The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz are touring this June! As well as all of those marvellous Micky hit singles, this will be the first time Mike has appeared in Australia or New Zealand since the release of his 1977 ‘Live At The Palais’ album so be assured the shows will highlight many of Nesmith’s compositions, including some that have never been performed live.
“Last Train to Clarksville”, “Listen To The Band”, “Mary Mary”, “Different Drum”, “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone”, “The Girl I Knew Somewhere”, “I’m A Believer”, “Good Clean Fun”, “D.W. Washburn”, “Circle Sky”, “Randy Scouse Git”, “Papa Gene’s Blues, “Take a Giant Step”, “What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round”… and that’s less than half of what you’ll get to singalong to on the night.
VIP packages are available. VIP Packages include access to soundcheck featuring deep cuts not performed during the concert, a signed A3 poster, priority entry to the show and a commemorative VIP laminate. A very limited number of Platinum VIP tickets are available also giving fans the opportunity to meet Mike and Mickey and get a photo on their own phone.
“I love being on stage with Micky,” says Nesmith. “We’ve been collaborating for over 50 years, so it’s hard to believe it’s never been just the two of us. I’m excited to dust off some tunes that I haven’t played for a long time too. These are going to be some fun shows.”
“Right from the get-go, I admired Mike’s songs. When we used to get together around the campfire to sing in the early days, we were always doing his songs,” says Dolenz. “We always had such a great a vocal blend; he was the one who encouraged me to write songs of my own. I’ve always been a big fan and now we finally get to do the Mike & Micky show that we riffed on back when we were shooting The Monkees.”
The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show is a unique concert experience. Times may change but infectious pop hits and wonderfully charismatic characters stay in our hearts and memories forever.
Saturday June 8 Christchurch – Isaac Theatre Royal
Sunday June 9 Auckland – Great Hall
Monday June 10 Wellington – Michael Fowler
Wednesday June 12 Brisbane – QPAC
Saturday June 15 Melbourne – Palais
Sunday June 16 Perth –Astor Theatre
Tuesday June 18 Sydney – Sydney Opera House
Promoter Presale: Thursday 13th December 9am – 11:59pm AEDT
General On Sale: Friday 14th December 9am AEDT
For more information go to http://davidroywilliams.com/tours/themonkees/
Further information
“The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show” is the latest chapter in Monkee-mania, a saga that began in 1965 when four young men were cast in a television show about a struggling rock band that was inspired by the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. Few could have predicted the impact The Monkees would have on music and pop culture at large, one that still reverberates more than 50 years later.
Formed in Los Angeles for the eponymous television series, the quartet of Dolenz, Nesmith, Tork and the late Davy Jones brought a singular mix of pop, rock, psychedelia, Broadway and country to their music. The Monkees’ first single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” was released in 1966 and quickly headed for the top spot of the Billboard charts, where it would ultimately sit for 13 of the 78 weeks it remained in the Top 200. (Two decades later, in the midst of a new burst of Monkee-mania, The Monkees popped back onto the charts, bringing the total number of weeks to 102.)
By the time the series aired its final new episode in 1968, The Monkees had seen three further albums top the charts — More of the Monkees, Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.All were released in 1967, staggeringly enough, racking up several more hit singles, with “I’m A Believer,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Words,” “Daydream Believer,” “Valleri,” and “Tapioca Tundra” all finding their way into the Top 40. The final tally: 16 million albums and 7.5 million singles sold in a mere 2 1/2 years.
After the series’ two-season run, the group went on to star in the cult feature film Head (co-written by Jack Nicholson) and a TV special (33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee) while also continuing to record new material. But as the ’60s gave way to the ’70s, the members of The Monkees eventually gave in to their individual musical interests and went their separate ways . . . for a while.
In February 1986, after MTV broadcast a marathon of “The Monkees,” Dolenz, Jones, and Tork reunited for a 20th anniversary tour, with Nesmith joining them onstage for the Los Angeles date of the tour. In 1996, all four members of the group reunited for a new album (Justus) and TV special (“Hey, Hey, It’s the Monkees”).
In the wake of Jones’s death on February 12, 2012, the surviving members of the Monkees reunited and performed a series concerts. The shows were received so triumphantly that Dolenz, Nesmith and Tork returned the following summer for a tour dubbed, “A Midsummer’s Night With the Monkees.”
To celebrate the Monkees’ 50th anniversary in 2016, the surviving members of the band recorded the critically acclaimed album Good Times. Much like the Monkees’ early albums, it featured tracks written for the band by a group of gifted songwriters, including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Andy Partridge (XTC) and more. To support the album, Dolenz and Tork launched a successful tour that featured Nesmith beaming in remotely via Skype for a few songs during some of the shows.
The Monkees wind up 2018 with the release of Christmas Party, their first ever holiday album. The collection features newly recorded versions of classic Christmas songs including “Silver Bells”, “The Christmas Song” and “Wonderful Christmastime” along with new songs written for the band by Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey, Rivers Cuomo, Andy Partridge and album producer Adam Schlesinger.
