Mike Love returned to live duties with the Beach Boys over the weekend after a summer that has seen the 85-year-old sidelined by some serious health issues. But concerns remain around Love’s condition – Rolling Stone has described his appearance at the show in Cincannati as “alarmingly frail”.
As you can see from the footage below, the singer moved very slowly – with the help of his son Christian and fellow performer John Stamos - to his position centre stage, where he sat for the duration of the performance, contributing occasional backing vocals.
Neither the band nor Love himself have revealed the exact nature of his health problems. After an appearance in London in June, Love wrote on Instagram that “Losing my sister, Maureen, on the first anniversary of cousin Brian’s death, combined with my ongoing recovery from what started out as bronchitis, followed by Covid, has taken both an emotional and physical toll on me. I feel stronger every day physically, but I am heartbroken emotionally.”
Since then the group have pulled a number of shows, though they did play a private event in California the Saturday before last (3 October). Following that, a gig in Bloomington, Illinois on Friday (9 October) was cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
After the Cincinnati show, they were due to play in Nashville last night. Before the show, Stamos posted on social media that “My beloved friend, father figure, musical hero and mentor, Mike Love, is facing serious health challenges. We hope he’ll be doing what he loves for years to come, but we don’t know what the future holds. We have tonight. Mike is a fighter. Despite doctors, family and friends urging him to focus on his health, he insists on being on stage. He says he needs his band, the audience, his friends and drummer surrounding him to lift him up.”
He continued: "I’ve played with Mike for 41 years. I never imagined how deeply it would affect me to see someone larger than life face something so human and fragile. The Mike Love we see tonight may not be exactly the Mike we’ve always known. But he’s still every bit the Mike we love.”
All very concerning for the group’s many fans. As they know, Love has been the one continuous thread in the Beach Boys since they formed in 1961 - sadly, all three Wilson brothers have died and the other surviving founder member Al Jardine hasn’t been a part of the band since their 50th anniversary reunion tour in 2012.
