Al Jardine - 2025/2026 Tour Thread (Plus Archived 2018-2024)

[Zenobi]

From their new Des Plains gig:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UNAiIbwrG48&pp=0gcJCRsBo7VqN5tD

Everyone both on and off stage seems to have a great time !  Also I noticed that Paul Von Mertens resumed his awesome baritone sax counterpoint on Fun, Fun, Fun.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

From their new Des Plains gig:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UNAiIbwrG48&pp=0gcJCRsBo7VqN5tD

Everyone both on and off stage seems to have a great time !  Also I noticed that Paul Von Mertens resumed his awesome baritone sax counterpoint on Fun, Fun, Fun.

Fantastic. Thanks for this!

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

I keep noticing great little touches. The way they drop out all the instruments at the end of Honkin' Down the Highway! Awesome.

I can see why Johnny Carson is a highlight each night. Wow. Great fun.

[Zenobi]

Al is fantastic! If anything, sometimes I like his current slightly more "bronze" voice even more than his young voice.
Matt's falsetto is unbelievably pure and sweet, but it can also soar when needed.
The lead vocals parts are assigned perfectly, with Darian handling the "grittier", more "R&B" parts, Gary handling the more humorous parts, etc.
The band, as has been said, is both very tight, in the good way, and very loose, in the good way. The way they are obviously having fun together is really heartwarming. Debbie!
Also heartwarming is seeing (and hearing) a fully packed and quite lively audience!
An astounding H & V immediately followed by the astounding Love You suite is simply the stuff of dreams. Whoever said that Brian "lost it" after the "demise" of SMiLE? Really?
All in all, it's the best imaginable tribute to Brian Wilson, the man who made nearly all this wonderful music, and made all this possible. The GOAT of music.  

To give credit where it's due: I reposted the link posted by Jake Altmayer, who recorded the video, in the Endless Harmony board. And I know how it's difficult, and tiresome, make these audience recordings. Thanks Jake!

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

Al is fantastic! If anything, sometimes I like his current slightly more "bronze" voice even more than his young voice.
Matt's falsetto is unbelievably pure and sweet, but it can also soar when needed.
The lead vocals parts are assigned perfectly, with Darian handling the "grittier", more "R&B" parts, Gary handling the more humorous parts, etc.
The band, as has been said, is both very tight, in the good way, and very loose, in the good way. The way they are obviously having fun together is really heartwarming. Debbie!
Also heartwarming is seeing (and hearing) a fully packed and quite lively audience!
An astounding H & V immediately followed by the astounding Love You suite is simply the stuff of dreams. Whoever said that Brian "lost it" after the "demise" of SMiLE? Really?
All in all, it's the best imaginable tribute to Brian Wilson, the man who made nearly all this wonderful music, and made all this possible. The GOAT of music.  

To give credit where it's due: I reposted the link posted by Jake Altmayer, who recorded the video, in the Endless Harmony board. And I know how it's difficult, and tiresome, make these audience recordings. Thanks Jake!

All well said. Hearing the Love You arrangements played so astonishingly well feels like taking a trip with Brian at his most creative, almost like being inside his head. It's a lovely tribute to him.

[Zenobi]

Whole Love You suite from the Arcada Theatre (courtesy of monolithic from the EH board):

https://youtu.be/rSdG__UPp4I

[coco1997]

I'm curious if there's a reason why the band doesn't perform the three songs off "Love You" that they don't play. I guess the Phil Spector reference in "Mona" has aged poorly, and "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" doesn't really work without a female vocalist. "Love Is a Woman" would be cool to hear live, though.

[Rocker]

“Surf’s Up” Des Plaines, Arcada as Al Jardine, Pet Sounds Band honor fellow Beach Boy Brian Wilson


https://chicagoconcertreviews.com/2025/08/18/al-jardine-the-beach-boys/

[BJL]

I'm curious if there's a reason why the band doesn't perform the three songs off "Love You" that they don't play. I guess the Phil Spector reference in "Mona" has aged poorly, and "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" doesn't really work without a female vocalist. "Love Is a Woman" would be cool to hear live, though.

Love is a Woman is pretty easy for me to imagine no one in the band really wanting so much to sing... it has it's charm, but, I dunno.... Mona, though, I'm surprised they don't do! It's such a fun song, one of my favorites!

[Zenobi]

I think the suite is good as it is. I always thought that Mona is too one-dimensional and does not really belong rhythmically in LUGOTW / RSC / JC which is practically a medley. Plus Spector. LPOHT is not amazing imho, is a bit personal, and needs a female vocalist, as already noted.
Personally, I like Love Is Woman a lot, but many seem to dislike it, and in any case I think that Airplane is the perfect sendoff for the suite. I always loved Airplane, and they have made it into a kind of anthem, it's fantastic.
Also, the 30-odd mins run time is just right, does not overstay its welcome.

[BJL]

I think the suite is good as it is. I always thought that Mona is too one-dimensional and does not really belong rhythmically in LUGOTW / RSC / JC which is practically a medley. Plus Spector. LPOHT is not amazing imho, is a bit personal, and needs a female vocalist, as already noted.
Personally, I like Love Is Woman a lot, but many seem to dislike it, and in any case I think that Airplane is the perfect sendoff for the suite. I always loved Airplane, and they have made it into a kind of anthem, it's fantastic.
Also, the 30-odd mins run time is just right, does not overstay its welcome.

Yea, I actually agree that the set totally makes sense as they do it, and agree about Airplane as an ender! The Spector reference doesn't both me, personally. As Ronnie Spector and many others have made clear, where ever all the violence in him came from, it wasn't the same place the music came from. But I guess I couldn't blame someone else for feeling differently. Let's Put Our Hearts Together I'd love to hear, but they don't of course have any one to do the other part of the duet. But personally, it's always been one of my favorite songs on Love You. As a composition (chords and melody), I think it's one of Brian's best of the era, maybe of all his eras, even. Though somehow it's not as well served by the production as most of the other songs on the album.... just my personal opinion, obviously!

[SurfJohnB]

Had a couple more thoughts to add after the second show in Chicago and based on the discussion here.
I went on with two friends who like Beach Boys music in the way most people do— the hits up to Pet Sounds + Good Vibrations and Kokomo. I told them going in they were in for a bunch of deep cuts including most of an album they’ve never heard. I was worried the Love You section would lose them and instead it was met with the opposite response! They were completely into it and one of them said it was his favorite part of the show and he’s been listening to the album since the show. What a testament to the concert!

Also, always thought Matt has done a great job, but he sounds better than ever. The strength of Matt, Rob and Darian’s vocal stack really carries the harmonies and sounds absolutely killer. Al should film one of these shows and release it so people around the world can see and hear this!

Is the live mixer the same person who did BW shows?

[BJL]

Had a couple more thoughts to add after the second show in Chicago and based on the discussion here.
I went on with two friends who like Beach Boys music in the way most people do— the hits up to Pet Sounds + Good Vibrations and Kokomo. I told them going in they were in for a bunch of deep cuts including most of an album they’ve never heard. I was worried the Love You section would lose them and instead it was met with the opposite response! They were completely into it and one of them said it was his favorite part of the show and he’s been listening to the album since the show. What a testament to the concert!

Also, always thought Matt has done a great job, but he sounds better than ever. The strength of Matt, Rob and Darian’s vocal stack really carries the harmonies and sounds absolutely killer. Al should film one of these shows and release it so people around the world can see and hear this!

Is the live mixer the same person who did BW shows?

Yea the harmony blend of this band is absolutely killer! I may have said this above, but I felt like at the Massachusetts show, even though some of the crowd was obviously a little bemused by the Love You songs, the incredibly high level of enthusiasm from maybe a fifth of the audience that was losing their minds felt like it helped bring everyone else along! But the material itself is also just so strong. So many killer melodies!

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

I told them going in they were in for a bunch of deep cuts including most of an album they’ve never heard. I was worried the Love You section would lose them and instead it was met with the opposite response! They were completely into it and one of them said it was his favorite part of the show and he’s been listening to the album since the show. What a testament to the concert!

Your pre-show coaching may have helped -- they didn't spend the whole 30 minutes hoping that Kokomo was the next song.   Still, that is awesome!

[Rocker]

So that it's not going under the radar I'll post the three links I posted in the media section to a lengthy filmed interview with Al by a german team that was doing a report about California aroun the Hawthorne, CA release. Very worth watching this:


LOST TAPEs Al Jardine – The Full 2001 Interview Part 1


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIvOVo-CQWE



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDVPktWc5Ig



LOST TAPEs Al Jardine – The Full 2001 Interview PART 3/3


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT6rhFKRb9E

[Zenobi]

I always loved Love You, but in a kinda "I love Brian at his weirdest" way, like Smiley Smile, Mt. Vernon, Night Bloomin' Jasmine etc. Yes, I love Brian at his weirdest, and we have far too little of that.
But... what Al and Band are doing has changed my perspective about Love You. This live suite ROCKS, AND HAS GREAT HARMONIES, AND HIGHLIGHTS THE GREAT MELODIES. It's a 30-odd-mins anthem to Brian Wilson, not just a tribute, an anthem. It's sublime.
I have listened to the various audience recordings dozens of times.
Whatever the curmudgeons elsewhere may say. "How he dare, does he think he's Brian Wilson?" "It's a fluke." (REALLY?). Stick to the hits, guys and gals, it's more your style.

[Lonely Summer]

Maybe next year they can introduce some Sweet Insanity songs into the shows.

[SMiLE]

Maybe next year they can introduce some Sweet Insanity songs into the shows.

I honestly don't think they will include songs from an unreleased album very few people know about. At least Love You was released despite it's relative obscurity.

[Zenobi]

I guess the Sweet Insanity suggestion was sarcastic. I apologize if it was not.
However, even I draw a line at Sweet Insanity, starting from its terribad title. Reeks too much of Landy for me, and the only song I like is Country Feelin', which was planned, uncannily, only as a bonus track. Luckily it was released in the "For Our Children" compilation.

[HeyJude]

Updated the top post with some new setlists from recent shows.