Beach Boys gear up for reunion
The Beach Boys are gearing up to do it again.
Following months of rumours and speculation, the legendary California surf-rockers have officially announced details of their 50th anniversary reunion. Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks will hit the road for a 50-date tour in 2012 and release a new CD, according to reports.
“This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys,” Wilson said in a statement. “It will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again. The tour is slated to kick off at the New Orleans Jazz Fest in late April, but fans will reportedly get their first glimpse of the reunited band at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 12.
“There will be a surprise at the Grammys,” Jardine told Rolling Stone.
“We’ll do something really exciting. There’s a lot of interest in it, which is nice. It’s going to be a very big operation.”
Supposedly, The Beach Boys, not Van Halen, were the classic band slated to announce their reunion at the Grammy nominations TV special on Nov. 30, but they backed out of the affair at the last minute.
Earlier in the year, the quintet went into the studio for the first time in ages to re-record their 1968 number Do It Again for a planned new album. It will be their first disc together since 1996’s Stars and Stripes Forever. Since then, Wilson has toured with his own band while Love, Johnston and Jardine have kept The Beach Boys’ name alive in various incarnations. The original lineup of the band was formed in 1961 and included Wilson’s brothers Dennis and Carl, now both deceased.