The Beach Boys 50th anniversary reunion tour ends this week in London. Also apparently ending: the much-discussed detente between the founding members Mike Love and Brian Wilson.
Mr. Love, the frontman who still controls the Beach Boys brand name, announced earlier this month he would continue to tour this fall with Bruce Johnson and a back-up band. But he said the group would not include Mr. Wilson, who wrote many of the band's biggest hits. Al Jardine, another original member, and David Marks, who first joined the group in the 1960s, are also out.
“As we move on, Bruce and I look forward to performing live for Beach Boys fans everywhere,†Mr. Love said in a statement. He went on to s ay: “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.â€
Mr. Love and Mr. Wilson have feuded for decades, but they put aside their differences last fall to do a reunion tour, joined by the other three early members of the California surf-rock group. They played the Grammy Awards ceremony in February and have toured extensively since then, releasing a new album, “That's Why God Made the Radio†(Capitol), in June.
Then earlier this month, just before the group attended the opening of a exhibit at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, Mr. Love put out his statement.
Mr. Wilson told CNN at the time he was dismayed by Mr. Love's decision. “I'm disappointed and can't understand why he doesn't want to tour with Al, David and me. We are out there having so much fun. After all, we are the real Beach Boys.â€
Since then, an online petition has been circulated urging Mr. Love to reconsider “in order to preserve the validity of ‘The Beach Boys' as a whole, and not as a ‘money-saving, stripped-down version.†So far, 2,710 people have signed.
The last concerts with the current lineup are scheduled for London's Royal Albert Hall on Thursday and Wembley Stadium on Friday.
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