Take a look at that picture above folks. The chances of the Beach Boys reuniting again, are, I would guess at this stage, about as likely as it is that the Beach Boys ever actually looked remotely like the picture above.
We have a bit more info to work from as far as the "Jones Beach Incident" as I will now call it.
Apparently, in response to a bunch of internet tools posting who-knows-what about who-knows-who on facebook, a person close to Mike Love posted some response comments. I won't reprint all of the info, but found among the teenager-style internet/text-speak and questionable punctuation defending Mike, a bit of info can be gleaned. First, let's get into the Jones Beach Incident. This person stated that Al wanted to do the shows, asked to do the show, and then backed out at the last minute.
While cringe-worthy, this elicited a response from someone close to Al that did include some additional information to chew on. According to this person, it was not Mike but the promoter Live Nation that asked Al to perform. Al apparently was bummed out that the promoter asked him to play and that Mike didn't. Apparently, there were other problems between all the parties that clearly ultimately prevented the appearance from happening.
This is a classic case of answering and also raising a bunch of questions. If Al was offended, did he then still continue to try to make the appearance happen? What was ultimately the reason it all fell through? This does perhaps answer the question of whether Al "signed" anything to do the show. It sounds as though he was negotiating with Live Nation, not Mike. I would presume any issues such as adding Al's name to the advertisements was done between Al and Live Nation. Perhaps he didn't sign an agreement but agreed to let them use his name? Again, I could only hope and assume Al didn't simply sign a deal with Live Nation and then say "screw it, I'm out."
Additionally, among the facebook comments (and I use even the term "comments" loosely; clearly some folks go on there and just blurp out whatever is running through their brain at the moment), a reference was also made by the person close to Mike that Brian allegedly sent an e-mail during the 50th anniversary tour saying he would perform no more shows.
I've already read and written volumes on this over at the Smiley Smile board, so I'm too exhausted to get too much into it again. To briefly summarize, I'm guessing that assuming Brian sent a terse, one-line e-mail stating he would be doing no more shows, it was largely inconsequential in light of a few things: Not long after, Brian changed his mind and wanted to do more shows. There were many offers on the table for more shows/tours/an album. Brian and Al wanted to do them. It appears Mike didn't, and maybe never wanted to do more shows. Essentially, a "no more shows" e-mail from Brian amounted to stating something that was already pre-ordained to happen, and was already happening. Had Mike already booked non-reunion shows when that e-mail was written? Either way, Mike's own expressed opinions and comments strongly indicate he didn't like aspects of the reunion and was happy to go back to his own thing. It's also clear that, even if at one stage Brian briefly stated he was done with the reunion, he changed his mind and wanted to take more reunion booking offers and do another album. Hence, please assign blame for the end of the reunion accordingly, if such blame even matters anymore.
Back to my opening line, let me just say this. My own observations of recent events, such as the "Jones Beach Incident", as well as a few private comments from a few sources, lead me to the heartbreaking conclusion that it is EXTREMELY unlikely we will see another full Beach Boys reunion. That is just extremely sad.
So, I offer my immense and sincere thanks to the guys for giving us the 50th anniversary tour, and immense disappointment for not collectively having their shit together and keeping it going for awhile longer while some of us are still alive....
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