Not exactly a glowing review of Mike's recent concert performance in San Diego

[Tony S]

The reviewer was even a bit more kind than some recent reviews I've seen on the internet, as well as some of the performances I've watched on You Tube. I have never liked Christian Loves vocals, they sound bland and boring to me. And to my ears Brian Eichenberger's falsetto vocals have really slipped, he sounds off key to me a lot. He just doesn't blend anymore. And I was never a fan of the new drummer, way too animated for my taste. And as far as Stamos goes, running around the stage with an unplugged guitar, posing like the wanna be rock star he sooooo wants to be, but isn't, well nuf said about him.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/review-good-vibrations-come-and-go-at-beach-boys-spirits-heavy-san-diego-show/ar-AA1KgRst?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[Lonely Summer]

So what else is new? We all know Mike sucks; and Bruce blows.

[acedecade75]

 Mike's so called "Beach Boys" have really gone down hill in the last couple of years.  Mike can barely sing and Bruce sounds like he's had a stroke.  The band is not good.  Everything is off and the vocals are terrible.  And I just don't get the band's obsession with Stamos.  Stamos just bounces around the stage like a hyperactive toddler making a fool of himself.  The music deserves better than this.  It is truly sad.

[Zenobi]

Stamos is simply awful. There should be ad hoc laws against him.

[SMiLE]

I guess as I expected getting rid of Totten and Cowsill was simply the latest in a long history of Mike's bad ideas.

[Zenobi]

They just canceled a gig, for "unforeseen reasons". Mike is not looking good, seems to have suddenly aged. I hope it's not anything serious.

[BJL]

I guess as I expected getting rid of Totten and Cowsill was simply the latest in a long history of Mike's bad ideas.

Haven't seen this new iteration of the band yet (though I'm hoping to make a show if I can in the near future). But there was a long period there were they really put on a fantastic show. I saw a theater show in the mid 2010s that was just fantastic. It was really nice to feel like both of the acts representing the Beach Boys were putting on great shows emphasizing different aspects of the bands legacy...

Re: Totten and Cowsill, does anyone have a guess at the logic of that change? I remember seeing that they were let go because Mike wanted to go in a different direction... but what direction was that / what was the tension?

[Julia]

John Stamos is funny to me. The guy's really handsome and in another universe could've seemingly been a heartthrob star in his own right but he has the worst instinct of almost anyone I've ever seen in show business. (Full House will forever haunt his image and prevent him from being seen as genuinely "cool" in anyone's eyes but little kids and soccer moms.) As for his music "career" riding Dennis' coattails, it's like he'd rather larp as a big cool energetic rockstar on stage than actually put the work in to just play well. He wants to be the cool "what'll he do next" Hendrix lighting a guitar on fire but forgets that Hendrix could back it up by being a virtuoso on his chosen instrument. He didn't have to work for his "success" as a musician so he's got all the Mick Jagger peacock strut with none of talent.

It's a really weird situation. I don't hate the guy or anything but that's my honest take. Guy wants to be Dennis so bad.

[BJL]

John Stamos is funny to me. The guy's really handsome and in another universe could've seemingly been a heartthrob star in his own right but he has the worst instinct of almost anyone I've ever seen in show business. (Full House will forever haunt his image and prevent him from being seen as genuinely "cool" in anyone's eyes but little kids and soccer moms.) As for his music "career" riding Dennis' coattails, it's like he'd rather larp as a big cool energetic rockstar on stage than actually put the work in to just play well. He wants to be the cool "what'll he do next" Hendrix lighting a guitar on fire but forgets that Hendrix could back it up by being a virtuoso on his chosen instrument. He didn't have to work for his "success" as a musician so he's got all the Mick Jagger peacock strut with none of talent.

It's a really weird situation. I don't hate the guy or anything but that's my honest take. Guy wants to be Dennis so bad.

I dunno, I always saw it more like: Full House *is* who John Stamos is. He's never tried to run away from the show. He loves the cheese! He loves rock'n'roll, but not in an I actually want to be a badass way, in a ham-it-up, "have mercy," cosplaying Elvis on a family sitcom in 1992 way. This is why he fits and always has fit with Mike's vision for the band. Because Mike obviously also loves the cheesiness. It's not that he's greedy - he may be, he may not be, but that's not why he presents the Beach Boys music the way he does. He does it because Be True To Your School is the version of the Beach Boys he likes best, it was when being in the band was most fun, the music is more his style, and cheerleaders on stage felt like an organically great idea to his way of thinking.

[Julia]

I dunno, I always saw it more like: Full House *is* who John Stamos is. He's never tried to run away from the show. He loves the cheese! He loves rock'n'roll, but not in an I actually want to be a badass way, in a ham-it-up, "have mercy," cosplaying Elvis on a family sitcom in 1992 way. This is why he fits and always has fit with Mike's vision for the band. Because Mike obviously also loves the cheesiness. It's not that he's greedy - he may be, he may not be, but that's not why he presents the Beach Boys music the way he does. He does it because Be True To Your School is the version of the Beach Boys he likes best, it was when being in the band was most fun, the music is more his style, and cheerleaders on stage felt like an organically great idea to his way of thinking.

I think he had a love/hate relationship with the show at first (there's stories of him trying to get out of it, trying to get the kids fired, saying it hurt his "cool guy" image) but then learned to embrace it. Like "hey, it's not the role I imagined myself playing, but I was on a long-running, widely syndicated show that a lot of people grew up with and that's more than most can say in this business." For what it's worth, there was a time when I loved Full House as a kid. I can't stand to watch it now and even at the time I thought the dramatic talks that solve everything were cheesy but the kids were cute, Uncle Jessie is cool when you're young (kinda like Fonzie) and there were some half-decent plotlines as far as sitcoms go. That second episode with Rusty making a fake love letter that accidentally gets sent from person to person (hijinks ensue!) is still a classic episode idea that I'm surprised no other show has tried to emulate.

Anyway, in that regard he's kinda like the Beach Boys themselves. They tried to be "cool" and stay with the times, after falling out of favor when they dropped the ball on SMiLE and Monterey, then when that didn't work they said "well, I guess this is just what we are now" and owned it. It is disappointing as a fan the way their lame "grandpa oldies band" and "Full House guest star" and "Problem Child/SIP/Stars and Stripes" image has prevented them from being taken as seriously as their peers but it is what it is. I've gotten made fun of in school, in college and even as an adult for liking this band because to the average Joe they're the one-dimensional "surfer grandpas hanging out on lame kid shows nobody wants to admit they liked" but it's not my career, so not my choice how they make money.

I don't hate Stamos or his presence at shows necessarily but I can see why he's a negative association that makes some fans embarrassed. I wish the group was taken more seriously too and the fact is, he's not helping.

[Zenobi]

No, he does not help whatsoever. This wannabe should stop leeching on real musicians.

[Zenobi]

Several other dates canceled or postponed to October.

[Julia]

Several other dates canceled or postponed to October.

Sad to say but I think this is gonna be Mike's swan song tour. Anyone who'd be sentimental about such things ought to buy tickets to whatever shows they can--you're as likely as not to attend the very last Beach Boy touring gigs, at least while some original members are still part of the outfit. (I have no idea if BRI will keep it up after the founders are gone or unable to keep the show going, nor if there'd be any interest in "some random guys doing BB covers.") Truly the end of an era.

[Zenobi]

According to a poster in the EH board it's a health thing with Mike which needs some time to heal, but not catastrophic.

[Julia]

According to a poster in the EH board it's a health thing with Mike which needs some time to heal, but not catastrophic.

Guys in his mid-80s. I'm certainly not implying I want anything but the best for him but nobody can keep this up forever. Touring is tough even on young men.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

I caught the Mike/Bruce BBs show at NYC's Town Hall in June, which took place right after Brian's passing. (Meant to write up a full review for the board, but it's been a slammin' summer and just never got to it.)

I'll go against the obvious grain -- I thought it was a great show, and I've always been more in Brian's camp than Mike's. The energy level was VERY high from start to finish -- that was my takeaway re the rationale for the band member replacements, but who knows the full story -- and theatrical touches like the videos playing in the background had been freshened up pretty dramatically. Mike's voice was definitely subdued and he seemed more frail than in past years, which was concerning, but he didn't sound hoarse even several hours in and there were moments when that familiar nasal vocal cut through reassuringly. Bruce actually sounded great, possibly his best of the various BBs shows I've seen since 2013. Not a Stamos fan, but he was fine, and I found his antics less distracting than at some past shows. Setlist was safe and familiar but enjoyable.

Hope whatever Mike's issue is, he gets the treatment and healing he needs. And agree with Julia, I'd catch them sooner than later if you are able.

[SMiLE]

Re: Totten and Cowsill, does anyone have a guess at the logic of that change? I remember seeing that they were let go because Mike wanted to go in a different direction... but what direction was that / what was the tension?
[/quote]
My understanding is the new drummer is a friend of John Stamos who vouched for him to be in the band. Totten is more interesting since his musical direction  was supposedly the only thing keeping Mikes band from being a complete embarrassment.

[Zenobi]

Though, of course, I strongly disagree about the "complete embarassment" bit, I agree 100% on Scott Totten: his work as musical director of the touring Beach Boys was top tier. And John Cowsill is a fantastic drummer.

On the other hand, Stamos IS a complete embarassment, and always was. His "but, more importantly..." blunder just after speaking of Brian's passing is not just unforgivable, there's no word harsh enough for such a thing. Unbelievable.

[Lonely Summer]

I guess I've been lucky. I only saw Stamos with the band once or twice, and that was back in the 80's. It wasn't enough to ruin the show for me.

[SMiLE]

I guess I've been lucky. I only saw Stamos with the band once or twice, and that was back in the 80's. It wasn't enough to ruin the show for me.

That's probably because Carl was still there to keep him from interfering too much.

[Zenobi]

Very probably!

[Tony S]

Regarding Scott Thornton he did an interview.I forgot if it was on a podcast or it was just a written one where he said he was having vocal issues and that was the real reason behind his leaving the band,j ust couldn't sing and  hit the notes consistently anymore.

The fact that there have been a whole lot of cancelations in a row,  seems to indicate that the one member of the band who was irreplaceable Mike love, has something wrong with him, whether it be something relatively minor or more serious mike's lowvno energy singing and fragility look much worse over The course of the past few shows this year, the guy is what 84 years old, so it's to be expected.  Not sure Brother would pass the Torch down to Christian love and maybe Matt Jardine, but I would prefer they just let it go retire the name and if anything else, let them go out as individuals performing the music of the beach Boys and Brian Wilson just don't call themselves the beach.Boys that would be a fair way to end it

[Tony S]

Sorry, Scott Totten, hate voice typing.