John Stamos talks rocking through Beach Boys stage fails, showtime hair, Bob Saget lessons
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Summer is already sending out good vibrations because John Stamos is hitting the road with The Beach Boys.
Stamos, 60, will play drums and guitar with the band through September on The Endless Summer Gold Tour, which marks the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys' classic "Endless Summer" album.
"The Beach Boys mean summer to me," says Stamos who has been jamming with the band since the 19-year-old "General Hospital" star was pulled on stage for a concert. The self-described "wanna-be Beach Boy" Stamos even enthusiastically bongoed in the classic 1988 "Kokomo" video.
Performing timeless songs in front of screaming fans is the ultimate energizer for the already-animated Stamos. But the bestselling author of his 2023 memoir "If You Would Have Told Me" has learned to appreciate how important good rest is on the road.
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"When I first toured, they were all older than me. You'd meet in the hotel lobby before the concert and everyone was like, 'How did you sleep?' I'd be like, 'What do you even mean? I slept,'" Stamos recalls. "Now I'm like the first one to ask, 'Did you sleep OK?'"
Stamos shares his essential Beach Boys song, his hair secrets and more.
What's the top Beach Boys song? John Stamos weighs in
Stamos has lifelong respect for the entire catalog of the band from Hawthorne, California, founded by Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine. But Stamos reckons "God Only Knows" (by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) "is a perfect song."
"There's not many perfect songs. "Something" by the Beatles is perfect. But "God Only Knows" is perfect, too," he says.
John Stamos, son Billy stay in touch with onstage FaceTime calls
Being on the road means being away from his wife Caitlin McHugh Stamos and son Billy, 6. But Stamos, who became a first-time dad at 54, keeps in touch with FaceTime video calls, including when he's rocking the drums on stage.
"People make fun of my selfie stick, but I use it to hit FaceTime for like four songs and just keep playing," says Stamos. "Most of the time, he'll be like, 'I gotta go, dad.' He's a character. He's the light in my life, the reason I wake up in the morning."
When John Stamos has a stage fail in front of Adam Sandler, he just keeps rocking
Stage mishaps happen in live shows. Stamos plays through them, like when he went full throttle after hearing Adam Sandler was in attendance.
"I'm showing off, running across the stage. I hit this cord and I go flying, landing on my guitar. But I got up and kept going," says Stamos, who says the audience didn't notice. "Adam Sandler comes backstage, and I go, 'God, I wiped out.' And he was like, 'What are you talking about?' You just keep going.
"Like anything in life, you just dust yourself off and get back to it," says Stamos. He took his own advice after ripping his pants at the April Stagecoach Festival in front of 80,000 people (and didn't have time to repair the wardrobe malfunction). "I was wearing white underpants luckily under white pants. Most of the time, people don't even notice. It's taken me so long to learn this lesson."
John Stamos' hair is iconic: Styling it is a Ronco Showtime miracle
Admit it, we all envy John Stamos' hair. How does he work it? Stamos says his 'do is as fuss-free as the famed Ronco Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ from the classic infomercial.
"You just set it and forget it," says Stamos quoting the famed Ronco '80s pitch.
His use of styling products earned him the nickname "mud" from "Full House" star Dave Coulier. While Stamos vows to start his own line, he says it doesn't take much.
"Honestly, if I put a little water in (my hair), I've got stuff in here from the '90s that reactivates. So that's part of it," he says.
The heroic hair "knows when it's showtime," says Stamos. "I'll look in the mirror and be like, 'Yeeeeah, it's showtime!'"
John Stamos' lesson from 'Full House' co-star Bob Saget's death
Stamos is still deeply emotionally impacted by the February 2022 death of his friend and "Full House" co-star Bob Saget. Last month, he celebrated the late comedian's 65th birthday by posting a "Full House" reunion photo on Instagram taken the day after Saget's funeral, which included Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
"Bob was the one who kept us all together, he was the glue," says Stamos. "It still hurts. He was just plucked out of our lives."
Just before the comedian's death, Stamos enjoyed a reunion with Saget and their wives. The two expressed their love for each other and took a final picture together. The whole tragedy taught Stamos to make his feelings known.
"You just never think that's going to be the last time with someone. But you just don't know," says Stamos. "That's why you tell everybody you love him and care about them. That you're proud of them. Call your mom."
Summer is all kid-filled parties and getting hosed down
For Stamos, summer is all about working the pizza oven for friends. "But parties are different now," says Stamos. who has been sober since 2015. "Nowadays, there's a lot of kids running, laughing and throwing water balloons."
Billy is the water culprit who surprise attacks with a hose when his father comes home from work.
"I'm so tired and he's just waiting behind the bush with a hose," says Stamos. "The joy he gets out of spraying his poor dad. I just love it. That's summer to me."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: John Stamos talks touring with the Beach Boys, Bob Saget life lesson
