1967 NORTH AMERICAN / BRITISH TOUR

1967 NORTH AMERICAN / BRITISH TOUR

(June – August 1967)

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

“With noise and screams, I suddenly realized the Monkees were actually freaking out properly, and much better than many of the much vaunted psychedelic groups.”
–Melody Maker review of one of the Monkees’ concerts at Wembley Pool in England, July 1967

“The Monkees demonstrated they could carry a live show and maintain the level of excitement throughout.”
–Billboard Magazine review describing one of the Monkees’ concerts at Forest Hills Stadium
in New York, July 1967

• Last Train To Clarksville
• You Just May Be the One
• The Girl I Knew Somewhere
• I Wanna Be Free
• Sunny Girlfriend
• Your Auntie Grizelda
• Forget That Girl
• Sweet Young Thing
• Mary, Mary
• Cripple Creek (Peter solo)
• You Can’t Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover (Mike solo)
• Gonna Build A Mountain (Davy solo)
• I Got A Woman (Micky solo)
• I’m A Believer
• Randy Scouse Git
• (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone
• Shades Of Gray (apparently only performed at the Hollywood Bowl in June 1967)

 

The Monkees’ 1967 summer tour commenced in Hollywood, California with a performance at the Hollywood Bowl. The instrumental lineup was similar to the first regional tour done a couple months earlier, with Micky on drums and tympani, Mike on lead guitar, Peter on bass guitar, keyboards and banjo, and Davy playing tambourine and the maracas. Davy would also occasionally play bass guitar when Peter moved to the keyboards and he would relieve Micky on drums during “Randy Scouse Git” and towards the end of “Mary, Mary.” Images of The Monkees performing and other selected footage were projected on large screens behind the band.

The 1967 concerts were critically acclaimed, and the crowds large and hysterical. The performances included a psychedelic light show, one of the first concert tours to feature such techniques. The last three North American dates (Seattle, Washington 8/25/67, Portland, Oregon 8/26/67 and Spokane, Washington 8/27/67) were recorded with the intent of releasing a live album. That album did not see the light of day until it was finally released as Live 1967 in 1987. The 8/12/67 performance at the Municipal Auditorium in Mobile, Alabama is a widely circulated bootleg recording. Summer 1967: The Complete US Concert Recordings features four complete concerts from this tour, and is available as a limited edition release from Rhino Handmade.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was the opening act for several American cities on the summer tour. Hendrix joined the Monkees’ tour in progress on July 8, 1967 in Jacksonville, Florida and departed the tour after multiple concerts at Forest Hills Stadium in New York on July 16, 1967. Other opening acts included Lynn Randell, and The Sundowners, who provided instrumental backup during the solo segments. British star Lulu opened the concerts at Wembley in London, England, and Epifocal Phringe supplied backup during the solo performances. While in England, the Beatles held a party in honor of the Monkees, and Mike attended a Beatles recording session for the song “A Day In The Life.”

“Throughout the American tour, regular jams were carried on in hotel suites and dressing rooms, between the Monkees, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Sundowners and Stephen Stills. This was the first real chance the guys had to hone their musicianship and they became eager learners.”
-Glenn A. Baker, author of Monkeemania: The True Story of the Monkees

“Nobody thought, ‘This is screaming, scaring-the-balls-off-your-daddy music compared with the Monkees,’ you know? It didn’t cross anybody’s mind that it wasn’t gonna fly. And there’s poor Jimi, and the kids go, ‘We want the Monkees, we want the Monkees.’ . . . We went early to the show and listened to what this man could do because he really was a world class musician.”
-Peter Tork, speaking about Jimi Hendrix

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