monkees 50th anniversary tour

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The Monkees Plot 50th Anniversary Tour, New LP ‘Good Times!’

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the Monkees ‘ television series and the release of their debut single “Last Train To Clarksville,” and the group will celebrate by releasing their new album Good Times! and embarking on an extensive North American tour. The   album is the Monkees ‘ first collection of original material since 1997’s JustUs , and it will feature new songs by Noel Gallagher , Rivers Cuomo , Ben Gibbard and many more. Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne serves as producer on the new LP. 

Good Times!  also features a handful of songs written for the Monkees back in the 1960s that they never got around to releasing, including Neil Diamond’s “Love to Love,” Boyce and Hart’s “Whatever’s Right” and Carole King’s “Wasn’t Born To Follow.” There’s also “I Know What I Know,” a new song by Mike Nesmith. The title track was written by Harry Nilsson and cut at a 1968 session with Nesmith on guitar, though never finished. The group plans to flesh out the tune, turning it into a virtual duet between Nilsson and Monkees singer Micky Dolenz.

The Monkees returned from a decade-long hiatus in 2011 when the three-man lineup of Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones reunited for a 45th anniversary tour. Jones died of a sudden heart attack  early the following year, and months later the group stunned fans by hitting the road with Mike Nesmith, who sat out nearly all Monkees reunion tours since the group split in 1971. The lineup of Nesmith/Tork/Dolenz played a series of American shows through the summer of 2014, though last year Nesmith stepped aside yet again and Dolenz and Tork began gigging without him. “Mike has a lot of other arrows in his quiver,” says Dolenz. “For starters, he runs a big business. He’s also writing a book, which was the specific reason he gave me for not wanting to leave town again for any particular length of time.”

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Talk of a 50th anniversary Monkees project began a couple of years ago. The group’s trademark is owned by Rhino, and they oversee the release of all Monkees reissues (both the music and TV series) and they license out the name so they can use it on tour. “There have been some recent personnel changes at Rhino and the incoming personnel were very, very pro and positive about the Monkees,” says Dolenz. “[Rhino executives] John Hughes and Mark Pinkus both said they wanted us to make a new album, and they spelled out the exact kind of album that would go down well with the 50th anniversary and with our fans.”

Adam Schlesinger was hired to produce the disc, and songwriters all over the world were approached about submitting tunes for the group to cut. “I’m not a big music listener outside of Frank Sinatra during martini hour,” says Dolenz. “But I began doing research and I realized that the whole indie rock scene is all about recapturing that 1960s jangly guitar sound of the Monkees, amongst many other groups, of course. One reason we don’t have a final track listing yet is because once we put the word out all these people said they wanted to get involved.”

The album has a hard release date of June 10th, though right now Schlesinger is busy creating music for the CW show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and formal recording sessions have yet to begin. “We’ve been talking a lot back and forth and sharing music via Dropbox,” says Dolenz. “It’s coming together fast, which isn’t a bad thing since it forces you to make decisions. My job is just to come in and sing lead vocals. It’s no different than the old days when we had to get everything done in three-hour sessions because that was the limit of the musician’s union.”

Right now, he’s focused on wrapping his head around the new songs. “We all agree that the lyrics in the Rivers Cuomo song needed to be aged up a little but,” Dolenz says. “It sounds like it’s about a little girl and I’m 70 years old, so Rivers is re-writing the lyrics.” Noel Gallagher is still crafting lyrics for his contribution, though Dolenz says that Ben Gibbard’s song “Me & Magdalena” and Zach Rogue’s tune “Terrifying” are both in and ready to go. “They’re all keeping with our sensibility,” says Dolenz. “I just keep calling it that jangly guitar pop sound, though I used to call it ‘progressive bubblegum.'”

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As of now, there’s no formal plans for Mike Nesmith to contribute any guitar or vocal parts. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with that,” he says. “Frankly, we don’t even have a recording schedule right now!” Peter Tork, however, will definitely be on hand to record vocals and likely play guitar and possibly the banjo on some of the songs. Davy Jones’ voice will be heard on Neil Diamond’s “Love To Love,” which the group cut in the 1960s. “I’m hoping to do harmonies on that,” says Dolenz. “But I haven’t spoken to Adam about that in any great detail.”

The tour kicks off on May 18th in Fort Myers, Florida and runs though October 29th in Shippensburg, PA, though more dates may be added. The group expects to play some new songs, though the show will revolve around their deep catalog of classics. “I’ve always felt it was important to give the audience what they want,” says Dolenz, “which is the hits. Peter and I do a lovely acoustic portion of the show, like we’re sitting around a campfire. Our vocal blend has become very, very interesting.”

They plan on performing many songs that originally featured Mike Nesmith on lead vocals, though he won’t be on the tour. “He’s always invited,” says Dolenz. “And at times he has blessed us with his presence. I don’t see him going on the road, and certainly not for the whole grueling thing. I sure hope he does show up at some point and sing a couple of songs with us.”

The Monkees’ heyday lasted little more than three years, and nobody is more shocked than the members of the band that they’re still around for the 50th anniversary. “Here I am, 70 years old,” says Dolenz. “How the hell did that happen? But I’m more excited for this album and tour than I’ve been for anything in a long time.”

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The Monkees Tour Dates

May 18 – Fort Myers, FL @ Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall May 19 – Melbourne, FL @ King Center for the Performing Arts May 20 – Tampa, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall May 21 – Atlanta, GA @ Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater May 24 – Charlotte, NC @ Blumenthal PAC – Belk Theater May 26 – Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre May 27 – Boston, MA @ The Wilbur Theatre May 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theatre May 29 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre June 1 – New York, NY @ The Town Hall June 3 – Toronto, ON @ Casino Rama June 4 – Windsor, ON @ The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor June 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Hard Rock Live Northfield Park June 7 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Foellinger Theatre June 10 – Louisville, KY @ Louisville Palace Theatre June 11th – Hammond, IN @ The Venue at Horseshoe Casino June 12 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre at Old National Centre June 14 – Dayton, OH @ Rose Music Center at The Heights June 28 – Dallas, TX @ AT&T PAC – Winspear Opera House June 30 – Tulsa, OK @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino July 1 – Mayetta, KS @ Prairie Band Casino & Resort July 16 – Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom July 22 – Hot Springs, AR @ Oaklawn Racing and Gaming September 14 – Tucson, AZ @ Fox Tucson Theater September 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Mesa Arts Center September 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Pantages Theatre September 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Primm Valley Casino Resorts September 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield September 21 – Modesto, CA @ Gallo Center For The Arts September 23 & 24 – Lincoln City, OR @ Chinook Winds Casino Resort September 25 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre October 1 – Biloxi, MS @ Hard Rock Live October 22 – Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre October 29 – Shippensburg, PA @ H. Ric Luhrs PAC

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The Monkees' 50th Anniversary Tour: Dates, Cities and How to Get Tickets for US Tour

50-year-old rock band and TV stars the Monkees are celebrating their half-century anniversary in a big way. Not only are they releasing their first album in almost a decade, Good Times! , but members Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork are also heading out on a five-month tour across the United States kicking off in May.

The tour will hit Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California and a number of other states on the anniversary tour. The band last toured for its 45-year anniversary in 2011. Band member Mike Nesmith played shows with Dolenz and Tork through 2014 but will skip this new tour, according to Rolling Stone . The band's fourth member, Davy Jones, died of a heart attack in 2012.

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Dolenz told Rolling Stone that the band plans to do a few new songs but mostly stick to the old stuff they know fans love. "I've always felt it was important to give the audience what they want," Dolenz said, "Which is the hits. Peter and I do a lovely acoustic portion of the show, like we're sitting around a campfire. Our vocal blend has become very, very interesting."

Tickets are available through multiple ticket vendors including Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster.

Here are the tour dates and cities, courtesy of Rolling Stone :

May 18 — Fort Myers, Florida at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall May 19 — Melbourne, Florida at King Center for the Performing Arts May 20 — Tampa, Florida at Ruth Eckerd Hall May 21 — Atlanta at Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater May 24 — Charlotte, North Carolina at Blumenthal PAC - Belk Theater May 26 — D.C. at Warner Theatre May 27 — Boston at The Wilbur Theatre May 28 — Philadelphia at Keswick Theatre May 29 — Red Bank, New Jersey at Count Basie Theatre June 1 — New York City at The Town Hall June 3 — Toronto at Casino Rama June 4 — Windsor, Ontario at The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor June 5 — Cleveland, Ohio at Hard Rock Live Northfield Park June 7 — Fort Wayne, Indiana at Foellinger Theatre June 10 — Louisville, Kentucky at Louisville Palace Theatre June 12 — Indianapolis, Indiana at Murat Theatre at Old National Centre June 14 — Dayton, Ohio at Rose Music Center at The Heights June 28 — Dallas, Texas at AT&T PAC – Winspear Opera House June 30 — Tulsa, Oklahoma at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino July 1 — Mayetta, Kansas at Prairie Band Casino & Resort July 16 — Hampton Beach, New Hampshire at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom July 22 — Hot Springs, Arkansas at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming Sept. 15 — Phoenix, Arizona at Mesa Arts Center Sept. 16 — Los Angeles at Pantages Theatre Sept. 17 — Las Vegas at Primm Valley Casino Resorts Sept. 20 — San Francisco at The Warfield Sept. 21 — Modesto, California at Gallo Center For The Arts Sept. 23 & 24 — Lincoln City, Oregon at Chinook Winds Casino Resort Sept. 25 — Seattle at The Moore Theatre Oct. 1 — Biloxi, Mississippi at Hard Rock Live Oct. 22 — Paso Robles, California Vina Robles Amphitheatre Oct. 29 — Shippensburg, Pennsylvania at H. Ric Luhrs PAC

Correction: Feb. 5, 2016 A previous version of this story stated that Mike Nesmith was not a part of the Monkees' reunion tour in 2011. While Nesmith was not initially a part of that tour, he did join Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork for several live shows after the death of Davy Jones in 2012.

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• The Monkees

The Monkees Plan 50th Anniversary Tour, New Album

by Dylan Aycock February 9, 2016, 12:33 pm

To commemorate their 50th anniversary, the Monkees will embark on a U.S. tour in support of Good Times! , the band’s first album in 20 years.

Videos by American Songwriter

Good Times! , which is slated to drop June 10, is the 12th studio album by the American rock band and features all three surviving Monkees, as well as the late Davy Jones with a vocal on one track. While the official track list has yet to be released, the band called on Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Ben Gibbard, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, XTC’s Andy Partridge and others to write songs for the album.

Alongside the new LP, Dolenz and Tork will hit the road for the anniversary tour beginning May 18. The tour, which features close to 50 stops, will include a homecoming show at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles Sept. 16. The duo will be on tour until later this fall.

The Monkees Tour Dates

May 18 Fort Myers, FL—-Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall May 19-Melbourne, FL—-King Center for the Performing Arts May 20-Tampa, FL—-Ruth Eckerd Hall May 21-Atlanta, GA—-Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater May 24-Charlotte, NC—-Blumenthal PAC – Belk Theater May 26-Washington, DC—-Warner Theatre May 27-Boston, MA—-The Wilbur Theatre May 28-Philadelphia, PA—-Keswick Theatre May 29-Red Bank, NJ—-Count Basie Theatre June 1- New York, NY—-The Town Hall June 3- Toronto, ON—-Casino Rama – Entertainment Centre June 4- Windsor, ON—-The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor June 5- Cleveland, OH—-Hard Rock Live Northfield Park June 7- Fort Wayne, IN—-Foellinger Theatre June 10-Louisville, KY—-Louisville Palace Theatre June 11-Hammond, IN—-The Venue At Horseshoe Casino June 12-Indianapolis, IN—-Murat Theatre at Old National Centre June 14-Dayton, OH—-Rose Music Center at The Heights June 28-Dallas, TX—-AT&T PAC – Winspear Opera House June 30-Tulsa, OK—-Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – The Joint July 1- Mayetta, KS—-Prairie Band Casino & Resort – Grand Lakes Ballroom July 16-Hampton Beach, NH—-Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom July 22-Hot Springs, AR—-Oaklawn Racing and Gaming – Finish Line Theater Sept. 14-Tucson, AZ—- Fox Tucson Theatre Sept. 15-Phoenix, AZ—-Mesa Arts Center – Ikeda Theater Sept. 16-Los Angeles, CA—-Pantages Theatre Sept. 17-Las Vegas, NV—-Primm Valley Casino Resorts – Star of the Desert Arena Sept. 20-San Francisco, CA—-The Warfield Sept. 21-Modesto, CA—-Gallo Center For The Arts Sept. 23-Lincoln City, OR—-Chinook Winds Casino Resort Sept. 24-Lincoln City, O—-Chinook Winds Casino Resort Sept. 25-Seattle, WA—-The Moore Theatre Oct. 1- Biloxi, MS—-Hard Rock Live Biloxi Oct. 22-Paso Robles, CA—-Vina Robles Amphitheater Oct. 29-Shippensburg, PA—-Shippensburg University – H. Ric Luhrs PAC

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The Monkees Announce New Album, 50th Anniversary Tour

“Good Times” long-player will feature songs from Rivers Cuomo, Andy Partridge and others

Hey, hey, they’re The Monkees … and they’re not monkeying around when it comes to celebrating their 50th anniversary.

The group, formed for an eponymous ’60s TV show and known for hits including “Daydream Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville,” announced Friday that they’re hitting the road for a 50th Anniversary Tour — and releasing their first new album in nearly 20 years.

The album, “Good Times,” features surviving Monkees Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork, along with a vintage vocal from Davy Jones, who died in 2012, on one song.

Produced by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, “Good TImes” features songs written for the band by Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, Death Cab for Cutie honcho Ben Gibbard, Andy Partridge from XTC, Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave, Neil Diamond and Harry Nilsson.

“Good Times” is slated for a June 10 release, with preorder available now.

The tour, meanwhile, kicks off May 18, with tickets onsale Feb. 12. The road jaunt, which will include nearly 50 North American dates, starts off at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center in Fort Myers, Florida, finishing up in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. on October 29.

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Micky Dolenz Remembers 50 Years of Music, Madness and 'Good Times' with the Monkees

A hit new album and tour prove that Monkee Mania is alive and well in the 21st century

When was the last time you thought about The Iron Horse ? Or The Time Tunnel ? How about The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. ? All are television shows that premiered the second week of September in 1966, and all have effectively faded from memory. Not so with The Monkees, the groundbreaking TV-music-performance project that ran amok across the late ’60s pop cultural landscape like Frankenstein’s multimedia monster. 50 years later, it’s still very much alive.

Earlier this year, the three surviving Monkees reunited in the studio with producer Adam Schlesinger – a veteran of the uber-poppy Fountains of Wayne and the tunesmith behind the brilliant ’60s sound-alike “That Thing You Do.” Vintage studio tracks, abandoned for decades, were revamped, and top tier superfans including Noel Gallagher, Rivers Cuomo and Ben Gibbard all rushed to contribute fresh songs.

The result was Good Times! , the Monkees’ strongest album since their heyday. It soared into the Billboard Top 20 (a first since 1968’s The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees ), and onto Rolling Stone ‘s mid-year “Best Of” list. Featuring instrumental and compositional contributions from the members themselves, it’s also one of the most authentic works of their career – proving to any nay-sayers that the Monkees are indeed a real band.

And they’ve got the road hours to prove it. Micky Dolenz, the voice on smashes like “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday” has been on tour since May, playing to rapturous crowds across North America with Monkee-mate Peter Tork. On Sep. 16th they were joined at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater by the occasionally errant Monkee Michael Nesmith for what could well be the final live show featuring the trio.

But then again, maybe not. The Monkees emit an inexplicable force, one that constantly draws its former members back into its orbit. It’s the same force that brings fans of all ages out in droves to watch them perform live, and keeps their music in the ears and hearts of several generations. It’s a force that Dolenz, now 71, could have scarcely imagined when he first auditioned for the show more than half a century ago.

“The producers of The Monkees were once asked about the success,” Dolenz tells PEOPLE. “And they said, ‘You know, we just caught lightening in a bottle.’ And I think that’s sort of the answer. You can’t reduce this stuff in any scientific scene. You can’t take Star Trek apart and say, ‘Oh, it was just William Shatner.’ Or ‘Oh no, it was just the writing, or just the sets, or it was just the special effects.’ It’s the same thing with The Monkees . The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.”

Much like Star Trek , which premiered just four days earlier on NBC, The Monkees inspired fan clubs and annual conventions supported by a rabid subculture, plus millions of more casual fans who can’t, say, immediately recall the name of the episode where Nesmith dressed in drag as Princess Gwen (answer: Episode #48, “Fairy Tale”). But unlike the extra terrestrial voyages of the starship Enterprise, The Monkees offered a closer look at the changes happening within our own country – and it made some uncomfortable.

“The network was very, very scared of the show,” he says. “They were really worried because the only time you saw longhaired children on television in those days, they were being arrested! So then along we come with long hair and bell-bottoms and paisley and stuff. We’re just nice kids and we just want have fun, we’re not committing crimes against nature.”

In addition to their television personas, the Monkees found themselves thrust into the unexpected role of youth ambassadors to mainstream America. “The little kids could say to their parents, ‘See, the Monkees have long hair and they’re ok.'” Though their corporate ties certainly affected their credibility in some hipper-than-thou circles, the show provided a voice for the young generation who had something to say.

It was a heady position for a guy barely into his twenties. For Dolenz, the whole phenomenon began as just another acting gig. Born into a show business family (his parents George Dolenz and Janelle Johnson were both performers), he was already a television vet by the time he was a teenager, having scored the lead on the series Circus Boy and smaller parts on a number of other shows.

By the time the Monkees auditions took place in 1965, he was preparing to say farewell to his days as a child star. “I remember that year, I was in school studying to be an architect. That’s what I had decided I wanted to do after high school. I thought, ‘I better get serious’ and I was doing little [acting] day jobs, kind of like summer jobs, to keep busy and make a little money. I was going to college in Los Angeles and I was going to be an architect – and if that didn’t work out, I was going to fall back on show business!”

His Plan B panned out. In the summer of 1965 he went on a series of auditions, with The Monkees being just one of many. “There were three other shows I remember that were music oriented, so it was in the air. There was one about a Peter, Paul and Mary-like folk group. I even remember the name: it was called The Happeners. I didn’t get that one, obviously. There was another that about a surfing band, a Beach Boys kind of show. And there was one like a family band, a New Christy Minstrels hootenanny family thing. But when I auditioned for The Monkees , I remember thinking even at the time, ‘This is really different, I really hope I get this one.'”

The tone was set by producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, who were not much older than Dolenz. “They were Beatles fans, and that was kind of unusual at the time. Because usually producers were 60 or 70-year-old guys smoking a cigar in a suit, saying, ‘We want to do something that the kids will like.’ When I walked into the audition with the producer, I thought they were there auditioning! They were in jeans and t-shirts and lounging around with empty pizza boxes and stuff. So it was different.”

But it was the music that would truly set the series apart. The production employed some of the biggest songwriters in the business, including Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (the pair who wrote the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” the Shangri-La’s “Leader of the Pack,” and the Exciters’ “Do-Wah-Diddy”), Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (the duo behind the Righteous Brothers’ perennial “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” and numerous hits by Paul Revere and the Raiders), plus the incomparable Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (responsible for many Monkees’ classics, including the famous theme tune) – not to mention future household names like Neil Diamond, Carole King and Harry Nilsson.

After being cast alongside his Monkee brethren Tork, Nesmith and Davy Jones, Dolenz was expected to put in significant time in the studio to crank out song after song. “It was a lot of work!” he says. “It was really intense because a normal group would just record and go on the road. We were on the set 10 to 12 hours a day filming the show nonstop and then recording at night, and then rehearsing to eventually go on tour during the weekends. You’ve got a lot of stamina at 20 or 21 years old, but there wasn’t time for much else.”

To help with the load, producers called in a crack team of studio musicians known across Los Angeles as “the Wrecking Crew” to lay down instrumental tracks for the Monkees to sing on. It was an open industry secret that many major groups – the Mamas and the Papas, the Beach Boys and the Byrds among them – did not play on their own recordings. “Nobody talked about it,” Dolenz says now. The practice may sound deceitful, but the reasons were strictly practical. “It was expensive to record. You had to do it fast. The technology didn’t exist as it does today to have multiple takes and do stuff technically. So all the groups used studio cats. It’s not that they couldn’t play – the guys in the Byrds could play, the guys in the Beach Boys could play. That’s just what you did when you were in the studio and knock this stuff out.”

Though hired primarily as actors, Nesmith and Tork resented the lack of musical input on their early songs. “Peter tells the story of going into the studio with his bass guitar in the early days, and they said, ‘What are you doing here?'”

Dolenz himself had performed in several rock ‘n’ roll cover bands before The Monkees , and was also an accomplished classical guitarist. Still, he felt no indignity about being uninvolved with the music. “From my point of view, I was playing the part of this character on a television show, so I approached it from a very different angle. They cast me as the drummer. And I said, ‘Fine, when do I start.’ That’s what you would do if you were cast into a movie or a TV show. They’d say ‘You’re going to learn to ride a horse, you’re going to learn to scuba dive,’ or whatever. I had no problem with that.”

But the waters began to get murky: were they actors or were they a band? In keeping with the tradition of the day, the record sleeves gave no indication that they bolstered by studio musicians. The fact that they used their real names on the TV show only added to the confusion. Despite their repeated assertions to the contrary (“This isn’t a rock ‘n’ roll group. This is an act,” Jones told Newsweek in 1966), many fans believed that the Monkees were a hard-working real-life garage band that had been plucked from obscurity to star in a weekly series.

A sizable controversy mushroomed when the press, eager to tear down the latest pop idol, shockingly “revealed” that the band did not play their instruments. Critics derisively dubbed them “the pre-Fab four” and accused them of intentionally defrauding the public. To this day, the Monkees take heat for doing what so-called “legitimate” bands had been doing for years. “Ironically, we were the only ones that didn’t have a choice [in playing]. We were never asked,” says Dolenz.

Today he compares The Monkees to recent shows like Glee . “It’s a television show about an imaginary glee-club, but they can all do it. They can all sing and dance and act and perform, and I understand they go on the road. All those kids weren’t faking it. So nowadays it’s quite common to have a show like that. But when The Monkees came out in ’66, nothing like that had ever happened. The Monkees came out and broke the barrier between television and radio, and radio and touring, and record companies and television and radio. It was this concerted assault on the consumer, because technology was available and becoming more readily available. The Monkees were the first one, and we got a lot of sh-t for it.”

Not that it hurt sales. Their second album, More of the Monkees , went on to become the best selling album of 1967 in the United States – beating the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band .

Emboldened by the huge sales, the four young men fought for the right to choose their own songs and play their own instruments. “Mike was the one who sort of spearheaded the palace revolt, if you like. From what he told me, he’d been promised that he was going to get his music and his songs in the show. So he went in and said, ‘Here’s some songs.’ He played one of the first songs he’d written, and they said ‘No, that’s not a Monkees tune.’ And he said, ‘Well, wait a minute – I am one of the Monkees.'”

Nesmith ultimately gave the song, a country-tinged ditty called “Different Drum,” to a young singer named Linda Ronstadt , who took it into the Top 20.

By February 1967, the Monkees had succeeded in firing Don Kirshner, the show’s music director, on a legal technicality, giving them much more control over their musical destiny. They performed nearly all of the instruments on that year’s Headquarters , writing half the songs themselves. By that summer, they were on the road, playing sell-out concerts across the globe as a fully functioning band.

For Dolenz, the transformation from actor to rock star was surreal. Today he likens it to Star Trek ‘s Leonard Nimoy actually becoming a Vulcan alien like his character, Spock. “We did it all by ourselves. There was no orchestra or other people playing. It the four of us playing. In fact, it really was a power trio because David didn’t play an instrument. He played a little guitar and sat down at the drums once in a while, but it was mostly Mike on the 12-string [guitar], Peter on the bass and me on the drums. So it was like a power trio.” Recordings made of the tour were eventually released on 1987’s Live 1967 . “It’s quite exciting because it gave you an idea of what it was like, live in ’67. That’s when the band, the characters of the television show, became the band for real.”

The band would survive the cancellation of the show in March of 1968, and the lukewarm reception that greeted Head , their misunderstood feature film, released that November. Though the Monkees would go their separate ways in the ’70s, their fervent fan-base and shared history would draw them back together for a series of high profile reunion albums (1987’s Pool It! and 1996’s Justus ) and tours.

It was just after their 45th anniversary trek that Jones suffered a fatal heart attack on Feb. 29, 2012. “That was a shocker, I’ll tell you,” says Dolenz. “He was supposedly in very good health. Nobody saw that one coming. We wondered after that, ‘How are we going to go out without Davy Jones?’ And Mike, Peter and I said, ‘Well, let’s just do a couple concerts, not as a memorial but as closure for fans.'” The shows were a huge success. Each night, the crowd would sing along to Jones’ signature song, “Daydream Believer.”

On the eve of the Monkees’ 50th anniversary, Dolenz, Nesmith and Tork were approached to mark the occasion with a new record. A dive into the tape vault revealed several incomplete session tapes dating back to the ’60s. One was a demo for a rollicking number called “Good Times,” featuring a scratch vocal by the song’s composer, the late Harry Nilsson, who died of a heart disease in 1994.

“When I heard that, that’s sort of what kicked the whole thing off,” explains Dolenz. “I had become very, very good friends with Harry. He and I became very close over the years. I’m godfather to one of his children. So when I heard that, I was like ‘Oh my god, I can sing a duet with my old friend Harry Nilsson – are you kidding me?'” A disused Carole King song called “Wasn’t Born to Follow” also surfaced, as well work from Jeff Barry, and Boyce and Hart. Most poignantly, the Neil Diamond-penned “Love to Love” featured a forgotten vocal by Jones. “All of a sudden it became, ‘We really got something here.’ We were just thrilled.”

The album that would become Good Times! is a potent mix of then and now – with the “now” taking the form of surprisingly convincing neo-Monkees tracks penned by a dazzling array of modern music heavyweights. “We had a lot more material submitted that we couldn’t even get to,” Dolenz marvels. 50 years later, everyone still wants to write for the Monkees.

“I’m so proud of that album,” he continues. “I just think it’s one of the best things we’ve done in a long, long time.”

The record ends with a track composed by Dolenz and Schlesinger, the rowdy “I Was There (And I’m Told I Had a Good Time).” It seems to sum up the whole story – those whirlwind days bouncing between the soundstage and the recording studio, the frenzied live tours and the late nights carousing the Sunset Strip club scene a group of rock ‘n’ roll buddies including Nilsson, Keith Moon, Alice Cooper and John Lennon.

“It’s that standing joke: if you remember the ’60s you weren’t really there. That’s not entirely true, at least not in my case. But when they ask me if I was there I say, ‘I was, and I’m told I had a great time.'”

The Monkees tour continues, so check their website for more info – they may be coming to your town!

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THE MONKEES LET THE GOOD TIMES! ROLL WITH NEW ALBUM AND TOUR FOR 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Who's ready to have some fun with The Monkees as they celebrate their 50th anniversary? With a tour kicking off in May and the group’s first new album in 20 years, GOOD TIMES!, due June 10th, Monkee-mania will be taking 2016 by storm!

GOOD TIMES! features all three surviving band members – Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. The unmistakable voice of the late Davy Jones is also included with a vintage vocal featured on one song. To produce the new album, the band found the perfect musical co-conspirator in Grammy® and Emmy®-winning songwriter Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne, Ivy). GOOD TIMES! will be available on CD and digitally June 10, with a vinyl version coming out on July 1.

Much like The Monkees’ early albums, GOOD TIMES! features tracks written specifically for the band by some of the music world’s most gifted songwriters, including Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), Andy Partridge (XTC), and Zach Rogue (Rogue Wave) as well as a song co-written by Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller. The album also includes songwriting contributions by Nesmith (“I Know What I Know”) and Tork as well as producer Schlesinger.

To help bring the anniversary full circle, The Monkees completed songs for GOOD TIMES! that were originally recorded and written for the group during the 60s, including “Love To Love” by Neil Diamond, which features a vintage vocal by Jones. Harry Nilsson wrote the title track “Good Times,” which he recorded at a session with Nesmith in January 1968. The production was never completed, so the band returned to the original session tape (featuring Nilsson’s guide vocal) and have created a duet with his close friend Dolenz. “Good Times” will mark the first time Dolenz and Nilsson have sung together since Dolenz’ May 1973 single “Daybreak.” Other vintage 1960’s tracks included on GOOD TIMES! feature L.A.’s famed “Wrecking Crew” of session musicians.

“This is one of the most exciting Monkee projects I’ve been involved in for decades!” says Dolenz. “Working with Adam Schlesinger has been a pure delight and the opportunity to sing a duet with my old buddy, Harry Nilsson, is just beyond cool!”

GOOD TIMES! Partial Track Listing (with songwriters noted) Final Version To Be Announced Soon

“Good Times!” (Harry Nilsson) “You Bring The Summer” (Andy Partridge) “Terrifying” (Zach Rogue) “Me & Magdalena” (Ben Gibbard) “She Makes Me Laugh” (Rivers Cuomo) “Love To Love” (Neil Diamond) “I Know What I Know” (Michael Nesmith)

Pre-order GOOD TIMES! here .

In addition to the new album, Dolenz and Tork will launch a Monkees 50th Anniversary Tour on May 18. The jaunt boasts nearly 50 North American dates through the end of the year including a homecoming gig at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles on September 16.

May 18 Fort Myers, FL - Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall 19 Melbourne, FL - King Center for the Performing Arts 20 Tampa, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall 21 Atlanta, GA - Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater 24 Charlotte, NC - Blumenthal PAC - Belk Theater 26 Washington, DC - Warner Theatre 27 Boston, MA - The Wilbur Theatre 28 Philadelphia, PA - Keswick Theatre 29 Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre

June 1 New York, NY - The Town Hall 3 Toronto, ON Casino Rama - Entertainment Centre 4 Windsor, ON The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor 5 Cleveland, OH - Hard Rock Live Northfield Park 7 Fort Wayne, IN - Foellinger Theatre 10 Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace Theatre 11 Hammond, IN - The Venue At Horseshoe Casino 12 Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre at Old National Centre 14 Dayton, OH - Rose Music Center at The Heights 28 Dallas, TX - AT&T PAC – Winspear Opera House 30 Tulsa, OK - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – The Joint

July 1 Mayetta, KS - Prairie Band Casino & Resort – Grand Lakes Ballroom 16 Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom 22 Hot Springs, AR - Oaklawn Racing and Gaming – Finish Line Theater

September 14 Tucson, AZ - Fox Tucson Theatre 15 Phoenix, AZ - Mesa Arts Center – Ikeda Theater 16 Los Angeles, CA - Pantages Theatre 17 Las Vegas, NV - Primm Valley Casino Resorts – Star of the Desert Arena 20 San Francisco, CA - The Warfield 21 Modesto, CA - Gallo Center For The Arts 23 Lincoln City, OR - Chinook Winds Casino Resort 24 Lincoln City, OR - Chinook Winds Casino Resort 25 Seattle, WA - The Moore Theatre

October 1 Biloxi, MS - Hard Rock Live Biloxi 22 Paso Robles, CA - Vina Robles Amphitheatre 29 Shippensburg, PA - Shippensburg University – H. Ric Luhrs PAC

More on The Monkees

The Monkees Announce Farewell Tour Dates

THE MONKEES

 ANNOUNCE FAREWELL TOUR DATES

Micky Dolenz And Michael Nesmith Will Commemorate

55 Years Of Monkeemania With Fall Tour

Concluding At The Greek Theater In Los Angeles On November 14

LOS ANGELES – Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees will embark on their farewell tour in September 2021. Commemorating 55 years of Monkeemania, the tour will embrace major markets in North America through the fall, launching on September 11 in Seattle and ending back where it all began in Los Angeles at The Greek Theater on November 14. Their critically acclaimed concerts feature the voice of Dolenz (who sang The Monkees’ biggest hits: “I’m A Believer,” “Last Train To Clarksville,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone”) and the group’s primary songwriter, Nesmith (who wrote such classics as “Mary, Mary,” “Papa Gene’s Blues,” “You Just May Be The One” and “Listen To The Band,” to name but a few).

Tickets and VIP packages for some dates of “The Monkees Farewell Tour” are on sale now, with more going on sale later this week. More dates are expected to be announced soon.

“The Monkees Farewell Tour” will feature songs that span the band’s entire career – from their 1966 self-titled debut album to 2016’s Good Times! Their most recent release, The Monkees – The Mike & Micky Show Live , was issued in April 2020 and became their 17 th   Billboard charting album release. In addition to their hits, their farewell shows will spotlight songs featured on their Emmy-winning TV series (“The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “You Told Me,” “Randy Scouse Git,” “Goin’ Down” and “For Pete’s Sake”) as well as music from their feature film Head (“Circle Sky” and “As We Go Along”). Plus some rarely performed deep cuts (such as “Auntie’s Municipal Court”) and tracks from their most-recent studio album, 2016’s Good Times! (“Me & Magdelena” and “Birth Of An Accidental Hipster”).

This farewell tour will mark the end of a unique project 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, the late Peter 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 August 1966 and quickly headed for the top spot of the Billboard charts in tandem with the band's self-titled debut album, which held the top slot for 13 of the 78 weeks it remained in the Top 200. (Two decades later, in the midst of a new burst of Monkeemania, 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 on March 25, 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 Billboard 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.

In February 1986, after MTV broadcast a marathon of The Monkees series, 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 of 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’ 50 th  anniversary in 2016, the surviving members of the band recorded the critically acclaimed album Good Times! (produced by the late Adam Schlesinger). 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. Following the passings of Davy Jones and Peter Tork (who succumbed to cancer in 2019), Michael & Micky have honored the music and the memory of The Monkees onstage.

THE MONKEES FAREWELL TOUR

11    Seattle, WA                            Moore Theatre       

14    Sacramento, CA                     The Crest Theatre

15    San Jose, CA                          San Jose Civic

17   Riverside, CA                         Fox Performing Arts Center

18   El Cajon, CA                          The Magnolia

19   Phoenix, AZ                         Celebrity Theatre

24   Dallas, TX                            The Majestic Theatre

25   San Antonio, TX                   The Tobin Center For Performing Arts

28   The Woodlands, TX              Dosey Doe

29   The Woodlands, TX              Dosey Doe

2     Chattanooga, TN                   Trivoli Theatre

6    Birmingham, AL                    Iron City

7     Knoxville, TN                       Tennessee Theatre

8     Atlanta, GA                          Atlanta Symphony Hall

10   Orlando, FL                          Hard Rock Live

12   Fort Lauderdale, FL               Parker Playhouse

13   Clearwater, FL                      Ruth Eckerd Hall

15   Biloxi, MS                              IP Casino Resort & Spa

16   Jacksonville, FL                    Florida Theatre

19   Red Bank, NJ                        Count Basie Center

20   Tarrytown, NY                     Tarrytown Music Hall

22   Bethlehem, PA                      The Wind Creek Event Center

23   Atlantic City, NJ                   Ocean Casino Resort – Ovation Hall

24   New York, NY                      Town Hall

26   Burlington, VT                      Flynn Center For The Performing Arts

28   Huntington, NY                    The Paramount

29   Uncasville, CT                      Mohegan Sun

30   Medford, MA                       Chevalier Theatre

1     Greensburg, PA                    The Palace Theatre

2     Detroit, MI                           Masonic Cathedral Theatre

6     Milwaukee, WI                     Riverside Theater

9     Saint Charles, MO                 Family Arena

10   Kansas City, MO                  Uptown Theater

14   Los Angeles, CA                   The Greek Theatre

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Browse > Home / news / news feed / The Monkees Plot 50th Anniversary Tour, New LP ‘Good Times!’

The Monkees Plot 50th Anniversary Tour, New LP ‘Good Times!’

February 5, 2016 by Jackie   Filed under news , news feed

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Micky Dolenz talks about new Monkees album, which features songs by Rivers Cuomo and Noel Gallagher

By Andy Greene February 5, 2016

The Monkees returned from a decade-long hiatus in 2011 when the three-man lineup of Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones reunited for a 45th anniversary tour. Jones died of a sudden heart attack early the following year, and months later the group stunned fans by hitting the road with Mike Nesmith, who sat out nearly all Monkees reunion tours since the group split in 1971. The lineup of Nesmith/Tork/Dolenz played a series of American shows through the summer of 2014, though last year Nesmith stepped aside yet again and Dolenz and Tork began gigging without him. “Mike has a lot of other arrows in his quiver,” says Dolenz. “For starters, he runs a big business. He’s also writing a book, which was the specific reason he gave me for not wanting to leave town again for any particular length of time.”

Adam Schlesinger was hired to produce the disc, and songwriters all over the world were approached about submitting tunes for the group to cut. “I’m not a big music listener outside of Frank Sinatra during martini hour,” says Dolenz. “But I began doing research and I realized that the whole indie rock scene is all about recapturing that 1960s jangly guitar sound of the Monkees, amongst many other groups, of course. One reason we don’t have a final track listing yet is because once we put the word out all these people said they wanted to get involved.”

The album has a hard release date of June 10th, though right now Schlesinger is busy creating music for the CW show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and formal recording sessions have yet to begin. “We’ve been talking a lot back and forth and sharing music via Dropbox,” says Dolenz. “It’s coming together fast, which isn’t a bad thing since it forces you to make decisions. My job is just to come in and sing lead vocals. It’s no different than the old days when we had to get everything done in three-hour sessions because that was the limit of the musician’s union.”

Right now, he’s focused on wrapping his head around the new songs. “We all agree that the lyrics in the Rivers Cuomo song needed to be aged up a little but,” Dolenz says. “It sounds like it’s about a little girl and I’m 70 years old, so Rivers is re-writing the lyrics.” Noel Gallagher is still crafting lyrics for his contribution, though Dolenz says that Ben Gibbard’s song “Me & Magdalena” and Zach Rogue’s tune “Terrifying” are both in and ready to go. “They’re all keeping with our sensibility,” says Dolenz. “I just keep calling it that jangly guitar pop sound, though I used to call it ‘progressive bubblegum.'”

The tour kicks off on May 18th in Fort Myers, Florida and runs though October 29th in Shippensburg, PA, though more dates may be added. The group expects to play some new songs, though the show will revolve around their deep catalog of classics. “I’ve always felt it was important to give the audience what they want,” says Dolenz, “which is the hits. Peter and I do a lovely acoustic portion of the show, like we’re sitting around a campfire. Our vocal blend has become very, very interesting.”

They plan on performing many songs that originally featured Mike Nesmith on lead vocals, though he won’t be on the tour. “He’s always invited,” says Dolenz. “And at times he has blessed us with his presence. I don’t see him going on the road, and certainly not for the whole grueling thing. I sure hope he does show up at some point and sing a couple of songs with us.”

The Monkees’ heyday lasted little more than three years, and nobody is more shocked than the members of the band that they’re still around for the 50th anniversary. “Here I am, 70 years old,” says Dolenz. “How the hell did that happen? But I’m more excited for this album and tour than I’ve been for anything in a long time.”

The Monkees Tour Dates

May 18 – Fort Myers, FL @ Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall May 19 – Melbourne, FL @ King Center for the Performing Arts May 20 – Tampa, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall May 21 – Atlanta, GA @ Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater May 24 – Charlotte, NC @ Blumenthal PAC – Belk Theater May 26 – Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre May 27 – Boston, MA @ The Wilbur Theatre May 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theatre May 29 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre June 1 – New York, NY @ The Town Hall June 3 – Toronto, ON @ Casino Rama June 4 – Windsor, ON @ The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor June 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Hard Rock Live Northfield Park June 7 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Foellinger Theatre June 10 – Louisville, KY @ Louisville Palace Theatre June 11th – Hammond, IN @ The Venue at Horseshoe Casino June 12 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre at Old National Centre June 14 – Dayton, OH @ Rose Music Center at The Heights June 28 – Dallas, TX @ AT&T PAC – Winspear Opera House June 30 – Tulsa, OK @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino July 1 – Mayetta, KS @ Prairie Band Casino & Resort July 16 – Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom July 22 – Hot Springs, AR @ Oaklawn Racing and Gaming September 14 – Tucson, AZ @ Fox Tucson Theater September 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Mesa Arts Center September 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Pantages Theatre September 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Primm Valley Casino Resorts September 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield September 21 – Modesto, CA @ Gallo Center For The Arts September 23 & 24 – Lincoln City, OR @ Chinook Winds Casino Resort September 25 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre October 1 – Biloxi, MS @ Hard Rock Live October 22 – Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre October 29 – Shippensburg, PA @ H. Ric Luhrs PAC Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-monkees-plot-50th-anniversary-tour-new-lp-good-times

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The Monkees – Good Times: The 50th Anniversary Tour

• Friday, October 21, 2016 at 8:00 PM Add to Calendar Add to cal Get Tickets Add to Calendar Add to cal

The Monkees are ready to have some fun this year as the iconic band celebrates its 50th anniversary with a tour and the group’s first new album in 20 years, appropriately titled GOOD TIMES!

In addition to the new album GOOD TIMES, produced Grammy® and Emmy®-winning songwriter Adam Schlesinger, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork will launch a Monkees 50th Anniversary Tour. The jaunt boasts nearly 50 North American dates through the end of the year including a stop at the City National Grove of Anaheim on Friday, October 21. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 11 at noon.

During the band’s time together, The Monkees amassed a dozen Top 40 hits, including a trio of tunes that soared to #1. Between September 1966 and December 1967, “Last Train To Clarksville,” “I’m A Believer,” and “Daydream Believer” collectively occupied the top position for 12 weeks. Sales of their LPs were more phenomenal still: The Monkees occupied the #1 position for 13 consecutive weeks, and More Of The Monkees for 18 weeks. Both Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. went to the top as well, for a four-in-a-row feat in the incomprehensible space of 13 months. The final tally: 16 million albums and 7.5 million singles sold in a mere 2 1/2 years.

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Monkees bringing 50th anniversary tour to Dayton this week

WANT TO GO?

What: The Monkees 50th anniversary tour

Where: Rose Music Center, 6800 Executive Blvd., Huber Heights

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 14

Cost: $23.50-$52

More info: 937-228-2323 or www.ticketmaster.com

Artist info: www.themonkees.com

If there was concern over interest in a new album from the Monkees it’s vanished. “Good Times!” — the group’s first new release in 10 years — recently debuted at 14 on the Billboard 200 chart. It’s the first Top 20 LP since 1968 for the Monkees, bringing its 50th anniversary tour to Rose Music Center in Huber Heights on Tuesday, June 14.

Peter Tork, who recorded the album with surviving members Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith, recently participated in a brief Q&A.

Q: It’s been a decade since the last Monkees album. What made this the right time for a new one?

A: “Who knows? It was probably Rhino Records watching the fact it was the 50th. I haven’t thought about it much but there are people paid to think of those things. I suspect it’s been in the pipeline two or three years but we did all the basic recordings in about two weeks, which is a remarkably short time. There was another two or three weeks for mixing and production and, presto chango, we have another new Monkees CD.”

Q: “Good Times!” has tracks written by the band and some by early collaborators like Goffin & King, Harry Nilsson and Boyce & Hart. There are also new songs by contemporary artists like Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Ben Gibbard of Deathcab for Cutie, XTC’s Andy Partridge and producer Adam Schlesinger. How did that unique mix come about?

A: “I don’t know who had the original idea but it was probably Rhino president John Hughes. Adam was the right man to produce. He wrote ‘That Thing You Do’ for the movie of the same name, which is a perfect song for the occasion. It was absolutely right for the era. It’s not derivative but original enough not to be an old, tired rehashing. When you get a chance to get together with Adam Schlesinger, you don’t think twice.”

Q: Will you be playing much of the new album on this anniversary tour or will it be mostly hits and deep cuts?

A: “A bit of both. We’re doing new the songs, ‘She Makes Me Laugh’ and ‘Little Girl.’ We might get around to doing another cut depending on the response. One CD is now a small portion of our entire catalog. You can’t do a Monkees concert without doing ‘Last Train to Clarksville,’ ‘I’m a Believer,’ Daydream Believer’ and so on, and then there’s all the secondary songs. We’re striving to do everything as much like the originals as possible so it should be a fun show.”

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PRE-ORDER HERE

Micky Dolenz may be coming to your town! Check out the links below for tickets and info on his upcoming live concert dates:

JUNE 16: Sherman's Hot Summer Nights, Sherman, TX

Micky Dolenz Pays Tribute To The Iconic Group And Focuses On The Contributions Of His Bandmates In A Series Of Exclusive Concert Dates

The world of music, movie, television and pop culture at large are collectively mourning the passing of Michael Nesmith of the Monkees. The singer-songwriter left behind a long and rich history involving not just the Monkees, but also myriad creative ventures.

"With Infinite Love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes," his family said in a statement. "We ask that you respect our privacy at this time and we thank you for the love and light that all of you have shown him and us."

THE MONKEES ANNOUNCE FAREWELL TOUR DATES

Micky Dolenz And Michael Nesmith Will Commemorate 55 Years Of Monkeemania With Fall Tour Concluding At The Greek Theater In Los Angeles On November 14

Mike Nesmith to join the Monkees 50th anniversary tour for just one show — Friday in Monterey

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Monkees fans will get at least one shot at a 50 th anniversary performance by the group’s three surviving members, as guitarist, singer and songwriter Michael Nesmith has confirmed he will join band mates Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork at the act’s tour stop Friday in Monterey.

Nesmith recused himself from the full tour when it was announced earlier this year, saying he’s in the middle of writing a book. But he told followers of his Facebook page on Thursday, “I am ahead of schedule on my book ‘Infinite Tuesday’ … and they sent me a nice invitation to come play at the State Theatre with them — and so I am.”

The show will coincide closely with the 50 th anniversary of the release of the Monkees’ debut single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” on Aug. 16, 1966. It was the first of the Monkees’ three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and one of half a dozen Top 10 records.

“The Monkees” TV series debuted the following month on NBC and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. On the basis of the show’s popularity and its segments spotlighting different Monkees recordings each week, the group sold more records than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in 1967.

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“I haven’t played in a while — hand’s a little stiff — but I can do a couple or three songs with them that I would really enjoy,” Nesmith wrote. “I changed the strings on my Gretsch this afternoon — tuned it up — gave it a polish.”

He referred to this appearance as “One time only for now — still have to deliver the book, but the delivery is getting closer faster than I thought.”

The book is subtitled “An Autobiographical Riff” and is due to be published April 18.

Nesmith concluded his post with a quote from his song “Papa Gene’s Blues,” from the Monkees’ debut album: “‘No heartaches felt, no longer lonely, Nights of waiting finally won me happiness, that’s all rolled up in you.’ See you there I hope.”

As was the case in 2012 when the trio toured together, the act assembled a show that incorporated footage from the TV series, allowing the presence of singer Davy Jones, who died earlier that year.

Rhino Records, the catalog specialty label that has released Monkees reissues over the last two decades, also issued the 50 th anniversary album, “Good Times!,” which combined recently completed Monkees tracks from the vaults along with new songs written for the band by latter-day Monkees fans including Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, Death Cab for Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard and the album’s producer, Fountains of Wayne bassist-songwriter Adam Schlesinger.

“The Monkees” complete TV series was reissued in July in a new 4K restoration limited edition Blu-ray box set through the group’s official web site .

The Monkees tour reaches Los Angeles for a Sept. 16 date at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

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