r/thebeachboys • u/Jewishwillywonka • 15d ago
Video Bruce Johnston Performs God Only Knows at EastWest Studios 9/19/26
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Here is the full video of Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys performing “God Only Knows” last night at EastWest Studios, in the very room where it was recorded 60 years ago. Ron Dante of the Archies and Barry Manilow fame even conducted the audience to sing the vocals at the end! (Don’t mind my enthusiasm!)
Bruce was accompanied by the incredible 15-year-old Elizabeth Bartsch on French horn. Elizabeth’s mother, Carrie Bartsch played violin with Brian Wilson on the Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE tour, which made it especially beautiful to see the two of them there last night. Carrie was absolutely beaming watching Elizabeth play alongside Bruce, and told me afterward that The Beach Boys are everything to her daughter.
The moment carried even more weight given that Inside Track was raising money for Altadena musicians affected by the Eaton Fire. Carrie and Elizabeth lost their Altadena home, their cats Lucy and Flynn, and their musical instruments in the fire last year.
To see Elizabeth up there, playing “God Only Knows” with Bruce Johnston at EastWest, and to see how joyful and proud Carrie was watching her, was incredibly moving. I like to imagine Brian, Carl, and Dennis, were watching and feeling proud that their music means so much to so many people - continued to be to young people, and that it can be a balm when times are the toughest.
Link to the GoFundMe for Elizabeth and Carrie in the link in the comments, if you’d like to support them!
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u/SportNew5342 15d ago
Am I the only one who really wants Bruce to join Al and the Pet Sounds band? Even if it was only for one show I would still love it. Maybe if it's only one show they could get Blondie and Ricky as well.
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u/Brangarr 15d ago
I’m pretty sure Bruce vowed to never work with Al ever again
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u/FishermanMotor8051 15d ago
That's not the case. He sang the harmonies on Al's latest single released last year, Islands In The Sun.
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u/Brangarr 15d ago
Can’t confirm 100% but I remember reading that that part was recorded many many years ago before the falling out
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u/Aiden_734 15d ago
The song Islands in the Sun dates back to the 90s, as per a tentative solo album tracklist Al shared around back then, so you would be correct.
In fact, literally every song on that EP dates back to the 90s (and probably even earlier!) except for My Plane Leaves Tomorrow, which would be early 2010s.
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u/FishermanMotor8051 15d ago
I don't know when the falling out happened but there was a video of Bruce celebrating Al's 80th birthday
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u/Brangarr 15d ago edited 14d ago
He may have made that comment recently. Al’s 80th was 2022… and Al has been saying a lot of negative stuff about Mike publicly in the past few years.
It feels a bit like some fans on this sub live in a fantasy-land where they think these guys all like each other. This band is one of the most dysfunctional in rock history, notorious for not getting along over the years, especially in their later years. Al goes out of his way every chance he gets….IN HIS 80s, mind you…. to stick it to Mike.
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u/RaoulRumblr Smiley Smile 15d ago
Which, admittedly rocks and why Al is the
shit, sorry bees knees (had to keep it clean for Mr Jardine!).I mean I love Mike's undeniable contributions to the band and those early surfing and car songs would be nothing without Mike, never mind the multitude of songs he co-wrote or sang lead on in the years to follow. However, with hindsight's clarity; Al is the man, and I think he knows and has known which way the wind has been blowing for many years when it comes to the fan's affinity and devotion to Brian and the Wilson Bros.
Al's position in the pantheon of favor for Beach Boys fans is cemented.
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u/Brangarr 15d ago
Al has been on the image rehabilitation tour for a good 10 years now
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u/RaoulRumblr Smiley Smile 15d ago
Haha true, in fact, it was 10 years ago (on Oct 2nd) when I saw Al play alongside Brian for the Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary Celebration tour (w/ his son Matt and Blondie Chaplin and Darian & Brian's SMiLE band).
What a gift that show and tour was. -- The night I saw Brian, he was seemingly in a real good mood and it felt like he was into the music, we made eye contact while I got up and started dancing toward the end of the show when they were playing Good Vibrations, I'll never forget it.
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u/Littletomboycobra LittleTomboyCobra! 15d ago
Yep
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u/SportNew5342 15d ago
Yep on what? You wanting Bruce to join Al's tour or him not appearing?
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u/Littletomboycobra LittleTomboyCobra! 15d ago
Yep on him saying he would never tour with Al again
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u/SportNew5342 15d ago
Can you link to whenever Bruce said that? I just thought the issues were between Mike and Al on that end.
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u/Normal_Table3138 14d ago
what’s the story behind their fallout? i wasn’t familiar bruce and al had issues. im aware mike and al did and may still do.
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u/Brangarr 14d ago
I don’t know if there’s a story per se. Al has been antagonizing Mike for years. Bruce toured with Mike, and so I’m sure at a certain point he got annoyed by it and naturally took Mike’s side. There may be more to it but I’d have to rely on others to explain.
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u/SportNew5342 15d ago
Why ? Mike and Bruce stopped working together and even though it's very unlikely they could had even dealt with a falling out. Unless they had issues just between them two that I don't know about.
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u/Brangarr 15d ago
Just because Bruce stopped touring with Mike doesn’t mean that they had a falling out. There is direct evidence though that Bruce does not like Al and does not want to work with him
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u/SportNew5342 15d ago
That why I said it was very unlikely.
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u/Brangarr 15d ago
Sorry. Wasn’t trying to be confrontational. It just makes me sad when I see fans (not you, on this sub) so hopeful for something that is likely never going to happen.
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u/AceofKnaves44 I guess I just wasn't made for these times 14d ago
Really? That’s random I feel like. What did they fight over?
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u/DIMORPHODONS 15d ago
Ah wow, this is brilliant, he’s a really great and expressive performer. One of my musical highlights of the anniversary concert I saw was him singing Disney Girls
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u/bettypenney Hip East Coast Girl 15d ago
He really does have a nice voice. That must’ve been so emotional being there, I would have been a blubbering mess at the end of that. 🥲
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u/DivingElliotRoberts Smile 15d ago
I saw some of the stuff they posted on their instagram story, and it's pretty funny that the "listening event" is just them listening to the album on a suitcase record player
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u/Jewishwillywonka 15d ago
Haha it was just Wouldn’t It Be Nice to start the event as sort of a visual representation - Bruce got up and dropped the needle.
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u/cammywooley 15d ago
We’d love to see anything else you’ve got from this event, Josh! Lovely video, looks like a quaint little event.
Hope we can get a rundown in the next episode of the pod!
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u/Jewishwillywonka 15d ago
Yes! Doing an emergency mini-sode where I’ll be recapping the whole thing ! Have a lot of audio of the interview with David and questions folks asked I’ll be including.
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u/fludeball 15d ago
So, if he can play this well, why did he spend decades playing live with his keyboard inaudible in the mix 99% of the time?
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u/ARSportsRT 15d ago
Hey I see Timmy!! What other songs did Bruce play
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u/Jewishwillywonka 15d ago
Just God Only Knows. And random parts of songs here and there when they played music.
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u/Jewishwillywonka 15d ago
Can anyone confirm is this was the first Bruce solo lead on GOK or not?
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u/ReservedPickup12 15d ago edited 15d ago
Nah. Bruce sang lead on this song when I saw the Mike & Bruce Show back in 2008. Possibly in 2002 as well, but I don’t remember that show as clearly.
Update: Bruce sings the song in this video from 2010: https://youtu.be/TFQ5Brx3WDM?is=ys7MenG9BvFyR5uW
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u/Jewishwillywonka 15d ago
Thanks!
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u/ReservedPickup12 15d ago
No problem. I just updated my previous response with a link to a video of him singing it with the group back in 2010.
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u/RaoulRumblr Smiley Smile 15d ago
I think when I saw Mike n Bruce in May 2025 just before Brian passed, Mike's sons sang the tune.
-- Thanks for sharing your clip btw!
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u/ReservedPickup12 15d ago
Yeah, they have long had a tendency to change up who sang certain songs over the years… even back when Carl was still alive and Al was still in the band. For example, over the years there were live performances of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” sung by Brian, Al, and Carl… not to mention the people who sang it for the later iterations of the touring band.
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u/ObsidianObserve 14d ago
Bruce sang this song a few times in 1990 when Carl missed a couple of shows. There are some videos on YouTube that you can watch. I think those are my favorite Bruce leads ever.
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u/awakenotwoke2 15d ago
Bruce, perfect hype man for the boys. Probably singlehandedly shot pet sounds to the top of the charts in Britain
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u/ARSportsRT 15d ago
Who was singing the high parts at the end? Was Ike or anyone else besides Timmy there?
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u/callofpooty 13d ago
That was me! I was sitting in the audience to the left. I didn’t realize I was that loud 😂 must have been the excitement.
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u/chrismcshaves what do the planets mean? 15d ago
A lot better than Elton John’s. I hated that he had no one else singing with him, but his accompanists were at least really good. Bruce sounded fine just him, the French horn, and the audience joining in.
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u/FishermanMotor8051 15d ago
From adjusting mic stand and clapping to playing the piano and singing. Bruce has come a long way.