The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Is Touring ‘Pet Sounds’ For the Very Last Time

The tour celebrates the album’s 50th anniversary.

The Beach Boys’ weirdest, and some say best, album Pet Sounds is nearing its 50th anniversary. To help celebrate, Brian Wilson has announced a world tour beginning March 26 in New Zealand, and ending October 14 in California for what he says will be his last ever performances of the album.

“It’s really been a trip to sit here and think about releasing Pet Sounds 50 years ago,” Wilson said in a press release about the tour. “I love performing this album with my band and look forward to playing it for fans all across the world.”

The shows will include live performances of Pet Sounds in its entirety, as well as hits from his 54-year career both with The Beach Boys and as a solo artist. Ticket info and a full schedule of show dates can be found over on his official website. 

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Pet Sounds was released in 1966 and initially American press didn’t really know what to make of it, though it took off in the UK right away. In a 1972 look back at the album by Rolling Stone they had by then realized its merit and wrote “nobody was prepared for anything so soulful, so lovely, something one had to think about so much. It is by far the best album Brian has yet delivered, and it paradoxically began the decline in mass popularity that still plagues this band.”

Weird albums aren’t always popular, and are often problematic for bands, but seeing as though Pet Sounds is still being talked about 50 years later, I’d say it’s a worthy battle to fight.