree it's a bit of stirring the pot on their part. "Gee, we better make some drama over an obscure South American show..."

[JanBerryFarm]

SPECIAL ADVICE FROM BRIANS COUSIN EDDIE WILSON

[Jim V.]

Well, I guess I'd wade into this discussion. Firstly, I gotta say, none of us really know what is going on behind the scenes, but I will say it seems odd that Brian seems like he has happily returned to being a full-time Beach Boy, while Mike and Bruce seem eager to get past this "artier" tour and get back to the "meat and potatoes" county fair circuit. Wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't get a new Beach Boys album and possibly even more shows from this lineup because once again Mike put what he thought to be commerce ahead of art. However, if Brian is actually cool with the Mike and Bruce show doing these shows while the full, real group isn't out there then its fine.

However,I personally think that as long as Brian wants to keep The Beach Boys active as a recording unit that the touring group should accordingly be Brian (if he wants to tour), Mike, Al, Bruce, and David. I'm sure the guys are doing pretty decently on this tour, and if Brian wants to put out a new Beach Boys album every one or two years, then Mike should treat the band like an ongoing artistic group and not a jukebox touring revue. Just my opinion though.

True, the new LP is devoid of any true Wilson/Love collaborations, but Mike has Brian back -- along with show stealing David Marks and a revitalized Al Jardine, who's finally learned how to work a crowd and enjoy performing during his long hiatus away.

On nearly everything else you are spot on, but that statement bugs me.

Ugh, the David Marks cheerleading is kinda getting outta hand. Show stealing? I don't know about that. And that coupled with the back-handed compliment to Al ("...finally learned how to work a crowd..."), it's getting old.

[Magic City Surfer]

If these dates were booked before the 50th Celebration tour dates, then almost everything you just said is irrelevant. 

I don't like the idea of Mike/Bruce as the Beach Boys after this tour either, but if they already had these dates booked, I don't think they should be cancelled.

The Mike & Bruce Show immediately hitting the road right after the C50 shows just doesn't feel right. 

 It's like if they had stuck Do It Again (2012) on the album right after Summer's Gone.

[Jonathan Blum]

I'm sure you know far more about all of this than I do, but I don't see how it's possible that Mike is making more from shows that generate $100,000 than shows that are generating up to $1,000,000.

I agree that sounds dubious to me... but it's possible that part of the difference is because of the way the tour is scheduled, with weeks off in the middle.  Are Mike and Bruce actually playing fewer shows than they normally would in a summer?

Cheers,
Jon Blum