Monkees Mayo Concert w/ Big Engagement News!

Photo by Fred Velez

by Fred Velez

Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork began their Monkees 2015 tour at the Mayo PAC in Morristown, NJ on August 27th. Though Michael Nesmith is sitting this tour out and Davy Jones is still highly missed, Micky and Peter put on a great show with a few surprises. The video montage that began the concert included clips from the Monkees TV show, the Brady Bunch, My Three Sons, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, the Minons and a short clip of Dylan Reitz’s animated Monkees tribute done entirely in Legos!

Dylan Reitz’s Lego Monkees Tribute

Micky and Peter then made their entrance and began the show with ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ and ‘Auntie Grizelda’. The Monkees brought in one of the first surprises of the evening with a rendition of ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’ with Micky singing lead on the song very associated with Davy. The hits were well represented in the show with ‘Randy Scouse Git’, ‘Steppin’ Stone’, ‘She’ and many other favorites.

After a brief intermission and Nesmith represented with a video clip of the Monkees performing ‘You Just May Be The One’, the popular acoustic set was brought back with a show clip of Micky and Peter performing a snippet of ‘Tear The Top Off My Head’ with Peter finishing the song live. Among the songs in the acoustic set were ‘Take A Giant Step’, and at Micky’s request Peter performed a brief bluesy version of ‘Clarksville’. The video screen then showed a photo from the 1970’s of Micky and his sister Coco and Peter at the famous Troubadour Club in Los Angeles during an open mic night where Peter explained the three had billed themselves as ‘DDT’ (Dolenz, Dolenz & Tork). They then launched into the live premiere of ‘Midnight Train’ with Micky and Coco sharing vocals and Peter joining in on acoustic guitar. The version of ‘Midnight Train’ performed was the original ‘Headquarters’ demo version instead of the ‘Changes’ version and it was well received by the fans.

‘Midnight Train’
Photo by Fred Velez

After the acoustic set was a brief ‘Head’ set with ‘Porpoise Song’ and a blistering ‘Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?’. Micky then introduced on stage Vance Brescia who joined them in singing the 1986 reunion song he wrote ‘That Was Then, This Is Now’. The evening began winding down with an emotional performance of ‘Daydream Believer’ with the image of Davy Jones dancing on the Rainbow set playing on the screen and the audience joined the Monkees in singing along as Micky gave Davy a heartfelt salute. The show ended with encores of ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ and ‘I’m A Believer’ with the audience giving Micky, Peter, Coco and the entire band a well deserved standing ovation.

I attended the show with Linda Walsh and John Roginski of the Monkeephiles with his wife Terri and Danny Solazzi of The Characters. After the show ended with John, Terri and Danny as among the witnesses, I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Linda, to which she said “YES!!!”. For us, it was a happy, emotional ending to a great evening with the Monkees and the beginning of a new life for Linda and I together!

Fred Velez and Linda Walsh reenact proposal in front of the Monkeemobile.

Fred Velez, 2015

Fred Velez is the author of the book ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You: The Monkees From A Fan’s Perspective’ and the Monkees Holiday themed CD ‘A Little Bit Christmas’.