The Beach Boys Pulled Out of Epcot. John Stamos's Band Got the Gig.

John Stamos and the California Sound will play Nov. 11 and 12 while Mike Love, 85, says he's focused on rehab.

For more than 40 years, John Stamos has been the Beach Boys' sometime drummer, on the road and in the studio, Billboard notes. Next month at Epcot, the bill will carry his name in the slot where the band's used to be.

Disney Parks announced on X Wednesday that "John Stamos and the California Sound" will play the Eat to the Beat concert series at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival on Nov. 11 and 12, the two nights the Beach Boys had been booked, MickeyBlog noted. Rolling Stone, which reported the swap, said the act is presumably the musicians who tour as the Beach Boys, just without Mike Love, though that isn't confirmed. Billboard said there was no word on who will back Stamos. Both outlets said a Beach Boys spokesperson hadn't answered their requests for comment.

The cause is Love, who's 85 and the last founding Beach Boy in the touring lineup. The band hasn't played since Oct. 10 in Cincinnati and Oct. 11 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. In Cincinnati, Love was helped onstage, stayed seated and sang only backing vocals, Consequence reported. Stamos, his son Christian and guitarist Brian Eichenberger sang most of the leads.

In other words, the hired hands were already carrying the show. "We sort of said 'stay home,' but he was like, 'No, I'm going to Cincinnati,'" Stamos told that crowd, according to Consequence.

Epcot isn't the first pullout. Before it, Love's health had already cost the band a string of dates, some scrapped and some pushed back, on a tour marking 60 years of Pet Sounds, Consequence reported. Love hasn't named the illness. He has said the deaths of his sister Maureen and his cousin Brian Wilson, followed by COVID-19 and bronchitis, wore him down emotionally and physically.

He sounds like he plans to come back. "I'm putting my full energy into rehab," Love wrote in a message to the New York Times, Rolling Stone reported.

Who gets to use the name is the real business question. A 1998 legal deal leaves Love as the one living Beach Boy who can take that name on the road, Ultimate Classic Rock noted. Epcot's new listing doesn't use it.

Al Jardine, a co-founder and the one other original Beach Boy still alive, has his own band and his own idea. He tours with veterans of Brian Wilson's band, a group he calls the Pet Sounds Band. He told Rolling Stone earlier this month that he doesn't know what happens to the touring license once Love can't perform, but that he's open to using it himself, maybe as "The Beach Boys Featuring Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band." "I'd be honored if it came to that," Jardine said. His band plays Florida in December, in Clearwater on Dec. 5 and West Palm Beach on Dec. 8.

For now, two shows are left under the Beach Boys name. The Nov. 13 date at the Hard Rock in Bristol, Va., still lists the band, Billboard reported. After that, there's nothing until May 8, 2027, at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alberta, where Rolling Stone said tickets were still on sale.

Source: Rolling Stone, retrieved October 29, 2026. Other sources: Billboard, mickeyblog.com, consequence.net, ultimateclassicrock.com.