Review and Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Venue: Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) (https://mim.org/ )
Date: Sunday November 30th, 2025
Tour: A Tribute To Brian Wilson
WOW. What else can I say. It was a fantastic night of amazing Beach Boys songs.
Al Jardine has outdone himself. He has joined by members of Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds band to provide 4 amazing evenings of great music. I was lucky enough to see the 3rd night of the shows. It was at one of my favorite venues, The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) here in Phoenix, AZ. If you have never been at the MIM, it is a state-of-the-art venue that holds about 350 people. Every seat in the venue is phenomenal. And the sound is so good that they can have shows there without any amplification.
I grew up in the 60s and there were 2 major influences of rock music. There was the British Invasion with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who. There was the West Coast Sound with The Beach Boys, The Mamas and Papas, The Byrds, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane. These bands produced some of the best Classic Rock songs of all times.
For some reason I liked listening to the Beach Boys a lot. I think it was because of the surf music and I loved the beach (strange for a kid from Ohio). One of my all-time favorite albums was Surfer Girl. It had so many hit singles including “Surfer Gril”, “Catch A Wave”, “Little Deuce Coupe” and “In My Room”. In my opinion it was only outdone by the Beach Boys’s Pet Sounds album.
I was lucky enough to see the Beach Boys perform. I also saw Brian Wilson and his band perform the 50th Anniversary of Pet Sounds. Over the years I have seen Al Jardine a number of times, mainly with his 3-piece band of himself, his son Matt and Debbie Shear. This time Al brought the Pet Sounds Band that Brian had put together (Blondie Chaplin was missing)
Al was joined by drummer Michael D’Amico, bassist Bob Lizik, guitarist Emeen Zarookian, percussion and vocals Jim Laspesa, keyboardist Gary Griffin, keyboardist Debbie Shair, keyboardist and music director Darian Sahanaja, horn player Paul Von Mertens, guitarist and vocals Rob Bonfiglio and vocalist Matt Jardine.
When a lot of bands are only playing for 75 minutes, Al and the band did two 1-hour sets and then did a 5-song encore for a total of 36 songs. We got a lot of the Beach Boys greatest hits from the Surfer Girl and Pet Sounds albums. Since this was a tribute to Brian Wilson, Al performed 2 of Brian’s favorite album, M.I.U. Album and Love You. For a lot of people this was probably the first time hearing these songs. They are not the most played Beach Boys songs on the radio. As Al told us, some of these songs are “Really Deep Cuts”.
One of my favorite songs that they performed tonight was “Heroes & Villains”. The harmonies were outstanding. They ended the second set with these Beach Boys Hits; “God Only Knows”, “Sloop John B”, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “Good Vibrations” to end the second set.
After a short intermission, they came back for an encore of 5 more songs. But first, they did the band introductions. Since it is the Christmas season, they did “Little St. Nick”. When they did “Help Me, Rhonda” the audience also piped in with the chorus. They ended the encore with 3 great Beach Boys songs, “Barbara Ann”, “Surfin’ USA” and finally “Fun Fun Fun”.
For me, it was one of my favorite shows this year. I missed the show when Al came through in July (I was in Rome), but I made sure I saw this show. If you love Beach Boys songs, then this is a must-see concert. Don’t be concerned about the M.I.U. Album and Love You songs you don’t know. You will get more than enough of the other great Beach Boys classic songs to make you happy. Just stay to the end.
Al Jardine Social Media sites:
Website: https://www.aljardine.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAlJardine/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aljardine409/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AlJardine409
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2025, All Rights Reserved
Al Jardine And The Pet Sounds Band Setlist: (Album)
California Girls (Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!))
Do It Again (20/20)
Catch A Wave (Surfer Girl)
Hawaii (Surfer Girl)
Surfer Girl (Surfer Girl)
Don’t Worry Baby (Shut Down, Volume 2)
Little Deuce Coupe (Surfer Girl)
I Get Around (All Summer Long)
In My Room (Surfer Girl)
Darin’ (Wild Honey)
Dance, Dance, Dance (The Beach Boys Today!)
Sweet Sunday Kind of Love (M.I.U. Album)
She’s Got Rhythm (M.I.U. Album)
Add Some Music to Your Day (Sunflower)
I Can Hear Music (All The Hits)
Heroes & Villains (Smiley Smile)
Intermission
Let Us Go On This Way (Love You)
Roller Skating Child (Love You)
Johnny Carson (Love You)
The Night Was So Young (Love You)
Solar System (Love You)
Honkin’ Down the Highway (Love You)
I’ll Bet He’s Nice (Love You)
Good Time (Love You)
Ding Dang (Love You)
I Wanna Pick You Up (Love You)
Airplane (Love You)
God Only Knows (Pet Sounds)
Sloop John B (Pet Sounds)
Wouldn’t It Be Nice (Pet Sounds)
Good Vibrations (Smiley Smile)
Encore:
Band Introductions
Little St. Nick (The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album)
Help Me, Rhonda (The Beach Boys Today!)
Barbara Ann (Barbara-Ann)
Surfin’ USA (Surfin’ USA)
Fun Fun Fun (Shut Down, Volume 2)
