Ex-Beach Boy Al Jardine on Former Bandmate Mike Love’s Health: “It’s Shocking … He’s Trapped”

Former Beach Boy Al Jardine is weighing in on Mike Love’s health after recent performance footage and comments from guest performer John Stamos sparked concerns about the Beach Boys frontman.

Though Jardine isn’t in regular contact with Love and they’ve had disagreements in the past, he was upset when he saw footage of his former bandmate from the past couple of concerts.

“It’s shocking and I was really depressed,” Jardine told Rolling Stone. “I had to really shake myself out of it just to get onstage. Just the optics of it were just awful and I’m speechless.”

While Love’s performance future is unknown, Jardine said he didn’t think Love should keep going. (“That’s just not right,” he said.) But he knows the Beach Boys frontman doesn’t want to stop.

“Obviously, he’s a total pro. He wants to be onstage, but he just doesn’t know how not to do it,” Jardine told Rolling Stone. “He doesn’t know what else to do, so I think he’s trapped.”

He later added that Love, “lives for the stage, so I don’t think any amount of coercion or suggestion is going to change his mind.”

At a concert this past weekend in Cincinnati, the Beach Boys’ first show since July, apart from a private performance in Dana Point, California, Love appeared somewhat frail, according to a fan video. After telling the audience about Love’s health issues and how Love had rejected guidance to stay home, Stamos walked him to a chair at the center of the stage where he remained seated for the show, barely moving apart from a few hand gestures. Love returned to the stage the next night in Nashville, where briefly mentioned that he had “been going through health challenges, but I had to make it to the Ryman [Auditorium].”

Jardine said he wouldn’t want to be onstage if he was unable to stand or sing.

“I wouldn’t want to be put in a wheelchair and go out and attempt to … well, what we do is sing. That’s our job. That’s what we do. We sing, we’re professionals, and you can’t do that in his condition now,” he said before speculating on Love’s future. “So I would think at some point, he’ll … he’s probably trying to pass the torch, is what I’m thinking. We’ve never really talked about it, but that’s what it feels like. Maybe to his son. And him being there is a symbol.”

He added, “It’s really tough to quit something that you’ve been doing for 65 years. We can’t imagine life any other way. It might work better if Mike were on the side, sitting in the wings, rather than that center position. I don’t know whose bright idea that was. But I really pity his situation, as we all do. It’s horrible.”

The same night that Love was onstage at the Ryman, Jardine was performing in Cerritos, California with former Beach Boys bandmates David Marks and Bruce Johnston, the latter of whom just stopped touring with Love earlier this year for reasons that Jardine speculated were related to Love’s health.