1966 – 1967 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

1966 – 1967 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

(December 1966 – May 1967)

For updated information on this article, see the web site: monkeesconcerts.com

“With a number one hit, the demands for live appearances were mounting. The boys furiously rehearsed late into the night and on weekends. The crowd screamed as the four leapt through fake speakers onto the stage. Such frenzy had not been seen since the peak of Beatlemania. Crowds were awesome and more than $540,000 was grossed within two weeks.”
-Glenn A. Baker, author of Monkeemania: The True Story of the Monkees

• Last Train To Clarksville
• She’s So Far Out She’s In (Mike lead vocal)
• You Just May Be The One
• I Wanna Be Free
• Mary, Mary
• (I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love [performed on very early dates only]
• Sweet Young Thing
• I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind
• (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone
• East Virginia or Cripple Creek (Peter solo)
• You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover (Mike solo)
• The Joker (Davy solo)
• I Got A Woman (Micky solo)
• If I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate (Peter lead vocal)
• Take A Giant Step
• I’m A Believer

 

For their very first tour, the Monkees performed solely as a four-piece band with Micky on drums, Mike on lead guitar, Peter on bass guitar, keyboards and banjo, and Davy on tambourine and maracas. Towards the end of “Mary, Mary,” Davy would play the drums allowing Micky to come down to center stage. Davy would also play the bass guitar when Peter moved to keyboards. The above set list was standard for the earliest shows and would fluctuate in later performances during this round of dates. Other songs added to the set for the early 1967 concerts included “The Kind of Girl I Could Love,” “Your Auntie Grizelda,” “Sunny Girlfriend” and “(Look Out) Here Comes Tomorrow.”

The Monkees’ first full live concert was held in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 3, 1966. Reviews were enthusiastic and subsequent dates were added to the schedule. Images of the Monkees performing and other selected clips were projected on large screens behind the band.

The opening act was Bobby Hart’s band, the Candy Store Prophets. They also provided instrumental backup during the solo segments.

The performance in at the Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona on January 21, 1967 was filmed and later broadcasted as the last episode of the first season, “The Monkees on Tour.” The Phoenix concert is also a widely circulated bootleg recording, including the rare performance of “She’s So Far Out She’s In.”